no way to call them until she got home since she hadn’t taken her phone with her. That’s what she’d intended to do, but the moment she saw Sebastian, all her good intentions flew out the window.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” he said, echoing her thoughts. He reached over and turned the water off. “Let’s get you out of here before your entire body turns into a prune.”
Gigi looked down at her fingers and winced when she saw the wrinkled digits. No doubt she had other parts that hadn’t faired any better. She let him lead her out of the shower, dry her off, and tuck her into bed.
Once Sebastian was beside her, he spooned her from the back and whispered, “What happened tonight?”
Gigi took a deep breath, and while wrapped in his arms, she told him everything.
The sound of pounding on the front door along with the incessant ringing of the doorbell woke Gigi from a deep sleep. She sat bolt upright, rubbing at her grainy eyes. It had been really late when she and Sebastian had finally gone to sleep. They’d talked long into the night about what to do about James, but they hadn’t come up with much of a solid plan. They would file a police report just to get the incident on record, but Gigi and Sebastian knew nothing would come of it. Since Gigi wasn’t hurt worse physically, they’d take the complaint, but there were no guarantees that any of it would make it into his file. There wasn’t really anything to do other than wait to see what he did next.
And Sebastian hated that. He’d wanted to track him down and threaten him within an inch of his life. Gigi secretly enjoyed that conversation. She’d give anything to see Sebastian tear James apart, but she didn’t want him to lose his ability to practice law because he was jealous or pissed off over James’s bullshit.
The doorbell rang again, followed by what sounded like elephants at the front door. When she finally got the door open, Skyler rushed in with Autumn right behind him.
“Oh my god! Gigi, are you okay?” He scanned her body, looking for bruises or other wounds. “I can’t believe that bastard showed up here.”
Gigi shut the door and turned around to greet her morning visitors. “How do you know about last night?”
“Pete and I have security cameras,” Skyler said with a wave of his hand, dismissing her concern. He gently picked up her right hand and kissed the bruised knuckles. “I’m so proud of you, baby girl. From what we could see, you really gave him hell.”
Gigi’s lips twitched in slight amusement. The topic wasn’t funny, but her friends were sweet and adorable. “Come in. I need coffee ASAP.”
Skyler glanced around her living room and let out a gasp of horror. He grabbed Gigi’s good hand, delaying her from getting to the coffee maker. “What happened in here? It looks like that last scene in Ghostbusters right before they save the day.”
“The Hannigan sisters weren’t too happy when they learned James returned,” Gigi said. “But don’t worry, they didn’t hurt anyone. It was just me and Sebastian here when that went down.”
Skyler hurried after her as Gigi finally found her way into the kitchen. She was on autopilot as she made the coffee and then sat on a stool next to Skyler as they waited. It was then she realized that Autumn was still there. She’d noticed her when she’d opened the door, but what she didn’t know was why she was there at all. Gigi leaned over and asked Skyler why the woman was in her kitchen at eight-thirty in the morning.
“We were working at the house,” Skyler said indignantly. “That is where my design studio is after all.”
“Right, of course.” She turned to Autumn. “Are you helping with the designing end, too?”
“Maybe,” Skyler answered for her. “We’re still working that out. Today we were sorting through higher-end used clothes I picked up while you were down in Fairytown or wherever it was you grew up. Pete told me there was an alert on our security system, so that’s when I took a look and saw you clock that douchebucket. Nice right hook!”
“Thanks,” she said sheepishly and flexed her fingers. But then it dawned on her that Skyler actually had the whole thing recorded. “Did you see what happened to him after I left?”
“You rang his bell pretty hard. When he got up, he stumbled to his SUV,