Shelter You Read Online Free PDF

front door causes me to nearly jump out of bed. I look at the clock and it’s after one. I grab my phone and my knife, and sneak a peek at Lily who’s still sleeping soundly, and slowly tip toe to the living room. I start to dial 911 when I hear a familiar voice call out from the other side of the door.
    “Kelly? I just wanted to make sure you and Lily are okay. Open up.”
    I let out a sigh of relief, set the knife down and open the door. I’m pretty positive that I’ve never been so happy to see anybody in my entire life. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me.”
    “I know, I’m sorry. I just got off duty and thought that you might be scared here all alone. I just wanted to drop by and check in on you,” he says, his hands buried in the pocket of the jeans that he wears oh so well.
    “I wasn’t scared until some lunatic decided to knock on my door in the middle of the night.”
    “It’s morning actually,” he corrects me with a grin. “And if you weren’t scared, why is there a carving knife in your living room?”
    I look back at the knife, silently cursing its presence and then back to Officer Tate. “Just because I have protection doesn’t mean I was sitting around like a damsel in distress. There’s nothing wrong with having something to protect myself with.”
    He puts his hands up in the air as if telling me he surrenders. “Alright warrior princess, relax. I just don’t want you to hurt anyone with that thing,” he says with a chuckle.
    “You know Officer Tate, I’m glad you can find humor in this situation. It’s not every day that a young woman and her child come home to a burglarized apartment. You’ll be able to laugh and tell stories about this for years to come.”
    “I’m not laughing at you, I promise. I’m just trying to lighten you up a little. The tension is rolling off of you,” he says. There’s a look of concern in his eyes that I’m starting to become accustomed to, it’s penetrating right through me.
    “Why do you care so much, Officer Tate?”
    “My name’s Logan. I think we’re past the ‘Officer Tate’ thing, don’t you?”
    “You’re a cop.”
    “And you’re not a suspect or a criminal. You can use my first name.” He looks around the destruction that is my apartment and takes it all in, in his plain clothes: He’s donning a pair of dark jeans, and a black hoodie. He looks different out of uniform, younger, hotter if that’s even possible. His gaze lands back on me and he looks me over for a while. I can tell that he wants to say something but the words don’t come. I can’t really take the silence anymore, so I walk away from him and plop down in a chair. Feeling his eyes still on me, I let out a huff of air.
    “What? Why are you staring at me just say what you want to say already?” I’m not sure why I’m being so short with him. I think maybe it’s a mixture of exhaustion and stress. I don’t know why I’m pushing him to speak or more importantly pushing him away when the last thing I really want to be right now is alone. I honestly hate feeling afraid and powerless, and maybe if I can convince him that I’m not those things, I’ll start to believe it myself.
    “I’m not looking at anything. Are you sure you’re okay?”
    “I’m fine Officer T…Logan, we’ll be fine.”
    “Alright, then. I guess I’ll get going.”
    I try to mask the disappointment I feel at his imminent departure. I nod my head signaling to him that I’m fine with him leaving. I take a deep breath, get up and walk to the door—opening it up for him. He walks through the open doorway and turns back to look at me. I can almost see the inner conflict playing out in his eyes and I know the only thing I can do to help him is close the door on whatever this is.
    “Thanks for stopping by, Logan. It was really nice of you to go out of your way like that but…”
    He places a hand on the open door before I have a chance to shut it in his face. “I don’t