“What?” My heart started hammering in my chest as I felt real fear creep in. I’d been in seriously sketchy situations before, and my life had been on the line numerous times, but knowing Briar was at risk… that blindsided me.
She sank down on the small gray sectional, pulling a soft throw over her legs as she curled her hands in her lap. “It’s true.” She cleared her throat, finally bringing her eyes back to mine. “It was a guy I dated casually a few months ago.”
I tried to control my breathing, a calming technique I’d mastered years ago, but it wasn’t working now. I felt like a live wire as I paced back and forth behind the pair of ivory armchairs opposite her.
“Just start from the beginning and tell me everything.” I’d handled situations where countless lives were on the line, including mine, and had always been able to keep a clear head. But this was different. This was Briar who was at risk, and my stomach was churning.
“Okay.” She tucked her hands under her legs and shook her head. “He seemed like a nice enough guy. There was nothing that would have indicated he was a little off or anything.”
I frowned at her naïveté. I’d taken down grannies who’d smuggled hundreds of thousands in cocaine into foreign countries. You couldn’t make assumptions about someone until you dug deeper into their backgrounds.
“Don’t look at me like I’m an idiot!” She threw her arms up in the air. “How the hell was I supposed to know that when I slept with him—”
“You slept with him?” I clenched my teeth so hard I was surprised I didn’t crack a molar.
“Well, yeah. A few times. We’d been dating awhile and…” She shrugged. “I don’t know, I liked him enough to— you know.”
“Sleep with him.” Those words tasted like poison in my mouth. I didn’t know why. It’s not like I assumed I was the only guy she was intimate with, especially since we only scratched that itch a few times a year and Briar had always been an incredibly passionate woman, which kind of fueled my addiction.
“Yeah.” She raised her chin. “Don’t you dare judge me, Rhett! How many women have you been with since we last slept together?”
I shrugged. There’d only been a couple, but I barely remembered their names. “That’s irrelevant. None of them are stalking me.” I cursed myself for being an asshole. This wasn’t her fault. “I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “What can I say? You bring out the worst in me.”
A clattering sound from outside made her jump. Flattening her palm against her heaving chest, she whispered, “Ugh, that scared me.”
I reached for the gun inside my jacket. In my line of work you couldn’t afford to be unarmed. “Any idea what that was?” I asked, flattening my back against the wall beside the window that overlooked her backyard.
“I think it was just the raccoons. I have birdfeeders outside and they sometimes get into them at night.”
I had my gun drawn when I flicked the light switch with my elbow to illuminate her back patio. Sure enough there were a pair of wide-eyed raccoons staring back at me as they raided the feeders they’d knocked over.
Jesus. My heart was battering the hell out of my chest and that pissed me off. I’d been in the military, Special Forces, I didn’t get worked up over one dim-witted asshole with an axe to grind because the girl of his dreams blew him off.
I flicked the switch again, replacing my gun in its holster. “No worries. Okay, carry on with your story.”
“Will you just sit down?” she asked, patting the cushion beside her. “You’re making me nervous.”
I closed my eyes, berating myself for acting like someone who never faced a threat before. I wasn’t new to this shit. I’d dealt with serious threats. Saved countless lives. But this was different. This was personal.
I sank down beside her on the couch, settling into the deep cushions. “Okay, talk.”
“So, after we were, uh, together a few times I realized he was getting a little too serious. And you know I’m not into that.”
I quirked an eyebrow, not even trying to hide the sarcasm when I said, “Really?”
“Shut up,” she said, slapping my leg. “So I told him I couldn’t see him anymore.” She curled her arms around her mid-section. “He didn’t take it well. He’d call me up, begging, pleading, crying…” She shuddered. “It was awful.”
Knowing that would have been the biggest turn-off for a girl like Briar, I had to wonder if this guy had ever known her at all. “I’m sure.”
“So for the first month it was just calls and texts. But he was relentless.” She tucked a lock of curly hair behind her ear. “And he’d call day and night. I swear, the guy never slept.”
“Hmmm.” Briar had caused me a few sleepless nights over the years too. Usually when she ghosted me. “And then things escalated?”
“Yeah, he started ringing my doorbell, leaving things on my doorstep.”
I frowned. “What kind of things?”
“I don’t know.” She rubbed her forehead. “Flowers, books he thought I’d like, lingerie—”
