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“I was waiting on a guy in my section,” Gina said, taking two steps to his every one to keep up with his quick stride. “He seemed nice enough, and he gave me a note to give to Natalie. Whatever it said set her off.”
Shit. “What did he look like?” Without asking, Noah knew who’d sent Natalie the note. But he had to ask Gina, just so both he and Bobby could document the information on an official report.
The quick description she gave him matched Chad Freeman exactly and made Noah’s blood run cold at the thought of how close the other man had been to Natalie…and Noah hadn’t even known. Fuck.
“He was sitting at that far booth facing the window, and after I gave Natalie the note I looked back and he was gone,” Gina explained, the contrition in her voice clear. “I didn’t think anything of it, really. I mean, he knew Natalie’s name, so I automatically thought she knew him.”
As much as the situation made Noah’s gut twist, he couldn’t blame Gina for her actions. If anyone was at fault, it was himself. He was responsible for Natalie; he knew what kind of danger she was in, and it was his job to protect her.
While he’d informed Murphy and Gina of Natalie’s amnesia and the engagement ruse, he hadn’t seen the need to tell them she was being stalked. Not when Noah had been right there in the establishment to make sure she remained safe. Yet the creep had found a way to get to her, anyway. Dammit, he should have stayed up front to be closer to her.
“Maybe he went to the men’s restroom,” Gina suggested in an attempt to smooth things over.
Noah highly doubted that. Most likely, Freeman had hightailed it out of there after asking Gina to deliver the note. As Noah rounded the end of the bar, he exchanged a knowing look with Bobby.
His friend nodded in silent understanding, and said, “Go to Natalie. I’ll check out front and the restroom.”
Noah was grateful for his friend’s assistance, but knew Freeman wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to stick around to get caught. He wanted Natalie, and he was teasing her, playing cat and mouse with her memory and her past.
The bastard.
Reaching Natalie’s side, he gently grabbed her arms to pull her hands away from her face so he could comfort her, and she flinched at his touch. Then, seeing that it was him, she visibly relaxed, though the terrorized look that remained in her eyes nearly sent him over the edge with fury at what Freeman was doing to her.
Noah wanted to erase her distress, ached to make her forget the fear written plainly on her expression. But first, he needed to collect the piece of evidence Freeman had sent to her so he knew what they were dealing with.
“Where’s the note, Natalie?” he asked, his voice steadier than he felt.
“I…I dropped it,” she said hoarsely.
The only thing littering the floor was a napkin, and he picked it up. He read the threatening words the other man had written for Natalie, which left no doubt in Noah’s mind that it was just a matter of time before merely stalking Natalie wouldn’t be enough for her ex-boyfriend. Noah jammed a hand through his hair, hating that Chad was so close to Natalie, knew where she worked and, quite possibly, knew where she was living. The man was so brazen in his pursuit, so depraved, Noah suspected he’d dare just about anything at all.
A shiver of foreboding slithered through him. He wrapped his fingers around Natalie’s arm and guided her toward the back storeroom so they could talk in private, without worrying about prying eyes and listening ears. As soon as he shut the door behind them, Natalie turned around, looking too damned vulnerable for his peace of mind.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said, her gaze searching his for answers, her posture rigid. “Why is he doing this to me?”
He? Startled by her choice of word, he frowned. “You know who sent this note?” he asked cautiously.
She nodded jerkily and wrapped her arms around her middle, as if trying to hold herself together. “It was the same guy that I ran into at the restaurant.”
He narrowed his gaze, wondering how she’d made the connection. Had part of her memory returned? “How do you know it’s the same guy?”
“That…that note,” she spat, waving a hand at the offending napkin Noah still held. “The words that he wrote were some of the same ones he said to me at the restaurant. When I bumped into him, he said for me to be more careful of my surroundings.” Her voice rose a frantic notch, her eyes wild with frustration and fear as she paced back and forth in the small, confined space. “And what does he mean that he’s watching me and waiting to make me his again? Dammit, who is he?”
She still didn’t realize that the man following her was Chad Freeman. Her ex-boyfriend. A man intent on terrorizing her and doing a damn good job of it. Her mind and memory still suppressed that traumatic time in her life. And that left her too damn defenseless and susceptible to Chad’s mental and emotional game.
Noah stuffed the note into the front pocket of his jeans, knowing that he needed to tell her what was going on with Chad, just enough so she could be more aware of her surroundings and protect herself. Her doctor had suggested that Natalie remember things on her own, but considering how easily Chad had reached her tonight, Noah would be a fool to believe that he could keep her safe at all times. If he armed her with the knowledge of what she was up against, she’d at least stand a better chance of defending herself if the need arose. But he’d rather have that intense conversation at home, rather than here at her work.
He reached out to her, gently wrapping his fingers around her upper arms to stop her agitated pacing. “Natalie, I need you to calm down.”
“How can I calm down when nothing makes sense in my life but you?” She shuddered and slipped her arms around his waist, clinging tightly to him with her face buried against his neck. “Everything else feels like a disjointed dream where I’m lost and I can’t find my way back, and I hate feeling so helpless and weak!”
Tonight, when he revealed her past, he hoped all that would change, that she’d feel stronger and better equipped to handle the threat against her. But one concern weighed heavily on his mind. As she learned about her past, would she come to realize that he’d lied about their relationship? And would she hate him for the deception?
For Natalie’s sake and well-being, it was a chance he had to take.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
By the time Noah escorted her into his house, shut and locked the door behind them, then set the alarm, Natalie was wound up tight. The awful tension from the night’s events spiraled within her, demanding some kind of release. Knowing the one way she could escape all the conflicting feelings wreaking havoc with her psyche, she poured all her anxiety into sexual aggression and focused it on the one man who could make her forget, at least for a little while.
