AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Blake took her hand, leading her to the living room. What was he thinking? What did he know about all this that she didn't?
Ridge took a seat in the recliner, and Blake sat beside her.
Ridge leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "You know there was a fight with a man in a parking garage, right?"
"Yeah.” She’d been too scared to know any other details at the time. Now, it seemed like she should have been brave enough to ask. “You said it was about a girl."
Everly had never been interested in Ridge's love life, and relationships weren't something the two of them talked about much. When Ridge had mentioned a woman, Everly hadn't pressed for more.
"It was about a girl, but not someone I was dating. It was you."
Everly's eyes widened. "Me." She turned to Blake and then back to Ridge. "I didn't have a boyfriend back then."
That was a safe statement. Her relationships had been few and far between until David, and she hadn't started seeing him until right before Ridge's sentencing.
"I know. It wasn't that." Ridge rubbed the back of his neck. "There was a man following you. I noticed, and I confronted him."
The blood in Everly's veins turned to ice. The air in the room was thick and heavy. "What?"
"Blake saw him too. This guy kept showing up at different places where we were. Often enough that we first thought he was a fan who was taking things too far. He was at private events and appearances, but he was always on the fringes. He never approached any of us."
Everly looked at Blake. "You saw him too?"
The expression on his face was pained. "Yeah."
Ridge went on. "Then we thought he was a reporter or paparazzi, but he didn't always have a camera. We had an investigator do some digging on him, but he had a clean history. No rap sheet, no bad debt, and no links to any of us."
"But we figured out the connection," Blake said. "He only showed up when you were around."
Everly's heart pounded. She searched through her memories, but she couldn't remember seeing a man at more than one place. Granted, she was always more focused on staying out of sight at events.
But it hadn't worked, and she never knew.
“Is that why you asked me to move into the complex where you lived?” she asked Ridge.
“Yes. I hired extra security, and I wanted to keep you close.”
"I didn’t know that man,” Everly said.
Ridge shook his head. "You saw the headlines and reports when it happened, and you never mentioned recognizing him."
"So, um, what was he doing?" She was afraid to ask, but she had to know. How could she have overlooked something like this?
Keeping her head down in public, that was how.
"As far as we know, just watching you."
Everly took a few deep breaths before asking, "So, how did the two of you end up fighting?"
Fighting wasn't a good word for what had happened. She'd seen photos of the man after Ridge beat him to a pulp alongside photos the media had acquired to show the difference before and after. The man had been unrecognizable.
Ridge rubbed his neck again. Everly had seen him speak at press conferences, conduct interviews, and make national television appearances. He'd never shown nervousness before.
"I noticed him at a restaurant where we were eating with Mom and Dad. They'd flown into town for the game that weekend, and the man had been sitting at a booth near the kitchen."
Everly remembered the dinner with their parents. Blake had been there too. They'd eaten at The Fountain, an upscale restaurant in Fifth Third Center.
She remembered everything about that night. At least, she thought she had. She didn't remember seeing Preston Jennings. Not until she saw the news report with the differing photos of him showcasing her brother's capacity for violence.
