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I squinted at Nacio’sinvitedguest. There was something strange about his hands. It looked like he was wearing gloves, the tight latex kind doctors used, except his were flesh-colored instead of blue.
Samuel’s hand moved all the way up my leg. I reached to swat at him, but he was already gone, and he had my phone in his hand. Was that the point of him putting his hand on my thigh in the first place?
His eyes scanned the messages crowding my home screen. He kept the phone under the table but didn’t make an effort to hide that he was on his phone in the middle of dinner.
“Who is this?” he asked me, keeping his voice low.
“It’s nothing. I just haven’t gotten around to blocking him.”
“This isn’t nothing. He’s threatening you.”
I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help it. “Those aren’t threats. He can go tell whatever gossip pages whatever he wants. He doesn’t have anything legitimate. There are no pictures, nothing but the word of a date I’ve hardly been seen with. Worst-case scenario, we hire someone to fix my image.”
“You’ve been through the stalker-ex thing a lot, have you?”
“He’s not an ex. I went to dinner with him once.”
Samuel kept scrolling through the messages, and I watched his expression get stormier by the second. He shoved my phone into his pocket and stood, grabbing my arm and pulling me up too.
“Excuse us. We need to have a talk.”
“Wha—” I sputtered.
“Now.” Samuel took off toward the kitchen, dragging me along. I’d never seen him quite like this. Anger radiated off him in waves.
“Where are we going?” I was still kind of in shock that he’d just pulled me away from dinner with my family in my house. At least that was the only reason I could come up with for how I managed to say anything to a pissed-off, sort-of-terrifying Samuel.
“This house doesn’t have anywhere private, does it?” he grumbled.
“We don’t need privacy. Tell me what’s going on.”
Samuel ignored me as he walked around the island and opened the bathroom door. He shoved me inside and shut the door behind us. The lock clicked, sounding loud and ominous in the moment.
I folded my arms and did my best to stare him down. “Is this really necessary?”
The bathroom wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t exactly my top pick for a meeting place either. Then again, was it really any worse than a linen closet? At least the door locked and there was even a second door we could escape out of if someone came looking for us.
Samuel yanked my phone out of his pocket and held it in front of my face. “How long has this been going on?”
I took a deep breath and prayed for patience. If Samuel were a hysterical child, I wouldn’t yell or snap at him. “I went on a date with the guy two weeks ago. Since then he’s been texting. I’ve blocked a couple of numbers already, but he just starts up from a new one. I’ll block this one too. It’s not a big deal.”
Samuel glared at me. “These are not the messages of a guy who thinks this isn’t a big deal.” He held the phone out to me. “I think there was a demand of marriage in there along with the comments about you thinking you’re better than him and him teaching you a lesson.”
I sighed and took the phone from him. This, unfortunately, wasn’t the first crazy I’d dealt with in my life. But I was really hoping to avoid the restraining order this time.
He leaned back against the counter. “Have you told your brother?”
“No, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t either. There’s enough tension between us right now.”
“If I don’t tell Nacio, what are you planning to do about the guy?”
“I’ll talk to my parents and get a restraining order if necessary.”
“I can take care of him for you.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
A tiny smirk lifted one corner of his lips. “Depends on how much persuading it takes to convince him to get out of your life.”
