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“What are the odds?”
“Hard to say. Depends what kind of person we’re dealing with, and if they’re smart enough to cover their tracks.” Screwy Louie’s face popped into his mind, and his gut twisted. The threatening letters escalating to more pressing threats were right in line with Louie’s sick twisted games, but what would he have to do with Allison?
Unless Louie somehow connected the dots and found him, knew he had a working relationship with the reporter, or maybe he saw the interview and recognized him. His mind spun as every scenario blossomed in his head, one more convincing than the last.
“They’re smart enough to know where I live,” Allison said, knocking him out of his thoughts and turning his attention to something that’d been bothering him for days now.
He held back his rising temper. “It’s not exactly like you keep it secret. I checked out your social media accounts. Anyone could eventually put it together. Just from going through a few of your videos, I figured out your exact schedule.” It was reckless and dangerous.
“Not likely,” she said with her nose turned up.
“Let’s see. Tuesdays you go to yoga with your older sister between two and three. You go to lunch at Joe’s Lobster House every Wednesday with Larry. You pick up your niece from school on Fridays. You sit on your porch most days between four and five before you have dinner at five-thirty.”
“Wait a minute. You got all of that from my social media accounts?”
“Yes.” This was the exact reason he didn’t put anything on the internet. It was like leaving little crumbs for people to pick up and follow. “You have your entire life documented. Do you have any idea how dangerous and stupid that is?” The words were out before he could stop them, his temper overtaking any formality.
“You think I’m stupid?”
Typical. She would twist his words. He went to throw back a retort, but when he looked at her eyes, and realized the bite in her tone didn’t match, he stopped himself. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It sure as hell sounded like that.”
He thrust his hand through his hair, trying to control the frustration beginning to brew. She’d already gone through enough today. She didn’t need him to lecture her. “I’m sorry. I’m letting my emotions get the better of me.”
“What emotions?”
“What emotions?” he scoffed. “Allison, you have had several threatening letters sent to you and now a fucking cow tongue.” It was a viable threat and possibly his fault.
“I didn’t know you cared.” She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her pert nose upward.
“Of course I fucking care!”
Her head lowered, her pretty eyes wide. “I thought you hated me.”
“You’re an annoying, pushy pain in my ass.”
She rolled her eyes and dropped her arms to her side. “That’s real nice. Thanks.”
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. If anything… I care too much.” The admission should have felt like a mistake, but it eased the tension in his shoulder blades.
She sucked in a ragged breath, and her whisky-colored eyes locked on his. “Since when?”
“Damn it, Allison. Since the first day I met you. You were what, twenty-two, bright eyed and bushy tailed, so full of hope and positivity. The total opposite of everything I was at that time.” She was damn beautiful and nearly knocked him off his feet, and when she opened her mouth, proving she was a force to be reckoned with, he knew then she’d always have a hold on him. And she did, even if she was a proverbial thorn in his side.
“I’d argue not much has changed.”
He laughed. “No, it hasn’t.” He smiled, pressing his lips together. “After that first meeting, I swore to myself I’d do everything in my power to keep you that way.” His world had been shadowed by the dark side of humanity, making him hard, bitter, and unable to see the Brightside in most cases, but Allison. She was sunshine personified, bringing light into his world of darkness. He never wanted that light to go out.
“And how the hell did you plan on doing that?”
“By keeping the town safe. Keeping you from getting into the line of fire.”
“Well, that backfired.”
“No shit. I also realized you’re a pain in the ass who stops at nothing to get what she wants.” With determination in her too expressive eyes, she’d steamroll anyone to get the story she wanted, but she’d do it with a smile on her face, never losing the upbeat personality that captured him from that very first day.
“True.” She lifted one shoulder. “I was young in my field, and I had something to prove. Some days I feel like I still do.”
