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“Will you tell me what this other problem is?” Abbey breathed when I released her.
“Only after I confirm everything. I promise.” Duke’s voice was the softest I’d ever heard it. “Now darlin’, before we set our minds to showing you how much we love you, grab your phone for me and write down all that information. I’ll start working on it tomorrow.”
Abbey went to her room to retrieve her phone.
“Duke, you don’t think it could be him, do you?” I had to ask.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But after what she’s told us, I wouldn’t put it past the bastard. I’m going to do some digging, but there is a chance it’s him. It makes more sense than Grace’s old trainer right now.”
I felt my shoulders drop. He was right. It did make more sense. The question was, how were we going to stop the asshole and keep our woman safe?
ABBEY
Over the next week, all I could think about was that Liam and Duke loved me. I stayed in my room most of the time and painted. Liam and Duke said they wanted pictures of their horses and Jax, so I set to work on making that happen. It was going to be a surprise.
Duke and Liam still hadn’t told me what the other problem was, but Duke had promised he would, so I left it alone for now. I trusted them. He had his shifts and said he was still digging into Jeff and his whereabouts. It seemed he wasn’t currently in Georgia as the police there had been unable to locate him, so the search had been widened by both police forces.I decided if they didn’t give me any more information by the time Duke was on his next break, then I’d push for more answers.
It was scary knowing my ex was out there somewhere, holding a grudge. On one hand, I couldn’t believe after screwing other women, he’d even care to lose me. Yet on the other, Jeff hated to lose anything. And clearly that included me.
When Duke turned on my phone, I had over fifty texts from him and none of them were good.
Jeff: What do you mean we’re done? You can’t walk away from me.
Jeff: Don’t think this is over, bitch. I will find you, and you’ll be sorry you did this.
Jeff: Think you’re being clever? I will punish you for what you’re putting me through.
Jeff: I will have you back, one way or another. When I get my hands on you, you’ll regret trying to leave me. No one leaves me.
They got worse and worse the more time passed. The voice messages were even worse. You could hear he’d been drinking in some of them, while others were clear as day and just as threatening. Duke only let me listen to a few before he took the phone away. He said he would handle everything, but I didn’t want him to do this alone. I wanted to know what he was facing too, but he wouldn’t tell me any details.
I shut the door behind me and smiled at the house I now thought of as mine. After being on the ranch for more than three weeks, it felt like home. Between spending time with the girls, painting, and exploring, I was happy.And after years of being unhappy, the time here felt like a gift to treasure.
I had a few minutes until I was supposed to meet Jessie at the dining hall to finish planning Blake’s baby shower. As I made my way there, I waved to the ranch hands. A huge smile filled my face. I loved how close of a community it was. Part of me wished I’d come here sooner, but I know if I had, I might not have been ready to leave Jeff, and as much as it hurt, I might not have been open to being with Liam and Duke.
Jessie waved from the table in the corner where she sat waiting for me.
I jogged over. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Am I late?” I checked my phone to be sure I hadn’t lost track of time. I’d been painting before I left, and sometimes when the muse struck, I’d be in my studio for hours.
She smiled. “Not at all. I had to finish a few things for lunch, so I was already here.”
“Okay, so are we ready to finish the final details of Blake’s baby shower?” I asked. I loved that Jessie asked me to help. It showed me how much they’d welcomed me with open arms.
“If the guys are okay with it, I think we should have it at your place,” Jessie suggested.
“True. I’m sure I can convince them to let us use the house.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can.” She raised her eyebrows a few times and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Let’s talk about decorations and food.” I pulled out my checklist. “Since Blake doesn’t know what the gender is, we need to make everything neutral. Should we go with yellow or green?”
“I think green, but we can add in other colors too. Do we want to use a theme instead of colors? Maybe likebaby to beeand have little bees? Or maybepumpkin baby, since she’s due right after Halloween.”
“Oh, that’s a cute idea. I like the pumpkin theme. It’s still neutral, and it’s holiday specific. And Blake loves pumpkin pie. We should add that to the list for food. Mini pumpkin pies would be adorable.” I jotted notes, so we could keep track of what we decided. “This is going to be so much fun.”
“We should pop into town tomorrow and see what we can find. Let’s grab lunch with Alex and see if she has anything to add while we’re there. We can also stop by Gavin’s parents’ house and tell them about it. I know his mom and aunt will want to be here. They’re so excited.”
“Once this is over, we’ll need to get Tori’s done before she goes into labor. I hear twins come sooner than expected.” I couldn’t even imagine what it felt like to have two babies.
