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“You shouldn’t have told her that,” Johnny whispers loudly, making us both laugh.
“You and John should join us for dinner,” I offer, and Joy nods.
“That sounds great.I’ll have them back over in a little while.”
With a kid on each side, the three of them walk away, and I head up to the house and push inside.
“Erin?”Remington calls out.“Come to my office, please.”
He doesn’t sound particularly happy that I’m home, and my already knotted-up stomach starts to do the salsa as I walk to the doorway of Rem’s office.
He’s sitting behind his desk.Chase stands at the window, Ryan and Brady sit in chairs, and John leans against the bookshelves.Even Millie watches me with red-rimmed eyes from across the room.
The whole family’s here.
“Uh, hi.”
“Have a seat,” Brady offers, standing from the chair.
“If it’s all the same to you, I think I’d rather stand.”I lift my chin and walk into the room, my eyes on Rem’s.
“I spoke with your father just a little while ago,” Remington begins, and all of this suddenly makes sense.
“Is anyone hurt?”I blurt out.“Did he somehow get to the ranch and hurt someone?”
“No,” John replies and reaches out to pat my shoulder.“You’re not in trouble, Erin.”
“Bullshit,” Remington disagrees.“I want to know why I heard that there’s a stalker who is out of prison and obsessed with you, from yourfather.Why didn’t you tell me?You’re with my kids.You live in my home.Jesus, you’re…you.I can’t protect anyone if I don’t have the information, Erin.”
“I didn’t know,” I reply as I round on him.“I just found out when I picked up the kids.I didn’t know that he was out of prison.”
Just saying the words makes me swallow hard and close my eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Okay,” Millie says, rushing over to me to put her arm around me.“Now we know.”
“You talked to Millie about it,” Remington continues.“But you didn’t tellme.”
“You’re right, I didn’t tell you.”I sigh, suddenly so fuckingtired.“I’d spent all afternoon worried about it.No one could tell me if he was out of jail until today.Millie helped keep my mind off things all afternoon, and then I came home and was just exhausted.I didn’t know anything for sure, and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“But he sent flowers to your job.”
“I didn’t know that they were from him yesterday.Isuspected.I won’t have you interrogate me like I’m the one who did anything wrong.I went through that once before, and I won’t do it again.I’ll pack my shit and get out.”
“Whoa!”Brady says.
“No, wait.”Chase holds up his hands.
“That’s ridiculous.”Ryan shakes his head.
All the men are on their feet, gesturing for me to stop.Even Remington has climbed to his feet, but his jaw is firmly set as he watches me through those hazel eyes, and I hate how frustrated he looks.
“Why don’t you sit,” Chase suggests, “and tell us what happened?I need to know so I can put out an APB in case this asshole has decided to come here.I’ve already spoken with your uncle Matt in Seattle, and he’s given me some solid information.But it’s always best to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
I have to talk about it all over again,is all I can think to myself as I lower into the chair, and someone passes me a glass of water.I pause, take a sip of the water, and play with a string on my dress as I think about where to begin.My gaze finds Remington’s, and I wish that coldness in his eyes would go away.
“I was twenty,” I begin.“In college.I started getting stupid messages on social media.Look, my dad is a famous football player and still works closely with the team.Not to mention, I have all kinds of famous people in my family, so it’s not unusual to get some weird messages or comments from time to time.You learn to ignore it.One thing that’s true is, people are really brave when they’re behind their phone or a computer screen, you know?”
“Sure,” Chase says with a nod.“Sounds reasonable.”
