18. Wade
18
WADE
Ellie’s brother Jack was finally stateside. He messaged us all a few days ago to let us know he was back on U.S . soil and currently on base, finishing his debriefing and paperwork to officially transition out of military life. If everything went smoothly, he would be flying home to Atlanta tomorrow, and would arrive around dinnertime.
Most of our communication with him up to that point had been through quick texts here and there, but today, we planned to talk with him on a group call with Archer and Vince to get him up to speed about Ellie’s stalker. Due to the incident last night, Archer , Vince , and I had decided to move up the timeline for our plan.
The three of us, along with Diego , were sitting in Vince’s office up on the second floor of our building. The four of us had just finalized our plans to deal with Ellie’s ex and were waiting for Jack to call.
Vince’s phone rang, and he put it on speaker as he answered.
“Vinnie!” Jack’s voice bellowed.
“Hey man, good to hear your voice back on U.S . soil for a change,” Vince said.
“Same, and I’m happy to not be eating MREs day in and day out, that’s for damn sure,” Jack joked.
Vince, Diego , and I grunted in agreement, knowing how much a real meal could mean after those pre-packaged military rations for so long.
“Well, just don’t do the cooking yourself,” Vince teased. “ We don’t need you dying as soon as you’re back because you poisoned yourself with your own cooking.”
None of us were great cooks by any means, but Jack was by far the worst. That man couldn’t make a piece of toast to save his life.
“Yeah, yeah, assholes,” Jack muttered, making us laugh even harder. “ Right . What’s the latest with my sister and her asshole stalker? You said something about a new plan.”
“There was an incident yesterday with a letter from him,” I explained. “ It’s clear he’s getting angry and escalating, so we’re going to use that to our advantage and try to catch him so we can finish this.”
“Legally,” Archer interjected. “ With cops and restraining orders and such,” Archer interrupted.
I rolled my eyes, and so did Vince . Clearly , we were open to other, non-legal options that Archer may not be. We filled him in about the letter and how she was holding up, plus all the latest information we had on him, before we laid out the plan.
“We’re moving her car back to the parking lot tomorrow, with the tracker in the original spot, and position the car right in front of the pub so it’s visible,” Vince said. “ The hope is Rupnik tracks the car and takes notice, and we’ll be ready.”
“Tomorrow night?” Jack asked, seemingly shocked it was so soon. “ Guys , can we hold off till the end of the week instead?”
“The pub is slowest on Tuesdays , so we’ll be dealing with the fewest number of people nearby,” I clarified.
“Look, I’m not asking we wait weeks. I’d just like to actually be in my own apartment a few days and not be completely jet-lagged for this,” Jack argued.
“Jack,” Archer cut in. “ While I’m pretty sure the letter itself was delivered from a local homeless guy, Rupnik’s obviously in town and saw her to know she was working last night,” Archer explained to him. “ We don’t want to give him too much time to think or plan anything out. I got a guy I know on the force here. He and his partner are gonna come have dinner in plain clothes at the pub tomorrow on us, so we also have a police presence in case he shows and makes a scene.”
“Ellie works at night, but after we get the new guys onboarded and finish up a client call tomorrow afternoon, we’ll go down there and eat dinner and hang out at the pub until she is off for the night to have a presence in case he comes early,” Archer detailed.
“I’m also going to help out at the bar with her and Tammy so she’s got protection close by,” I conveyed to Jack since I knew he was going to be concerned about that.
“When she’s done with her shift, we’ll get her back upstairs and put her in Wade’s apartment for the night,” Vince said and looked at me with a bit of warning to let me know Jack was not going to like this.
“Why the hell would she stay with Wade ?” Jack asked. “ I’ll be back and likely able to meet you all for dinner or shortly thereafter unless traffic makes Vince and I late. She can keep staying in my apartment, and I’ll watch her.”
Vince’s gaze shifted to me, and I knew it had more to do with the fact that he knew I was sleeping with Ellie and hadn’t told Jack , but before I could say anything to Jack , Archer broke in.
“Jack, it’s Archer . Hear me out on this.” Archer leaned closer to the phone and started to explain. “ I’m working on getting it fixed, but right now, your apartment is registered in your full name. It won’t take this guy much effort at all if he searches, or pays someone to search for him, to find out you live above the building. It’s going to be safer for her to stay close to you, but not that close.”
I calmed a little, knowing Archer made a great point that I hadn’t thought of because I was just being selfish in my reasoning. I did want her staying with me for her safety, but I also wanted her with me tonight because I needed to finally tell her that I wanted to make her mine.
“Ugh. Alright ,” Jack conceded, begrudgingly.
We wrapped up our conversation with some more info about the two new hires, and Vince got Jack’s flight info so he could pick him up from the airport tomorrow.
Ellie was off today and was trying to clean up Jack’s apartment before he got back. I texted her to tell her I was taking her out to dinner tonight. I needed to have a conversation with her about us, but I also realized that if I wanted her to believe that I was ready to actually try doing the relationship thing, that I needed to treat it like that. That meant I needed to take her out on real dates and woo and charm her like real boyfriends did.
I finished up my work and headed upstairs to get ready. I’d made reservations on the early side because I wanted to be able to come back here and watch a movie with her at my place. It had become kind of our routine when neither of us worked late, and I found I enjoyed it.
I walked across the hall and knocked on Jack’s door. Yeah , I had a key, but again, I was trying to be all chivalrous and stuff, so I decided to knock instead.
She opened the door wearing a blue dress that wasn’t fancy, but it suited her and matched her eyes perfectly. The neckline cut down in the front, just enough to show me a little tease of cleavage, but I knew what those perfect breasts of hers looked like, and I found myself fighting getting hard just looking at her.
I needed to focus. Boyfriend mode. What would a good boyfriend do?
“You look very nice, Ellie ,” I told her as I resisted the urge to pick her up and take her right there on the floor next to her kitchen.
“Thanks.” She smiled at me. “ You look pretty nice yourself.” She looked me up and down, interest clearly written on her face, making it even harder for me to control my dick.
“You ready?” I asked her, realizing it was better to leave the apartment so I wasn’t tempted.
She grabbed her purse, and we made our way down to my car. Knowing that asshole could still be around, I made sure to give my surroundings an extra glance just in case but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Conversation in the car and at the restaurant was light but good. We enjoyed each other’s company, and I realized that having a woman who was beautiful, kind, easy to talk to, and who you enjoyed spending time with was not an easy find. Women like that were not a dime a dozen, making me realize even more how lucky I was to have found her.
“Not that I’m complaining…” Ellie pushed her empty plate away from her. “ But why did you want to go out to a nice restaurant tonight?” she asked me with genuine interest in her eyes.
I realized I didn’t really explain my motives in my text and might need to spell it out more. I might as well just lay all my cards on the table so she didn’t think this was just about me getting laid.
“I don’t want you to think I’m only interested in you for sex, Ellie ,” I told her. “ I’m attracted to you, but I also care for you and enjoy spending time with you. I figured it was about time to take you out on a proper date.”
She smiled at me, and her cheeks turned pink. I realized I’d either embarrassed her or she was nervous. Maybe this wasn’t the best location to have this chat.
“You want dessert or to just go back and watch a movie at my place?” I asked, hoping she picked the latter so I could talk to her in a more private setting.
“Are you trying to get me to Netflix and chill with you,” she teased, smirking at me. “ Just so you know, I usually have a very strict policy of no sex on a first date.”
Her cheeks got a little pinker, and my dick hardened just at the mention of sex out of her mouth.
“Good to know,” I informed her and then grinned and flagged the waitress for our check.
She grabbed her purse, and I held her hand as I walked her to the car. As I opened her door, I gently grabbed her arm to turn her toward me. I kissed her hard but quick then slid my mouth across her cheek before whispering in her ear.
“Think I may be able to convince you to make an exception on your first date rule?” I asked her as my hand on her arm slid to her waist and pulled her flush against me. I kissed her harder now before sliding my tongue over her lips, seeking entry, and she opened for me, allowing me to taste her.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” I told her as I let go and helped her into the car.
I took a moment to readjust myself as I walked around to the driver’s seat. Focus , I told myself. Conversation first. Then , hopefully she is on board with your plan, and you can have sex.
If only one head would listen to the other.