Chapter 42
42
E than’s phone rang the next morning as they were finishing up breakfast. He frowned as he stared down at it.
“Unknown number. Be back in a minute, baby.”
She nodded and watched him walk off. Where was her phone? It must still be in her handbag.
Where was that? She was never this careless with her stuff. Was it still in the car? She moved to the foyer and saw it sitting on the hall table. Ethan must have brought it in for her.
Getting it out, she saw it was nearly dead and she had a lot of missed calls and texts. Most were from Rhodes. But there were a couple from Oliver who wanted to know how the meeting went. When she didn’t answer, he must have called and then sent another text asking if she was all right.
That was nice.
She sent him a quick text back to explain everything about the meeting. Then another to explain that the stalker had nearly run them off the road, but her phone died, so she wasn’t sure if it went through, and she walked into her office to plug it into the charger.
“Baby? Where are you?” Ethan called out.
“In here.”
He frowned as he walked into the office. “You weren’t trying to work, were you?”
“No. My phone is dead, so I plugged it in. I was replying to Oliver. Everything okay?”
“That was the police. They found the car that tried to run us off the road. It had been abandoned and set on fire. They’re going to go back through the traffic cams to see if they can get a view of the driver. Brody will do the same.”
She sighed. Another dead end.
Ethan drew her into his arms. “We’ll find this bastard, baby. I promise. And I’ll keep you safe.”
She knew he would. She just wanted this over. It seemed like the stalker was escalating and she was worried about what he might do next.
“Rhodes is back, baby.”
It was midday Sunday and it seemed their brief interlude was over. She had to go back to being Big Cate.
Maybe it wasn’t healthy to want to be Little all the time. But she felt like she needed more of a respite from everything going on.
There was the sound of the door opening and then Rhodes strode into the living room. He looked slightly wild as his gaze moved around the room before zeroing in on her. He stormed toward her and she felt Ethan move closer to her as though he thought Rhodes was a threat to her.
Just as she braced herself for Rhodes to come into contact with her, he stopped and held his arms open.
Even in this state, he was trying to respect her boundaries.
She threw herself at him. He was careful not to hold her too tight, but this was her brother. Her Rhoddy.
By shutting out everyone else, maybe she’d been pushing him beyond her barriers too. She’d let him in more than anyone else, but not fully.
Always protecting herself from hurt.
“I love you, Rhodes.”
He stiffened, then he drew back, staring down at her in amazement. “What? Did you just say . . .” His eyes glistened.
Oh no.
Was he upset?
“I’m sorry!” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to make you cry!”
“I’m not crying.”
Was he lying to her?
“I feel happy. I love you too.”
“Rip!” Samantha yelled as she stomped into the house. “I can’t believe you just left me in the car.”
Cate winced at the sound of her voice. She could feel a headache coming on.
“I needed to see my sister,” Rhodes replied.
Now, she wasn’t the best at reading body language and tone, but she thought he seemed tense and sounded cold.
Rhodes hugged her again, then turned them toward Samantha.
“But you’re all right, aren’t you, Cate? I mean, surely we didn’t need to come home on an earlier flight when you’re unharmed. It was just a small fender bender.”
“She was nearly run off the road, Samantha! And photos of her were plastered on the internet when she values her privacy. Frankly, I’m not sure I like this attitude you’re showing about my sister.”
Tears filled Samantha’s eyes as Cate stared at Rhodes in shock. She’d never heard him talk to Samantha like that.
“Trouble in paradise,” Ethan whispered to her.
Oh, good, she’d read the situation correctly.
“How can you talk to me like that? You are just being so mean.”
With a cry, she ran off and Cate jumped as a door slammed.
“I apologize for that,” Rhodes said to them both tiredly.
“Is everything all right?” Cate asked.
He sighed. “I’m just seeing a different side to her than I have before. Samantha can be very selfish.”
Wow. He was finally seeing that about her?
“You can always tell her to get lost,” Ethan said.
Rhodes turned to Ethan, his gaze narrowed. “I can tell you to get lost too.”
“No, you can’t,” Cate said. “Ethan doesn’t work for you anymore. He quit.”
“Ink told me. This is still my house.”
“Isn’t it my house, too?” she asked. “I mean, I guess technically, it isn’t.”
Rhodes scowled. “Fuck. Of course it is, honey. This will always be your house.”
“Then I can invite whoever I want to stay?”
“Yes,” he said in a low voice. “Whoever you want.”
“Good. Because Ethan and I are together. And you will deal with it.”
Rhodes gaped at her and she thought she heard Ethan muffle a laugh. But that made no sense.
None of this was funny.
Rhodes let out a deep sigh. “You’re sure about this, Cate?”
“I am. When have you ever known me to do something big that I haven’t put a lot of thought into?”
“You’re right. You’re the most logical, least emotionally driven person I know.”
That sort of made her sound like a robot.
But was that accurate? In a way, she guessed she had been rather robotic.
“Jesus, man. What the fuck? Don’t talk to her like that,” Ethan growled at Rhodes, stepping toward him. “She has emotions and feelings.”
Something filled Rhodes’ face as he gaped at Ethan, then her. “Fuck. I’m messing this all up. Fuck, Cate. I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t feel things. I just?—”
“It’s all right.” She reached out and squeezed his hand. “I understand. I’m not upset. I’ve always struggled with my emotions and it’s been easier to try to shut them down so I don’t get hurt.”
“Can I have another hug?” Rhodes asked.
She nodded and let him hug her tight. When he set her back, he looked almost happy. Maybe relieved? She wasn’t sure.
“I just want you to know that I’m not going to let this scumbag stalker hurt you anymore. We need more bodyguards, so I think we should look at a local team.”
Ethan nodded. “I agree, especially as I’m now officially on leave so I can devote myself to Cate. You’ll need someone else for Samantha and to relieve Seth. Ink is trying to work on freeing up someone else to come out. But until they can get here it would help.”
“Devote yourself to Cate? Hmm. You know, I think I might just approve of you dating my sister, after all.”
Ethan held out his hand and they did some complicated handshake.
“But if you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.”
“I would expect nothing less,” Ethan replied.
She shook her head. Men.
They were strange creatures.