Chapter 43
43
“ C an I open my eyes yet?” she asked.
He had hold of her hand and was leading her into her bedroom later on that afternoon.
“Just stay still while I shut the door. Now, you can.”
She opened her eyes and stared down at the red picnic blanket on the floor. There were plastic plates filled with food. Each plate held a different sort of food. One was a bowl of cut-up strawberries. Another was slices of cheese. Then there was a plate of crackers. More held olives, salami, and what looked to be chocolate brownies.
There were also plastic glasses filled with something that bubbled.
“What is this?” she asked.
“This is our first date. A picnic.”
“I can’t remember the last time I went on a picnic.” She didn’t really enjoy eating outside while sitting on the ground. But this . . . this felt like fun.
“Is it all right?”
She turned to him. “It is.”
His face seemed to soften slightly. “Sit down. I know some of the food like the crackers can’t be eaten with a knife and fork but I thought I could feed them to you.”
“That’s acceptable.”
Cate sat on the floor and watched as he picked up a spare plate.
“What would you like first?”
“Salami and cheese and olives.”
He carefully placed them on the plate so that nothing touched each other and set it in front of her.
“I poured us some sparkling grape juice. If you don’t like it, I also have lemonade.”
“I can’t believe you set this all up. For me.”
“You deserve it. And I’m going to eat it too.” He piled his plate up, then nodded to her knife and fork. “Eat, baby.”
She nibbled at her food slowly.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“I just . . . I want to make this last. I can’t remember anyone doing something like this for me.”
“Well, you don’t need to worry. Because it will happen again and again. I’ll see to that. It’s a promise.”
“Even though this is the only date I’ve ever been on, it’s still the best one.”
“Me too, baby. Now. Eat. You aren’t eating enough and you have to eat some calories to help you regulate your body heat.”
Always the bossy Dom.
But she liked that too.
She just plain liked him.
They sat and ate the picnic food, which ended with him feeding her strawberries and chocolate brownies.
It was amazing.
Later on that evening after their picnic dinner, she and Ethan were curled up on the sofa when Ethan’s phone buzzed. Seth walked into the room with his phone in his hand. “It’s Polly at the gate.”
“Why would Polly be here on a Sunday night?” Ethan asked.
“Samantha probably has her working,” Seth muttered. “I’ll let her in.”
They hadn’t seen anything more of Samantha today. Something that Ethan wasn’t upset about. Sure, he probably should feel sorry for Rhodes having to deal with that viper. However, he’d made his bed. Now he had to lie on it.
The front doorbell rang, and Seth walked out to open the door. Polly walked in, looking pale and flustered.
Her hair was even more wild than usual. And she was wearing a long, bright orange skirt with a purple top with pink flowers on it.
It was the loudest outfit he’d ever seen.
“Is everything all right?” Cate asked. “Are you working on a Sunday?”
“Yes, I, um, Samantha asked me to do a few jobs for her, and I was collecting the mail from her apartment when I saw this. It’s a letter with just her name on it. What if it’s from the stalker!” Polly cried, pulling an envelope from her oversized handbag. It was encased in a plastic bag.
Seth frowned at the envelope. “I’ll get Rip.”
Ethan stood and moved to Polly. She was holding the envelope tightly, her breath coming in sharp pants.
“Give it to me, Polly,” Ethan said. “Thank you.”
She nodded frantically as he took the envelope. He noticed she was still panting heavily.
“Are you all right?”
“I just . . . I had to take three different buses to get here, but I accidentally got off too early and had to run the rest of the way. Sorry. I’m rambling.”
“Would you like me to get you some water?” Cate asked.
Polly gave her a surprised look. “Yes, please.”
Ethan sent Cate a wink as she passed him. Then Rhodes and Samantha strode into the living room, followed by Seth.
“What’s going on?” Rhodes asked. “Seth said there’s another letter?”
“Polly? What are you doing here?” Samantha asked.
“I went to get your mail from your apartment like you said and I found a suspicious letter,” Polly said.
“What?” Rhodes asked, turning to Samantha. “You had Polly go to your apartment?”
“Yes, of course. I can’t get my mail.”
“Yes, but she shouldn’t be getting it either,” Rhodes told her. “Obviously, the stalker has discovered where you live.”
“Pfft.” Samantha waved her hand in the air. “It’s not like anyone is interested in Polly. She’s no one.”
“Samantha!” Rhodes barked.
Samantha instantly looked contrite. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just that the stalker isn’t likely to bother Polly. And what’s this about another letter? I want to see it!”
“We need to check it for prints,” Ethan said.
“I brought some tweezers,” Seth said.
“Here is your water, Polly,” Cate said as she returned. She handed Polly some water.
Polly smiled gratefully.
“Polly, you shouldn’t be making Cate run around after you,” Samantha scolded.
Polly slumped, her head dropping.
“I wasn’t running,” Cate said. “I walked. And Polly didn’t make me do anything. I offered.”
“Well, the letter?” Samantha asked impatiently.
Ethan carefully pulled it out of the plastic bag. “Good job putting it into this bag, Polly.”
Polly smiled shyly.
“Yeah, Pol, that was smart thinking.” Rhodes smiled at her.
“What does it say?” Samantha asked sharply.
Pretty little bird,
Fly, fly away
Or I’ll keep you in a gilded cage
As my sweet pet.
“That’s a terrible poem. It doesn’t even rhyme,” Cate said. “Or make much sense. Why would this person want to trap you?”
“Maybe because they want to use me to trap Rhodes. Or perhaps they’re shifting their attention to me,” Samantha said.
“I don’t know, that doesn’t make sense. And why are they calling you pretty now when before they seemed very angry at you before,” Cate murmured.
“Well, we’re hardly dealing with someone rational, are we?” Samantha snapped.
“We’ll add these to the rest of our evidence and I’ll dust them for prints,” Seth said. “I’ll also call Brody and Ink.”
Ethan nodded at him.
“Polly, thanks for bringing this over on a Sunday,” Rhodes told her. “You were right to be suspicious of it.”
“You’re welcome,” Polly whispered, staring down at her feet.
“She took three buses to get here,” Cate said. “That doesn’t seem very safe, especially at night.”
Rhodes frowned. “No, it doesn’t. I’ll give you a ride back.”
Suddenly, Samantha burst into tears.
Cate stepped back, bumping into Ethan. Her hands went up to her ears and he remembered that she hated loud noises.
He replaced her hands with his own as Rhodes gathered Samantha close to his chest.
“Perhaps you could take Samantha somewhere else,” Ethan suggested.
Rhodes looked over at Cate as Ethan turned her into his chest and picked her up. Rhodes nodded.
“Come on, Samantha. Polly, I’m sorry. I’ll get the service I use to come and get you.”
“No worries. I’m happy to take the bus.”
Rhodes shot the shy woman a stern look. “You will not. As Cate said, it’s not safe. You’ll let the service drive you. Come on, Samantha. I know you’re upset but you need to calm down.”
Ethan held his girl against his chest as she shook.
“Samantha has a set of lungs on her, huh?” Ethan said dryly to Polly.
Polly blushed.
“Why don’t you sit in the living room while you wait? Coffee? Soda?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
“You might need more than water. I’ll get you a soda once I take Cate to her room.” Polly didn’t look fine. She seemed pale and shaky. “The sugar might help.”
Cate tightened her hold on him. “No.”
“No?” he murmured.
“Stay with you.”
“All right.” Ethan carried Cate into the kitchen with him. “What about you, my baby? You want some soda?”
“Chocolate milk.”
Surprise filled him. Chocolate milk? That didn’t seem like her usual choice.
“Chocolate milk right before bed? Now that sounds like it’s something for a special occasion only.”
She leaned back, her lower lip sticking out. “Samantha scared me.”
“Hmm. True. All right, chocolate milk just this once.”
“Thanks, you’re the best. And can I suck your cock while I’m going to sleep?”
“Of course you can, baby.”
She was definitely going to be the death of him.
Ethan waited until she was asleep to pull back, letting his dick slide from her mouth.
Cate let out a small murmur and he grabbed her pacifier from the nightstand, sliding it between her lips.
After she’d relaxed with a sigh, he stood and sent a text off before pulling on his clothes.
Then he walked into the garage where Seth was waiting for him.
“Brody managed to get into the cameras at her apartment building. They have cameras in all of the hallways and the entrance.”
They might actually capture this guy.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much to see. It’s like this bastard knew where all the cameras were.”
Seth turned his laptop toward him. He watched as a figure wearing a black baseball cap walked up to Samantha’s door and slid an envelope under it.
“Looks like a slim-built man,” Ethan said. “Or it could be a woman with her hair tucked under the cap. Dark clothing and no distinguishable features. So no real help at all.”
“No, and the outside camera just has them walking along the street. No car outside.”
“Samantha knew about the cameras, didn’t she?” he asked.
“So you think there’s something off about all of this as well?” Seth asked quietly.
“Yep,” Ethan replied. “I’m going to send an email to Ink and Brody outlining my concerns. But the timing of this letter feels weird. As well as the content and the fact the person who delivered the letter seemed to know where the cameras were.”
Something stunk about this whole thing.
Seth’s phone rang. “It’s Brody.”
He put the phone on speaker.
“The blogger posted new photos!” Brody said.
“Really?” Ethan asked, hoping they weren’t of him and Cate again. “Of what? Rhodes has been away all weekend.”
“That’s just it! The photos are of him in New York with Samantha!”
Huh?
“This isn’t making sense,” Seth said. “The blogger followed Rhodes to New York. This means that the blogger wasn’t the person who tried to run Ethan and Cate off the road? So he isn’t the stalker? The stalker is someone else?”
“That seems likely,” Ethan said. “Fuck. I don’t know what we’re dealing with there.” Ethan relayed their thoughts about Samantha to Brody.
“Huh. I’ll look more closely at her,” Brody said before ending the call.
Ethan grunted. “The question is do we go to Rhodes with this?”
Seth shook his head. “All we have are suspicions. We can’t go to him without something solid. And you’re forgetting something.”
“What?”
“She wasn’t here the two times the stalker attacked. She was with Rhodes when the stalker attempted to get into the house and when that asshole tried to run you guys off the road.”
“So she has an accomplice?” Ethan asked.
“Or she’s not the stalker,” Seth suggested.
“Let’s just keep an eye on her. I don’t like that she’s in the house with Cate. The sooner we start getting more guards, the better.”
If he thought she would agree, he’d take Cate away. Maybe back to Montana for a while. Although he was worried about how cold she might get there.
But he’d keep her warm. And safe.
Happy.
Just like she made him.