Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Phoebe
A fter the police left, I sat on my couch, Claire next to me, as I watched Kane pace my living room. As soon as I had called him, I knew it had been the right thing to do. Because whoever was bothering me, sending me those calls and messages, had escalated. That’s exactly what it was. But now it seemed like I was worrying him. I was scared. I could admit that, but I hated the fact that Kane, even in pain, looked worried right along with me.
“Did you guys eat?” he asked, and I blinked, realizing that we hadn’t, and I hadn’t even asked him if he needed anything to drink.
I quickly stood up, running my hands over my hips as if to wipe off the clamminess.
“No, let me make us something.”
“I can do it,” Claire said, as she reached out and squeezed my hand. “You two talk. We’re okay. Promise.”
Kane looked between us and nodded. “I know you are. You guys are good. I’m just trying to not freak the fuck out and stress you guys out so just let me be a little alpha male and growly right now.”
“I can do that,” Claire said with a laugh, and then she gave him a quick hug. Kane’s arms moved to reach around her automatically, hugging her back. That made me smile. Because even with everything that was happening, Claire was still friends with Kane. She had hung out with the Montgomerys, especially Kingston, since he and their other cousin Aria were with Kane more often than not.
They were a team. And I knew that Claire missed hanging out with them.
Just like I missed them.
“You don’t have to go to any trouble,” Kane said softly as Claire took a step back, a flush on her cheeks.
“No, I was just going to heat up leftovers. I’m not going all out.”
That made me laugh. “It’s either that or take out.” I shuddered. “Though I’m not sure I’m ready for delivery.”
Kane scowled, and then moved forward to take my hand. I let out a soft sigh, having missed his touch. I knew I should probably take a step back and figure out if falling into each other like this during a crisis on both sides was a mistake, but I didn’t want to. Because even in the short months we had been apart, I had changed, and I thought maybe he had as well. Perhaps I needed to stop overthinking it because there was already enough to overthink.
“I’ll go reheat them,” Claire said as she scurried to the kitchen and I shook my head.
“I think she’s trying to give us privacy, but our apartment is not that big.”
“I’m actually just hungry,” Claire called out, confirming my statement.
I laughed and moved to wrap my arms around Kane.
“So, any updates beyond what the authorities said?”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing that they can do. The guy paid with cash, so they’re keeping an eye on things.” He scowled. “Fucking pisses me off.”
“Same,” I said.
“I was going to tell you about the doctor’s appointment, by the way. They were just checking the stitches. I’m fine. The fact that I didn’t wear the sling like I should have meant that they yelled at me, but I’m good. Crew dropped me off.”
“I’m sorry that he didn’t come in so we could feed him leftover pasta.” I tried to smile, to make it a joke, but I saw the worry in his gaze. I hated that, even though it was justified.
“Anyway,” I said after a moment. “Thank you for telling me. I’m trying to get back into the habit of telling you everything, too.”
“I only had a half-day at work today, even though I’ve been doing a bunch of online shit, researching. I’m taking a class.”
My eyes widened. “A class?”
“Just keeping updated on the cyber aspect of our jobs. Things are changing constantly, and I want to keep up. It’s my turn, since Kingston took it last time.” His lips twitched. “Kingston hates those classes.”
“I could see that,” I replied, thinking of his cousin. While Kane was growly, Kingston usually put on a smile and joked around. But I always thought he was a little more guarded than he let on. Far more growly.
“Okay, I heated up our food, and now I’m going to go sit in my room and watch TV and pretend that a man who is being really creepy to Phoebe didn’t send flowers today. And the fact that I didn’t just open the door and nearly let a random stranger in even though I had the guard on the door.”
I heard the worry in her tone and moved forward. “You don’t have to go in your bedroom.”
“I want to give you guys some space, and I really just want to get comfy under the covers.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Kane added, and I was grateful. Because I knew Claire felt guilty even though she hadn’t done anything, and nothing had happened.
“I should have just had him leave it at the door.”
“But it was an actual delivery man who signed in through the doorman below. You didn’t do anything wrong, and we’re going to be extra careful in the future. Don’t put this on yourself. It’s on that man. And we’re going to find him.”
Claire sighed and smiled, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know you will. Don’t worry. You’ve got this. I trust you.”
Then she scampered off to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. I tugged Kane to the kitchen island.
“Can we just sit on a stool here and talk? I’m starving.”
He looked down at the leftover pasta and artichokes on his plate and frowned. “No meat?”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, protein’s expensive.”
“I’ll cook you a steak next time. You need the iron.”
“Okay. But there’s iron in things other than steak.” I paused. “I could really use a steak. Not that this pasta wasn’t great fresh, though it’s probably not going to be amazing reheated.”
He shrugged, then leaned over the counter to kiss me. “I don’t care. I’m starving and I just want to be next to you. I’m not leaving, okay? I’ll sleep on the couch.”
I met his gaze. “No. Stay. With me.”
He smiled softly, then sat at the other side of the counter and dug in. It didn’t look like he hated the leftover pasta, and while it wasn’t exactly perfect food, it was just what I needed. Comfort, and no extra work.
“Sorry for being a bitch about the no meat thing,” he grumbled.
“You’re a carnivore, it’s fine. I should have remembered.”
He shrugged, then winced at the movement. I wanted to reach out but considered if he would be receptive to that.
“The doctor said that I’m fine to do normal activities, I’ll just be a little sore. The bullet didn’t dig in too far, but it bled a lot; that’s why it freaked us both out.”
“So you’re going to be okay?”
He met my gaze, the seriousness in his heartening. “Yes. And I have been. We still can’t find Tim though.”
I blinked, shocked that he was sharing with me. Something he hadn’t actually done much in the past. It had taken me looking back at our relationship to realize that he had always held himself apart, like what he did was too scary for me. But he was talking about it more now. He went into detail about Sherman Security, and I listened intently. They were still searching for the man who had tried to hurt the Montgomerys. There had been more to it, another client who wanted to take out Daisy, and I was grateful that Daisy and everyone else was safe. But there was still one man evading the police and authorities because of his training.
“I’m pretty sure he used to be a mercenary. Which freaks me the fuck out because I have no idea if he’s even going to be staying in the States. Because as soon as he crosses a border, as soon as he’s done with us? They’re not going to catch him.”
“Then maybe it’s good he’s gone. I know it sucks there won’t be any resolution, but I don’t want him to hurt you guys.”
“But that also means that we failed.” He scraped the last bit of cheese off the plate and chewed.
“You didn’t fail if you don’t catch him. It’s not your job.”
“Yeah, well, tell that to me after I’ve stayed up too late trying to go over every single interaction we ever had to see if I fucked up.”
I was still shocked that he was sharing so much; this was so different. Maybe this was different. Maybe we were. And maybe I was thinking too hard about it.
“What does Kingston have to say about all of it?” I asked as I started to clean up. He stood and took the plates from my side, rinsing them in the sink. I rolled my eyes, then went to wipe off the counter. I loved that he didn’t expect me to do dishes or anything like that, like a former boyfriend of mine had. He had literally said the phrase “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen” at one point, which had been the last straw. Kane was never like that. He was raised by good people who made sure that he treated women right. I just wish he would have been able to share more of himself in the past.
“Kingston is taking it on more than I am, which says something.” He rolled his eyes. “He is back at the office with Ford going through paperwork, seeing if we can figure out where Tim might be holed up. And he’s working on your case.”
“I still can’t believe I have a case. I mean, every once in a while I would get a note, then he would go quiet for a while, but now flowers? It’s just unnerving. And I want to say he doesn’t seem dangerous, but I don’t like that he’s doing it at all. And the idea that he’s smart enough that we can’t catch him right away? It creeps me out.”
With soapy hands, Kane reached out and pushed my hair from my face.
“I’m not leaving. I’m going to be here, okay?”
“I know. I know.” I went to my tiptoes and kissed him. He smiled against my lips before he kissed me back. Then my phone buzzed, and he sighed. “Probably a good thing. Because I think fucking you on your kitchen island with your roommate in the next room probably isn’t a good idea.”
I rolled my eyes, my cheeks heating because just the idea of him fucking me on the kitchen counter again made me want to press my thighs together.
But there was a time and a place.
Isabella: I’m just thinking of you. Did you eat? Any updates? Let’s do family dinner. I love you.
“Who is it?” Kane asked, and he didn’t sound worried, just interested. Like a boyfriend would be.
Not like the overprotective grouchy man that he had sometimes been.
“Isabella.” I looked over at him as he rolled his eyes. “What?” I asked with a laugh.
“She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you.”
“I hurt her little sister. She’d have me on a rotisserie, spinning over a fire pit if she could.”
That visual made me shiver. “Oh no. She would bury you alive. That’s a lot more fulfilling for her than having to do the extra labor of burning you alive and having to deal with the smell.” I said it so deadpan that Kane blinked at me before he winced.
“Okay, well that’s something I never needed to know.”
“Sorry.”
“You’re not sorry at all, but I don’t mind.”
“Let me just text her back.”
“Are you going to tell her I’m here?” he asked, his voice soft. “Or about the flowers?”
I cringed. “I’ll tell her you’re here, but I’m a little worried about the flower part.”
“Well, that does make me feel better,” he said, and I heard the honesty in that.
Me: Everything’s good. I just finished dinner. Kane’s here.
My phone immediately rang and I rolled my eyes.
“Big sisters,” I said with a laugh, but I answered as Kane gestured for me to do so.
“Hello there, Isabella.”
“Kane’s there? Why is he there? Is everything okay? Was there another attack?”
It hadn’t even occurred to me that’s where her mind had gone, though it should have. I was an idiot. Or I was love drunk over the fact that Kane was in my kitchen.
“He’s here because we had dinner, and then I was going to go make out with him on the couch later while watching a movie. Hope that’s okay with you.”
I was completely distracting her from the fact that I had a stalker. Not that she knew that part. If possible, she would kidnap me and keep me safe in her house where nobody could ever hurt me. She would do that to all of us, including our mother, if she had a chance. I’m not sure if she would do the same to Dad. Isabella and the rest of my siblings knew our dad more than I did, since he had stayed with them longer. I only had a small relationship with him. I mean I loved him, he was my dad, but Isabella and my mom were the ones that raised me.
“So, you’re together again.” She paused, and I waited to hear the lecture. Only it didn’t come, which surprised me. “Okay. Tell him hi for me, and if he hurts you, I will gut him. Or something worse. Actually, I’ll have to figure out something because he’s highly trained so I’m going to do something that surprises him. Don’t tell him that I’m thinking about how to do that.”
“Isabella, you’re a nut.”
“Maybe, but I’m a protective nut. Now I have to go back to work because a deadline waits for no one, but I love you. Stay safe, and just well…Phoebe?”
“Yes?”
“Be happy, okay? Kane used to make you happy. I hope he continues to do so.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, grateful she couldn’t see me. But Kane could, and when he frowned at me, reaching forward to wipe the tear from my cheek, I leaned into his palm, needing his warmth.
“I love you, you know.”
“I love you too, baby sister. Now, be safe and use a condom.”
Kane burst out laughing and I realized it was because he was so close he could hear that.
Isabella laughed on the other side, and repeated the phrase, and I said I loved her again before hanging up.
“She’s ridiculous.”
Kane raised a brow. “Well, sadly I don’t have a condom on me.”
My cheeks burned again. “Well, I have some in my bedroom. We should go in there and check. Just to make sure they’re still there.”
“That was smooth, babe.”
“I try. Seriously though? I’m really surprised that Isabella was so cool with that.”
“You’re an adult. And I like the fact that she is protective of you. Even though I’m trying not to be too much.”
“As long as I can be equally as protective of you, and as long as we talk about it, I’m okay. I promise.”
And that was the truth, even though I was once again worried I was making a mistake. Because things weren’t perfect, but they felt good in this moment. Maybe that’s exactly what I needed. When his lips captured mine, I set my phone down and leaned into him.
“I’m glad you’re staying.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he whispered. “We can deal with everything else later.”
I trusted him. Because we would deal with it. He had already begun to.
Things wouldn’t be like before. I just had to ignore the fact that two people were coming at us, scaring us, but we would fight that. We’d find a way through it.
I wasn’t sure what I would do if we didn’t.