Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dimos
The past week has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life.
It’s agony, watching Carley worry, and not being able to make this pathetic piece of shit go away.
We haven’t received any more communication from Blaine, and honestly, I think Carley would feel better if we had.
She’s been jumpy and on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since we found that letter in my mailbox.
I’ve been communicating with a PI named Travis who was recommended to me by several business partners.
Supposedly, he’s the best at what he does.
I sent him all the information I have on Blaine so far, which really isn’t much.
Unfortunately, he’s wrapped up in the middle of another assignment and hasn’t gotten back to me with anything yet.
The owner of Rapid Flyers wasn’t any help, either.
I asked for a copy of the courier request and whether or not he had camera footage I could view.
He didn’t care that his company was responsible for sending threatening letters from a known, violent stalker.
His only response was some bullshit about respecting the privacy of his clients.
I think it’s obvious why Blaine chose to work with this particular company.
Carley had to talk me down from going over there and beating him senseless.
I don’t like when Carley goes home each evening. I’m left in fear for her and wondering if that nut job is going to break into her apartment again. The only thing that brings me any peace of mind is knowing they have the cameras in place.
I would drop everything to move her into the penthouse with me this second, but I can’t in good conscience ask her to do that before she knows about Emma.
I need to figure out what I’m going to say to Carley.
And I need to put a stop to Emma’s calls before shit gets out, and Carley finds out about her before I’m able to explain.
The ding of the elevator pulls me from my spiral. Glancing at my watch, I realize what time it is.
1:13 P.M.
Mail time.
Every day since the first letter was delivered, I’ve made sure I was the one to receive the mail.
Carley has assured me over and over she can handle it, and I know she can, but the protector in me has been unleashed.
Until we get this motherfucker out of our lives for good, I want to be the first line of defense, protecting Carley from any and all dangers to her. Physically, mentally, or otherwise.
Exiting my office, I cut Sid off on his path to Carley’s desk.
“I’ll take the mail.” I stand in the way of the cart as he tries to pass by.
He looks over my shoulder toward Carley as I squeeze my hand into a fist, trying to quell the annoyance he brings me.
“Sure, Mr. Anastos.” He hands me the stack of envelopes and junk mail before speaking again. “Hi, Carley.”
“Hi, Sid. Have a nice day.” She dismisses him knowing the longer he’s here, the more I begin to lose control of my anger.
It’s selfish of me to make her worry about my actions, but I am who I am, and there’s no changing that at this point in my life.
“You too,” he smiles before turning his cart around and walking back to the elevator.
As I walk toward Carley’s desk, my eyes meet hers. Her cocked eyebrow is all I need to see to know I’m not hiding my irritation very well.
“He’s harmless,” she quietly tells me.
“Well, I’m not. Especially not while there is a psycho out there threatening you. I don’t trust anyone. Nor do I want anyone anywhere near you.”
After pinning her with my stare, I begin to sort through the stack of mail in my hands.
When my eyes land on a white envelope with “Carley Garrettson” written in the same scraggly handwriting on it as the first two, I see red.
Letting everything else drop to the ground at my feet, I tear open the offending letter.
“What does it say?” Carley stands from her chair immediately and joins me at my side.
I MISS THE SWEET SMELL OF YOUR SKIN
AND THE WARMTH OF YOUR GAZE
YOUR EYES BELONG ON ME CARLEY
NOT HIM
DO YOU THINK OF ME WHEN YOU FUCK HIM
IT MAKES ME ANGRY EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT
SOMETIMES I GET VIOLENT
ILL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU FORGIVE ME
IVE BEEN FUCKING SOMEONE TOO
I DONT WANT TO BUT I HAVE URGES THAT NEED TO BE MET
UNCONTROLLABLE URGES
DONT WORRY THOUGH
YOURE THE ONLY ONE I THINK ABOUT
WHEN IM VICIOUSLY FUCKING HER
SOON IT WILL BE YOU CARLEY
JUST ME AND YOU
I can feel the fear emanating from her as she reads the newest message from this sadistic fuck. Fire burns me from the inside out, and I’m finding it more and more difficult to channel my rage. I want to—no, I need to—find this motherfucker.
Slowly, Carley walks the few steps back to her desk and takes a seat. Removing my phone from my pocket, I type out a quick email to Travis, asking him to call me as soon as possible. I need answers. Something. Anything.
I’m honestly at a loss here. There has never been a time in my adult life where I didn’t feel like I had complete control over a situation. I busted my ass from the moment I entered college so I would never feel this way again.
Fuck waiting. This unhinged lunatic isn’t going to let a few cameras stop him, and his latest demented love letter has accelerated my timeline. I’ll need to deal with Emma as soon as possible now. I refuse to let that conniving bloodsucker come between Carley and me.
“I think you should move in with me.”
Carley’s eyes snap to mine, her shock evident in her features.
Before she’s able to speak, I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. Swiftly I pull it out thinking it might be the PI, but it’s not.
Emma.
It’s as though the universe is warning me shit is going to blow up in my face the longer I wait to tell Carley the truth.
Why is she reaching out to me now? I was over her before the ink was dry on our divorce papers. I moved on. She moved on. What is this about? Part of me wants to tell her to fuck off, but the other masochistic part of me wants to know what she wants.
My eyes shift back to Carley’s, still looking like a deer in headlights, and I decline Emma’s call for the second time in a week.
“What?” she finally questions, still looking at me as if I have three heads.
I walk to Carley and drop down onto the floor in front of her. Her eyes grow wider still as she inhales a sharp breath. Suddenly, I realize what I must look like.
“No, no. It’s not that. I just, I want you to know that I care about you deeply. I don’t want anything to happen to you, and I think the best way to do that is for you to stay with me. At least until Blaine is well and truly gone from our lives.”
She lets go of the breath she was holding on to, and a rush of air floats over me.
“Look, I want nothing more than for you to move in with me, not because of Blaine, but because…”
I stop suddenly, realizing I almost told her I love her. It’s true. One hundred percent totally and emphatically true. But it’s too soon, and there is too much that hasn’t been said yet.
“Because of our relationship. I hate that he’s messed up the way in which I would have preferred asking.
I had several other ideas in mind, each way more romantic than springing it on you in the middle of the office.
But nothing is more important to me than you and your safety.
Your well-being supersedes romance any day of the week. ”
I watch as tears pool in her eyes, and her lips form the widest smile I’ve ever seen grace her face before.
“You may not see this as romantic, but I do. I see it in your worry. In your desperation to protect me. The fact that you didn’t hit the pavement running when things got hairy.”
“Believe me when I tell you there isn’t anything that would make me want to leave you. Especially now that we have a second chance. And don’t worry, I plan to ask you again, the correct way when the time is right.”
“I don’t need a redo. Nothing tells me you care about me more than everything you’re doing to keep me safe.”
“I would lay my life down to make sure nothing happens to you. Swim to the—”
“… bottom of the deep blue sea,” she smiles, finishing the promise I’ve made to her numerous times over the past two weeks.
“If it meant you were safe.” I return her smile.
Standing up from the ground, I grab her hand and whisk her into my office. Unable to control myself one moment longer, I shut my doors, press her up against the hardwood, and kiss her like it’s the first time all over again.
* * *
“Is this the last of it?”
I grab one of two Michael Kors suitcases from Carley as she wheels them out of her building to my waiting limo. I’m loading them up while Izaak grabs some lunch from a street vendor around the corner. There are three suitcases already inside, and I’m trying to make room for more.
“No, there is one more up there.”
“I may as well hire a moving company to come get the rest of your things at this rate. We can make this more of a permanent arrangement.”
Before she gets a chance to protest, and before I actually follow through with it, I pull her in for a kiss. She wraps her arms around my neck as I comb my fingers through her wavy hair. She smells so fucking good, and the feeling of her tongue on mine makes my dick twitch.
I run my other hand down her side, stopping when I get to her denim clad ass. Grabbing a palmful of her perfectly round cheek, I allow both my hands and lips to linger a while longer.
“I’ll go up and grab it for you,” I offer, finally breaking our kiss.
“It’s okay. I promised Saylor I would go back up one more time to say goodbye. She told me she wouldn’t come down here to see me off. I think she’s half joking, but it’s her way of showing her disapproval of our plan.”
Carley rolls her eyes and shakes her head gently at her best friend’s behavior.