Chapter 28 Beau
beau
“Were you ever going to tell me!?” Valencia yelled at me. “I had to find out when your landlord called me!”
“Val.”
“I mean what the hell, Beau? I thought we were closer than this.” Valencia looked hurt. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I thought—”
“Did you think it was going to go away?” She interrupted me as I glanced at her boyfriends who were sitting on the couch trying to ignore us.
“Valencia,” I said, as she continued to talk over me in Spanish.
I sighed, feeling like an even bigger asshole, but I sat on the chair deciding to let her get it out of her system.
“And what if you were there?!” she cried.
I looked up to see a tear fall down her cheek.
“Val.” I stood up to hug her. “I thought I could handle it.”
“By running away?” she mumbled against my chest.
“I thought I’d disappear for a bit and they’d lose interest,” I said, rubbing her back. “It’s happened before. I don’t respond or I go away for a bit and they go away.”
“Beau, what did he do to make you leave? You didn’t just go on vacation,” she said, pulling away to study me.
My stomach soured, wishing I could lie to her. “He sent a package to my home.”
“Beau! Go to the police,” she snapped.
“It’s not that simple,” I said, pulling away.
“What do you mean? You walk in—”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” I snapped. “You know how discriminatory they are towards people in our line of work.”
“But at least they will document it.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s something, Beau.”
“Then what? They know something happened and when I end up assaulted, I can say hey, I reported it,” I sighed, running my hand through my hair. “Or worse, when I end up—”
“Don’t you dare say it,” she snapped.
“They won’t help me and you know it,” I said, getting frustrated.
I looked at my phone, realizing I’d been here for twenty minutes already.
“I think Val’s right, Beau, report it so there’s at least a paper trail.” Valencia’s boyfriend, Hunter, walked over to us.
“Well, he did that for me,” I said. “From the picture you sent, the police have to know this is someone stalking me.”
“They still need to talk to you,” Valencia said, hugging Hunter.
“I’ll speak with them and tell them everything. I have everything saved in a folder of when it started and how it escalated.”
“Good, you can stay here while you do that and we can keep an—”
“I can’t stay here,” I said, shaking my head. “Iris is with me. Actually—”
“You brought her with you? Where is she?” Valencia asked, looking at me like I was an idiot. “Does her husband know?”
I was an idiot. “She’s waiting for me in the car and—”
“En serio?!” she yelled, throwing her hands up.
Seriously?!
She mumbled words in Spanish I couldn’t hear, that probably was for the best as she put some shoes on leaving the apartment quickly. I sighed, feeling stressed from the day and everything that had come from it.
“Dude, you better follow her,” Romeo said from the couch. “Who knows what she’s going to say to her and—”
“Fuck, you’re right.” I interrupted him running to catch up with Valencia, who was thankfully still by the elevators. “I was just supposed to come for the key and leave.”
“You knew it wouldn’t be that easy,” she said.
“I was hoping to be in and out,” I said, running my hand through my hair as nerves settled in my gut. “Iris doesn’t know.”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Valencia muttered.
“She doesn’t need to know,” I said.
“That’s not fair to her,” she snapped.
“What’s the point of worrying her?” I scowled.
“Then why bring her?” The doors to the escalator opened as Valencia gave me a look that said I was an idiot and yeah, I was starting to think I was a fucking idiot.
When we arrived on the ground floor, Valencia left me on a mission to find Iris without me.
Once she saw Mark’s SUV she walked toward it.
He was a driver we used together and we trusted him immensely.
“Where is she?” Valencia had the back door open.
“She said she was hungry and she would be back,” he said, looking sheepish. “I tried to get her to wait, but she walked away, not giving me a choice.”
“Sounds like her,” I said looking around for her. “Any idea where she went?”
“She asked about sushi,” Mark said.
“T-Sushi is just down the block,” Valencia said, already walking away. “Grab your bags Beau, don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Only for dinner!” I yelled.
I sighed, feeling drained and exhausted.
“You know she always gets what she wants,” Mark chuckled, already getting our bags out.
“Yeah, I know,” I said, grabbing our bags. “I appreciate your time. Sorry about the wait.”
“It’s fine, you were my last client,” he grinned.
“Well go home to the Mrs. and relax,” I said, bumping my elbow against his.
“Will do,” he said walking away. “Oh, hey—”
“Found her!” I looked at Valencia with Iris, holding two bags of food.
“Thanks, Mark,” I said over my shoulder, walking to the girls. “You think that’s enough food?”
“Well, Valencia invited me up,” Iris said, narrowing her eyes. “So maybe it’s not too much food.”
“Hunter and Romeo are home so we might need double,” I attempted to chuckle, but it felt too forced.
“Oh, no worries. I placed our usual order,” Valencia said, threading her arm with Iris. “They will deliver it in about twenty minutes. Come on, let's take a load off, you guys look exhausted.”
“Thanks,” Iris said, before Valencia launched into a full investigation on how she had been since New Years.
I knew Valencia was trying to fish out Nash’s name, but Iris would never—
“Oh, hold on. Nash is calling,” Iris said, as we reached Valencia’s floor.
Valencia’s eyebrows went up as we walked to her condo.
“Hey,” Iris said softly.
I felt a little guilty for stealing her when we were supposed to meet in Amarillo, but I wasn’t thinking right. I was scared out of my mind and even though I didn’t want Iris anywhere near my psycho stalker, having her here with me made me feel better, like I had some control of my life.
“Yeah, we are fine,” Iris said, as we were walking into the condo.
“The husband is asking about you too?” Valencia quirked an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes feigning irritation when really, I was scared she would find out about this too. It would be another strike against my trust.
“He wants to talk to you,” Iris said, passing the phone to me.
“Oh, ok.” I grabbed the phone avoiding Valencia’s gaze.
“Hey,” I said, walking away from prying ears.
“Are you ok? Is Iris ok? What’s going on?” he asked immediately.
“It’s nothing,” I said. “I just—”
“Don’t bullshit me. You might have Iris fooled, but not me,” he snapped. “You wouldn’t leave for no reason unless something big has happened.”
I sighed. “Someone broke into my apartment.”
“Shit, what did they take? What are the damages?” he asked quickly.
“I don’t know, we stopped at my friend Valencia’s home to pick up a key for the door she replaced,” I said, running a hand over my face.
“What do you need from me? I can be there in—”
“Nash, you don’t have to come here,” I said, feeling my heart fill up from his offer. “I just want to see the damages and talk with the police so I can deal with the insurance and then Iris and I will be home soon.”
Damn, when did Sterling Ridge become home?
“Beau, what do you need?” he asked again.
I wanted safety, to be held, to be told everything was going to be ok, but I couldn’t ask him to come here.
“Nothing, I just need to get things in order here and then we will go back to Sterling Ridge,” I said with more confidence. “You don’t need to miss another rodeo, anyway.”
The line was silent for so long I pulled the phone away to see if he was still there.
“Nash?”
“You know you can ask me for anything, right? I know this started as just us having fun, but we—out—need—other—”
“Nash?”
“Hear—stupid—way.”
A beep told me the phone had cut off.
I called back and it went to voicemail immediately.
Nash was probably driving; the service was shit out in the country.
I opened her text messages to send a text to him, deciding to do it from my phone instead.
Looking back, I saw Iris with Valencia and the guys in the living room.
She was laying out the sushi on their coffee table, smiling at something Romeo had said.
My stomach soured when he made Iris laugh.
It was a stupid response. I was tired, irritated and everything was catching up to me.
I walked into the living room hearing Romeo talking about their game last night and how he and Hunter were on fire, scoring goals left and right. It was such a normal conversation that helped me relax a little bit as I sat next to Iris.
“Everything ok?” she asked.
“Yeah, we got disconnected. I think he was still driving,” I said, handing her phone back to her.
“Is he going back to Utah?” She stuffed her mouth with a roll and groaned.
I chuckled. “Good?”
“I wish Sterling Ridge had sushi,” she said, closing her eyes while savoring her bite.
I grinned, taking in her expression, enjoying her happiness.
“Does Monroe have sushi?” Valencia asked.
“Not like this,” Iris said, grabbing another roll.
I felt Valencia’s gaze as I grabbed a plate, loading up on different rolls when the doorbell rang.
“Then you should come visit Beau often when he comes back for some sushi,” Valencia said.
Iris tensed for a second before eating another roll. I glared at Valencia, wondering what the hell she was doing.
“I’ll definitely be back for this sushi,” Iris said.
I didn’t know if it should hurt me that she didn’t say she was going to come back for me specifically, but this entire situation was getting out of hand.
“My brother lives here too, so that’s another excuse to come out here,” Iris said in between bites.
“Your brother is Luke, right? He’s with Genevieve?” Valencia asked.
“Yeah, they are together with his wife Camila,” Iris chuckled. “Never thought my brother would have a wife and a girlfriend, but she makes him happy and I guess that’s really all I can ask for. They all are happy.”