Chapter 7
Seven
SLOANE
Walker had disappeared.
I knew it was dumb for that to be at the forefront of my concern only ten days after being assaulted, but his distance bugged me.
I’d stubbornly refused to take more time off work than was suggested.
Lachlan had offered me paid leave for as long as I needed.
However, Callie would wonder what was going on, so I took two days off and told her I’d used some of my paid holidays so I could work on baking orders.
Then I got right back on that horse.
I hated that I was apprehensive the morning I returned to work.
I hated that nausea and fear had churned in my gut.
However, I returned to a new system for the housekeepers.
While Aria and Lachlan wanted to assure me that the board would be much more cautious about who they granted membership, Aria had also insisted that each room be cleaned by two housekeepers.
Safety in numbers, she said. It was an immense relief.
The first few nights after the attack, I’d woken from nightmares where Hoffman’s assault and my past life in LA collided.
The dreams were a confused mix of past and present.
For Callie’s sake, I didn’t let the exhaustion of those nightmares show.
My daughter had no clue what had happened to me, and she never would.
Mrs. Hutchinson teamed me up with Frannie, an older but jolly woman who started working on the estate when it first opened to members. She liked to gossip about what we found in the rooms, and she made me laugh. The days moved quicker with her, and I relaxed more and more with each one that passed.
For those first few days, I’d caught sight of Walker in the castle halls.
He never looked my way, but I had the strangest feeling he was watching over me.
Brodan had shown up to give me the bad news that my car was beyond repair, but that he was covering the rental costs of my new Hyundai (confirming the car was not Walker’s), and he didn’t want any arguments.
It stung to take his charity, but I couldn’t afford a new car.
I needed to drive Callie to school, and I needed transportation for work at the estate and delivering baking orders.
I reluctantly kept the car but promised Brodan I’d get my own as soon as possible. He’d brushed me off, but I meant to keep my vow. I just didn’t have a timeline for it. And I made the choice to find joy in my gratitude.
That it was Brodan, however, who’d delivered this news bothered me. I wanted to text Walker, but it was clear if he was sending Brodan in his place that he didn’t want me getting any ideas about him being in our lives.
That hurt more than it should. Walker made me feel safe. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had made me feel safe.
The Saturday after my first week back at work, Callie and I took a trip to the library.
When I was younger, I devoured all the words, but there had been little time for reading since Callie came along.
However, I was determined to make sure she had access to all the books she wanted.
The library at Ardnoch wasn’t the best, but we could request books from other branches, and Callie’s small order from a few weeks ago had come in.
We collected those, as well as a few others, and then went food shopping.
I listened to my daughter chatter about Lewis, about her other friends, about tae kwon do, and about the writing assignment she’d had at school that week.
One of her and Lewis’s friends was having a birthday party that afternoon, and on top of all the baking I’d dropped off at Flora’s at the crack of dawn, I’d made cupcakes for the party.
It was a full day, and we were hurrying home from the grocery shopping so Callie could get changed.
I pulled the car up outside the cottage so we could drop off the shopping. As soon as Callie and I got out of the car, we heard the yelling.
A loud, screechy female voice echoed all the way down Castle Street from Morag’s deli. Frowning, I turned that way and halted at the sight of Walker. He was standing in the middle of the sidewalk being yelled at by a woman.
Realization dawned as I picked up bits of what she was shouting.
Monroe had mentioned that Walker was having a hard time with a woman he’d slept with.
Apparently, he’d told her up front that what they had was just a casual thing, he didn’t want to do it anymore, and he’d blocked her when she got abusive.
She’d since used a different phone number to contact him, and when she couldn’t get him, she even called the estate.
I’d known it wasn’t my business, and a stalkerish woman was the consequences of Walker treating females like they were disposable. But harassment was harassment. And I understood too well how stressful that was.
Plus … I owed him.
“Callie.” I rounded the hood and held out my keys. “Go inside.”
She scowled in Walker’s direction. “Who’s that lady hassling Walker?”
“Just go inside, please,” I insisted with a tone.
My daughter frowned at me but took the keys and let herself into the cottage. I knew she’d have her face pressed up to the window, but I couldn’t think about that.
Instead, I hurried down the street, adrenaline already pumping as I heard the woman shouting the same stuff over and over and using foul language that any kid in the vicinity could hear. I also heard Walker say her name. Chloe.
As I got closer, I noted that Walker certainly had a type with his women.
I’d seen him a few times with one of his casual things and while hair and eye color changed, their tall voluptuousness did not.
While I definitely had boobs and an ass, it was nothing on the women I’d seen him with.
Walker liked curves for days, apparently.
Ignoring my dismay at that realization, I forced my face into a thunderous scowl, and Walker caught sight of me in his peripheral. He looked as taken aback as Walker could look—either from the sight of me or my expression.
Then Chloe shoved Walker, and he staggered, taken by surprise again.
The sight of big, strong, formidable Walker Ironside stumbling did something to me.
I saw red.
I pushed between them as Walker righted himself, and I shoved that stalker right back with all my might. “Back off!” I growled.
Chloe stumbled before quickly steadying herself, as if ready for a fight.
It was entirely against my nature to have an embarrassing public showdown, but for Walker’s sake, I’d draw on my best acting skills.
The blond had a few inches on me and looked like she could pummel me into the ground.
She also had crazy eyes, unsurprising for someone who harassed a guy because he didn’t want to be with her.
And I’d always believed in fighting crazy with crazy.
“So, you’re the asshole stalking my man!” I yelled.
Chloe’s eyes flared. “Your man?”
I felt Walker step up behind me, his body brushing mine, clearly understanding my game. Needing not to feel the heat of him, I stepped into Chloe’s personal space. “Yeah, my man. We got a kid together,” I lied.
Chloe gaped at Walker over my shoulder. “You’re married?”
He stayed silent while I shoved my face in hers.
“Yeah, we got a kid. We were on a break. Now my man tells me you’re harassing him.
He told you he wants nothing to do with you.
” I jabbed a finger in her direction. “So, what? You think if you act insane enough, wear him down, he’ll want you back.
” I pushed into her, and she stepped back, off the curb, looking wary.
Hiding my triumphant smirk, I lowered my voice.
“You think you’re crazy, Chloe? Well, my man has a type.
You ain’t seen crazy … but you will if you ever put your hands on Walker again.
If you ever contact him again.” My face was now almost touching hers, and I know I looked nuts as I whispered, “You ever shot someone, Chloe? Because I have.”
Fear flared in her eyes, and I almost felt bad as she stepped back again, looking freaked out. “I didn’t know he was with someone.”
“Doesn’t matter if he’s with someone or not.
A person tells you to leave them alone, you leave them alone.
Harassment isn’t fun. You want me to prove it to you?
Because I got time. I can haunt your ass at your workplace, at your house, in your town.
Everywhere you turn, I can be there. You want that? ”
Chloe scowled but shook her head. “I don’t want any trouble.” With that, she shot Walker one last wounded look and hurried down the street toward the Gloaming.
I watched as she got back in her car, aware we had an audience across the street outside Flora’s, but I ignored them. Chloe whipped out of her space as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her exhaust pipe. She sped past us without looking our way.
Finally, I turned to face Walker.
Butterflies erupted in my belly.
Because Walker Ironside was full-on grinning at me.
I’d never seen him smile like that.
One corner of his mouth tugged up higher than the other, and his eyes crinkled attractively at the corners.
It was a sexy goddamn smile.
I flushed from head to toe but forced a smile back.
“Were you an actress in another life? Because I almost believed you were nuts,” he joked.
Laughing, I shrugged. “I don’t know where that came from. But it was fun.”
Walker’s shoulders shook with amusement, and I tried not to gape in wonder at the sight. His smile had softened, but his expression turned almost tender. An ache flared in my chest at that look. “Why did you do it?”
“Monroe might have mentioned a one-night stand was giving you a hard time. I guessed that was the woman in question, and I didn’t like that she shoved you. She did it knowing you wouldn’t hit back.” I’d known that, too, with absolute certainty. “And I owe you.”
Walker’s trademark scowl slotted right back into place. “You don’t owe me anything.”
I grinned. “Now I don’t.”
His lips twitched again.
That warmth flooded me, and the distance I’d felt between us the past week was forgotten. “Callie is going to a birthday party this afternoon, and I have extra cupcakes. Do you want to come over for a coffee and some cake while she’s gone?”
Just like that, Walker’s entire demeanor changed. It was like a wall slamming down as his expression blanked and his body stiffened. “No,” he replied bluntly. “I’ve got shit to do.”
It took me a second to don my armor, to hide my wounded feelings. But I did it. I smiled through my hurt. “Of course. Well, have a good day.”
While Callie was at the party that afternoon, I drove to Monroe’s to tell her everything. Swearing her to secrecy. And she wanted to rip Walker a new one. But I told her I’d be no better than Chloe, then. Punishing Walker for not wanting what I wanted.
“Then maybe we need to find you someone new to crush on.”
“Dating?” I sighed. “When will I have time to date?”
“You’ll make time.” Monroe proceeded to pull out her laptop and do a quick search. “There,” she announced after a few minutes. “There’s a speed-dating event in Inverness in two weeks. We could babysit Callie.”
“And if your own little bump has arrived by then?”
Monroe flushed with excitement. “Then Regan can babysit Callie.”
I laughed at her offering poor Regan’s time, like she didn’t do a lot for me already. “I’ll think about it.”
I don’t know if I really meant it at that point.
On the Monday after the run-in with Walker and Chloe, there was no sign of Walker watching out for me.
No sign of him at all on the estate. I finally gave in and asked Monroe about him, and she told me he was on vacation.
She didn’t know where he was, but he’d left Ardnoch on Saturday, and according to Brodan, he would be gone for two weeks.
She also told me, with not a small amount of curiosity in her voice, that Brodan said Walker took the same two weeks off every year.
I wondered why but realized I’d probably never know. He hadn’t told me he’d be gone from the estate. He didn’t know that his leaving made me feel less safe. He didn’t know because he didn’t want to know. In fact, I suspected it would agitate him to know he made me feel safe.
He didn’t want to be that person for me.
We weren’t friends, me and Walker.
We weren’t anything.