Chapter 11
Kayla
“Do you want to continue this conversation somewhere private?” he asks, glancing around the entryway.
My eyebrows rise. “I’m not taking you to my place. I don’t know what your deal is, but I'm pretty sure stalking is a felony.”
I catch the flicker of surprise in his eyes. “Stalking?”
“Hey, is this guy messing with you?” a woman probably a decade older than me with a shaved head and multiple piercings asks.
He turns towards the woman, and I don’t miss the threat in his eyes. Not wanting anything to happen to the woman, I quickly intervene. “No, I’m fine. I know him from...work,” I finally say after an awkward pause.
“You sure, Honey?” she asks.
I nod and force a smile. “Yes. Thank you, though.”
“Come find me if he continues to be a problem.” She turns to Jackson. “You can come find me too; I’m in room 226.”
My mouth opens in shock as the woman walks away, and I face Jackson. “Did she just...” I let my words fade, and I shake off the embarrassment. I needed to get hold of myself. I expect to find him watching the woman, but he’s looking around the entryway.
“This place isn’t safe.”
I frown. “Well, I guess it’s good you don’t live here then.
” I study him, trying to get a read on him.
He doesn’t feel dangerous, and he did just get me out of a situation and away from those guys that were bad news.
I decide to try to start over. I stick my hand out, and his eyes flick to my outstretched hand.
“Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Kayla; and you’re Jackson.
” He waits a beat and then takes my hand in his.
His hand completely engulfs mine, and I take in the roughness of his hands.
Surprisingly, my hand in his feels...nice.
I quickly pull my hand from his, embarrassed at my thoughts.
“Okay, Jackson, so are you stalking me?”
He stares down at me, unfazed by my question. “I guess that depends on your definition of stalking.”
I drop my arms. “Seriously? That’s such a stalkerish thing to say.”
“You had a lot of stalkers over the years?” he asks.
“No.”
“Then how do you know?” he asks.
“How do I know what?” I ask, confused.
“If what I said was really a stalkerish thing to say.”
I stare at him. “Let’s just go with stalker. So Jackson, why are you stalking me?”
He stares down at me. “Is it such a crime that I want to get to know you?”
I study him. “I don’t trust you.”
He takes that in stride. “Okay. Then I’ll keep giving you reasons to trust me.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” I tell him honestly.
“It is; just give me time. I’ll prove I’m trustworthy.”
“Why did you follow me tonight? And don’t tell me you didn’t; there’s no way you just showed up. Nobody shows up in this parking lot on accident.”
He scowls at that but answers anyway. “You’re right. I followed you.”
The hair at the back of my neck stands up, and I take a step backwards. “I saw you at dinner and—”
I cross my arms over my chest. “You just happened to be at the same place I went to on my date?”
He scoffs. “No. I went there because I knew you were going there on a date. I heard him say Italian. It wasn’t hard to figure out as there’s only one Italian restaurant in town.”
“That’s exactly what a stalker would do!”
“No.” He lowers his voice. “That’s what a man does when he’s interested in a woman, and that woman is on a date with another man.” There’s a tone to his voice that makes him feel very dangerous.
“Okay.” I take a step back, and he sighs.
“I’m not trying to scare you.” I lift my eyebrows at that, and he palms the back of his neck.
“I’m not good at this. So, here it is straight.
” His eyes meet mine, and I get sucked into those blues.
“I’m very interested in you, and I want to get to know you.
” He takes a step back. “Have a good night, Kayla.”
I blink at the change and swallow. “Thanks, Jackson. You too.”
Renee looks up from her phone when I step inside the apartment. “How’d it go?” I stare at her a moment, trying to get my bearings. “Your date?” she prompts
I force myself to focus and glance over at Noah to check on him. He's on his iPad. “Hey, Bud, go ahead and start getting ready for bed.” I turn back to Renee and keep it simple. “It was good. The food was great, and I had a really good time. He asked me out on another date, so I think that’s good.”
“Well, if you already have the second date set, yeah, I think it went really well.” She stands and starts to pack up.
“Thank you so much for watching Noah.”
“No problem.” She opens the front door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I frown. “I hate that you have to come right back. Would it be easier for you to spend the night?”
She waves off my concern. “No, I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Thank you; I really appreciate it.”
“Yep.”
I step out into the hallway after her and let the door close behind me. “There are a lot of crazies out tonight; I’ll walk with you to your car.”
“I’m fine. Guys rarely mess with me; I give off a vibe that warns them away.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
I watch her disappear down the stairs. Part of me feels like I should walk her out, but I don’t want her to think I don’t think she can handle herself.
I step back inside instead, and close and lock the front door.
I make quick work of picking up from today and then walk over to the bathroom door. “Noah, come on. It’s bedtime.”
He comes out a moment later, dressed in pajamas and ready for bed.
“Did you have a good night?” I ask. He shrugs, instantly making me feel guilty.
For a moment, I contemplate asking Cole if Noah can come on our next date; but I know how that will come across.
I’m pretty sure no guy wants to take out a girl and her younger brother.
I’ll figure it out if and when Cole gives me specifics for another date.
Of course, maybe I’ll just turn him down.
I’m suddenly exhausted. “Hey, let’s get you to bed; so I can go to bed.
I’m exhausted.” On cue, a yawn stretches my mouth.
I sit down on the floor next to his bed.
“Tell me one good thing about your day.” He’s not surprised by my request. We don’t do it every night, but we do it a lot of nights.
“I got extra time on my iPad.” He smirks at the look on my face. “You weren’t here,” he reminds me.
“Yes, I know.” I ruffle his hair. “All right. Fine. I'm glad you got extra time.”
“What about you?” he asks.
“My date?” He nods. “It was good.”
He pulls his blankets up. “You didn’t really like it.”
“Yes, I did,” I argue. “Why do you say that?”
“I know when you really like something.”
I stare down at him. “Well, it was just a first date, after all.” I don’t tell him that it seems so long ago; so much has happened since then. “All right, well, I have to get to bed. I’ll be gone when you get up in the morning. Make sure you get your work done. No iPad,” I warn.
“When I get my schoolwork done?”
I groan. “Fine but only after everything on your list is done.” I ruffle his hair one more time for good measure. “I still need to cut it. Night, Noah. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I get ready for bed quickly and turn my light off about fifteen minutes later.
Once I’m in bed, I stare up at the ceiling, thinking through tonight.
I can’t for the life of me figure this Jackson guy out.
I get nothing that feels dangerous from him.
Well, that’s not true; he’s the picture of a dangerous guy.
With his height and broad frame, obvious muscles, and permanent scowl, he’s the literal definition of dangerous.
And yet, I don’t feel threatened by him.
I can’t figure it out. It takes a while for me to get to sleep.
The next morning, Renee shows up, and I let her in quietly.
“Morning. There’s toast for breakfast and mac and cheese for lunch.”
She nods. “Got it. Have a good day at work.”
“Thanks you too.” I grab my phone, keys, and wallet and stop at the door. “Seriously, Renee, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you. Thank you.”
She waves me off. “Yeah, yeah.”
I close the door and hear her lock it behind me.
I take a step towards the stairs and nearly fall over in shock.
“Jackson?” I whisper hiss. “What are you doing?” He stands to his feet, and my eyes take in several things at once.
He’s wearing the same clothes he wore last night, and he doesn’t look like he slept at all.
“Did you stay here all night?” My voice isn’t as strong as I want it to be.
He picks up a tray of drinks and holds it out to me.
“I didn’t know what you liked.”
I stare down at the four drinks from a coffee place in town. “There’s a hot chocolate, an iced coffee, a hot coffee, and a hot tea.”
My brain is having a hard time keeping up. “You went and got all these?” He nods. “So, you didn’t stay outside my apartment all night?”
“No.”
Relief fills me but only until he starts speaking again. “I left for a little under an hour this morning to get drinks; Ransom stayed here in my place.”
I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. I watch his lips moving, and I hear his words. But I cannot for the life of me make sense of them. “So, you did stay all night.” It’s not a question. “Why?”
“I stayed to make sure you were safe. This building is the furthest thing from safe.” He scowls as he says the words, and his eyes darken. “I stayed to make sure no one bothered you or your brother while you slept. Now, which drink do you prefer? I need to know for future mornings.”
I feel like I'm losing my sanity. I shake my head. “I have to...I gotta go.”
“Wait. Tell me which drink first.”
I look down at the drinks in his hand; this feels like the easiest thing to focus on right now. “Always coffee.”
“Okay. Coffee. Hot or iced?”
I don’t look up at him. “Iced in the summer; hot in the cold months.”
“Flavor?”
“I can’t really ever afford coffee. When I do, I keep it simple. Usually just vanilla or maybe caramel.” I can’t believe I just told him that, but it seems like the least of my worries right now is him knowing I can’t afford coffee.
“Vanilla. Got it. Cream?”
I nod. “Always.” I take a step back. “I really have to go, or I’m going to be late.”
“Here.” He hands me the iced latte I’ve been eyeing and then walks ahead of me to the stairs.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll drive you.”
I hurry to catch up to him. “Um, no. No, you won’t.” I follow him down both flights of stairs and out into the sun. He starts towards his black SUV, but I walk towards my car. He catches up to me a moment later.
“Let me drive you to work.”
“Nope. They say never to get in the car with your stalker.”
He scowls. “Stop calling me that.”
“Then stop stalking me and start giving me space.”
“I can’t do that.”
I blow out a breath and walk over to my car.
Seconds later, I’m inside with the car doors locked.
I pull out of my spot and wave at Jackson as I drive past. I turn on music as I drive, mostly so I don’t have to think.
I glance down at my iced latte several times before I finally cave.
I groan at the first sip. “Seriously?” I lift up the coffee and glare at it.
“Why did you have to be so good? You were supposed to taste nasty.”