Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hayes
“Hey, Malec is here to see you,” Lochlan announces as they both walk into the garage. I’ve been holed away for days, trying to keep my promise to give Liv space.
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” I wipe my hands on my rag as he eyes my punching bag.
“Another gift arrived for Liv today. I’ve been keeping an eye on her cottage while she’s been at Thea and Jesse’s house, and this was in her driveway this morning.” He holds his phone out, showing me the image he took.
‘YOU ARE MINE’ Is written in spray paint, surrounded by rose petals and scraps of white.
“What the fuck?” I grab his phone, looking at it closer. “Is that paper?”
“Her wedding program, torn into pieces.”
“Her son of a bitch ex is behind this?”
“That’s what I thought, too. He seemed angry enough when she called off the wedding.” He sighs. “But I checked his alibi already. He arrived for their hotel reservation in Toulouse six days ago… With the wedding planner.”
I stare at Malec in disbelief. “I’m going to kill that fucker. Does Liv know?”
Malec holds his hand up as if to ward off my idle threats from hitting his ears. “I’m going to see her next. I just wanted to fill you in since you’ve taken a personal interest in her safety.”
“No, does she know he’s with the wedding planner?”
“She knows. He made sure to tell her after she dumped him. Figured she would have told you.”
“She isn’t ready to see me. All I do is hash up bad memories for her.”
“You didn’t drop by the other night?” Lochlan calls me out, and I glare at him.
“I went for a walk.”
“Right,” he scoffs. “How do we know the Porters aren’t responsible for this? They could be harassing her since she’s prosecuting their case, trying to scare her off.”
“Jeremiah has been held in jail since his arrest. Randall is on house arrest, and his lawyer has made sure he’s unreachable.
“Whoever did this had to have been there at the wedding to get a hold of these programs, but she called it off before photographers started snapping pictures of guests. The hotel didn’t have any cameras pointed toward the venue space.”
“Any other thoughts, Jensen?” Lochlan enunciates my first name to grab my attention because I’ve started to zone out. This fucker was at her wedding… What was he going to do? Would he have hurt her?
“I hardly know anything about her personal life now. She’s kept me at arm’s length. Aside from Thea and you all,” I wave towards Malec. “I don’t know who she’s been around.”
“She has a lot of former clients, and a lot of cases on the docket in Rollins County. I’ve been going through all of them, but even the more difficult people she’s represented have had nothing but nice things to say about her.”
“She’s always been the golden girl, even if she couldn’t see it.”
“Is there anyone from her past that might still be holding onto lingering feelings? Besides you.” Malec asks, and my head snaps up. “Don’t bother. Everyone with a pulse can tell you’re in love with her.”
My gaze tips up to the rafters, ignoring the latter statement. “She was adopted. As far as I know, she’s never met her birth parents. Her adoptive mother has to be in her late 70s by now.”
“I know all of that. I need the less formal information. The stuff she doesn’t want to disclose.”
“Dammit, Malec. You’re asking too much of me. I just got her back in my life. If I betray her trust, she’ll never speak to me again.”
“She’ll never speak to you again if she’s dead, either.”
My body lunges before my brain catches up, but Lochlan anticipated it, trapping me in an arm bar before I attack the Sheriff. I know he doesn’t mean it as a threat, but it doesn’t stop the visceral reaction.
“I’m not trying to rile you up, Hayes. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this. I’ll ask Liv again, but think about it. If there is someone I need to know about, I expect a name as soon as possible.”
Lochlan lets me go, and I shove away from him, nodding. “I know you’re trying to help, but this whole situation is pissing me off.”
“Give me the names by Monday, or I’ll start digging myself even if Liv pushes back. She can be mad at me, not you.”
I nod in thanks, and he turns to leave, glancing at the punching bag again.
“You can hit it if you want.”
Malec stares at it briefly, contemplating it. “No, I gotta go.” He waves it off and stalks out of the garage, reminding me that he’s just a normal guy who ended up on a different side of the law than I did.
He’s not a bad dude. He cares about Liv.
He’s not my enemy.
“He can probably punch it harder than you can.”
My head turns eerily slow towards Lochlan. “Do you want me to beat your ass right now?”
“Would it make you feel better?”
I think about it longer than probably necessary. “No, it wouldn’t.”
“Well, I tried. Stop pouting and get some work done.” He leaves out the same door Malec did, taking the distraction with him.
If she’d just let me see her, I’d stop worrying so much.
20 seconds. I didn’t even make it 20 seconds without thinking about her.
I still haven’t told Lochlan about the ridiculous way I’ve been distracting myself since I saw her last. A major life decision that has already been causing me back-breaking grief.
But after a million initials and a handful of signatures, the spontaneity of my decision felt so idiotic that I haven’t had the courage to say anything.
My phone rings on the workbench, and I almost let it go to voicemail while I’m lost in thought, but I catch it on the last ring.
“Hello?”
“Taking the girls to Casa Amigos tonight to dance. I did not call you.” Jesse hangs up without any more context.
Well, fuck. There goes being distracted.
* * *
“Does she know that you called me?” I approach Jesse from behind, and he doesn’t even flinch. He probably clocked me the second I entered the bar.
“No, and I will deny it if she asks. Thea’s worried about her,” he sighs, turning to lean across the high top table we’re next to.
“Why?” I glance at the sea of women on the dance floor, spotting the one I want immediately. Her rich brown hair bounces, catching every gleam of light as she jumps and sings nearly dead center in the crowd.
Her charisma radiates around her. You’d never be able to tell she’s struggling with anything.
“She’s been acting pretty nonchalant about everything but almost reckless at the same time.
” My eyes narrow, and he catches it. “I mean, it’s Liv.
She isn’t going out and robbing banks, but she’s talking about going to a cryo-clinic to freeze her eggs one minute and then talking about selling her cottage and joining her mom at Burning Man. ”
Another guy I recognize as Jesse’s friend walks over with a bucket of beer. He sets it on the table and positions himself firmly against the wall before scanning the crowd and finding his invested interest.
He spots his redhead and then finally turns to address me. “Hayes, right?”
“Yeah.” We shake hands, and he leaves it at that, grabbing a beer out of the bucket and offering me one. “Thanks.”
“Nathan is Thea’s brother,” Jesse finishes the introduction. “We’ve served in the military together, going on… A lot of years.” He shrugs like he’s lost count, and Nathan doesn’t offer any more insight, keeping his eyes on his wife.
“So why am I here?” I ask Jesse. Not that I care to have an excuse to see Liv, but I also don’t want to piss her off when she sees me.
“Liv thought it was a great idea to come out tonight to lure her stalker out.”
The beer nearly spits from my mouth. “What?”
“That’s why I dragged Nathan along, too.”
“You didn’t drag me anywhere. Callie insisted on coming with her friends,” he corrects, forming his longest sentence yet. Jesse only rolls his eyes.
“Malec doesn’t have jurisdiction here, but he spoke to the local precinct just in case, and he should be here soon. Incognito,” he adds sarcastically.
“Yeah, you can spot him as being a cop from a mile away.”
“That’s what I told him.”
“I mean, you guys kind of give off a cop vibe, too.”
Jesse laughs, and Nathan looks at me like I just kicked his shin. “And, you look like you prefer concrete walls and slop.”
I bark a laugh, and it’s the first genuine amusement I’ve felt in weeks. Jesse shakes his head but visibly relaxes when he realizes neither of us are about to kill each other.
“What makes Liv think her stalker will come out of the shadows now?”
“She claims that baiting him will get all of this over with quicker, and I didn’t want her to attempt to do it alone.
” He sighs and glances at me. “When I married Thea, I went from having no family to being surrounded by people that I cared about. Liv included. I forget sometimes that she’s not actually a sister-in-law.
“I’m used to watching over her, but to be honest, she doesn’t usually need it. Men hit on her, and she laughs in their faces. God forbid they get snippy. I’ve seen her smile like Medusa in a grown man’s face and then laugh when they run away.
“But the added variable of someone being out to get her makes me nervous. She acts tough, but I can tell she’s scared. She doesn’t like the threats. And she definitely doesn’t want to admit that she feels safer when you’re around.”
“She doesn’t want to put your family at risk. I’m expendable,” I laugh to conceal the cold pit in my stomach.
I’m a shield, and I’ll gladly be that for her, but that’s all I am.
He shakes his head. “Not what I mean, Hayes.” He looks at me pointedly. “That girl won’t stop looking at the door, but I think she’s only waiting for one of her stalkers to walk through it.”
“Funny.” I smile sarcastically, and he laughs. “Any thoughts from you?” I ask Nathan mockingly.
“No,” he states bluntly.
“Great.” I down my beer and toss it back into the bucket. “I need something stronger.”