Chapter 16
M aybe because the person threatening me is a cop.
Why had she said that?
Was she an idiot? Now, he was going to want details and what did she have to tell him?
The truth. You could try the truth.
“Who is it?” he asked in a dark voice. “A cop is threatening you? Is it Vince?”
Wait. How did he know that?
“It is Vince,” he said. “I can tell by the look on your face.”
“How do you know it’s Vince?” she asked.
“From the way you didn’t want anything to do with him today,” he said. “I heard you when your father suggested that he stay with you.”
He’d heard that? He hadn’t been in the room, had he?
“We were standing just outside the room,” he explained. “Did he do that spray paint job on your garage?”
“I think so. I had a . . . run-in with him last week. And a while ago we went on a date. He didn’t appreciate it when I wasn’t interested in fucking him.”
“That fucking bastard.” There was pure venom in his voice and it took her by surprise. “I’m going to kill him. Did he try to force you?”
“N-not exactly. He just got a bit . . . handsy.” She was staring down at her lap as she whispered that.
“Fucking asshole. I’ll teach him to get handsy. That is not okay and I do not like it.”
Did he think she did? She didn’t. And what was worse was that he was now holding a grudge. Vince was a man with a huge ego, who thought he was invincible, untouchable, and he held a huge grudge against her.
That didn’t make her feel good at all.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you. And I will make him pay for the way he has treated you.”
She frantically shook her head and glanced up at him. “You can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “Why haven’t you gone to your father?”
“Vince is vindictive. He’ll retaliate. And my father . . . he’ll believe whatever he says. There’s no way he’d ever believe me over Vince.” She shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Why?” he asked.
God. Why was he asking this? Why did he care?
“Because my father sees Vince as a son.”
“And you are his daughter.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Not one he seems to want. He has my brother and sister. What does he need me for? I’m not important.”
“And yet here I am. He hired me to protect you.”
She clenched her hands together. She wanted to believe her father had done that because he cared.
But she wasn’t sure that she could. “It’s probably about appearances.
If something happened to the chief of police’s daughter and he’d done nothing to protect her when he’d known about the threat .
. . yeah, that wouldn’t go down well. Not that he ever seems to care much about what anyone else thinks of him.
He thinks he’s all powerful and so do his favored cops. Like Vince.”
“Vince is just a man. A dirty cop can be taken down just as easily as anyone else. I’m going to take care of Vince.”
She managed to stare at him again. “I don’t want you to get hurt trying to protect me.”
“Gonna take a lot more than some power-drunk cop to take me down, trust me,” he told her.
That was the issue, wasn’t it? Trust was difficult for her. Could she trust him?
She just didn’t know. But there was a growing part of her that was screaming that she could.
“I’ll try.”
“Good girl,” he told her. “I know it’s hard. But I do need you to trust and listen to me. I’m not going to give you a bunch of rules because I’m on some power trip. I promise. They’re there to protect you.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like telling me if there is a threat to you. Like the one on your garage door. And definitely telling me if there is a stalker.”
“Ryan really is harmless.”
“A stalker that is harmless,” he said. “That is the first time I’ve heard that.”
“You can come speak to him with me,” she said. “He’ll probably do another drive-by in about an hour. I doubt he was there when Vince spray-painted my garage door. Ryan tends to head home around ten-thirty, maybe eleven.”
“This is so bizarre,” he muttered. “I cannot believe we are talking about your stalker and you’re so . . . blasé about him.”
“Ryan really is harmless. I mean, he was a dick of a boss. That’s part of the reason why I left even though it was quite a well-paying job.
I worked as his assistant. But when he wasn’t being an asshole, he would stare at me weirdly.
He would stand too close and stare at my boobs. I learned not to wear low-cut tops.”
“That fucking bastard. And you think he’s harmless? Just because he hasn’t done anything yet, doesn’t mean that he won’t. He could escalate at any time.”
Okay, when she’d first met him, he’d seemed so calm. So in control. Now, he sounded anything but calm.
Crap.
Had she done that to him? Had she erased his chill with all her . . . issues?
That’s what she was. She was a chill eraser. All she did was add to people’s stress.
It was a gift, really.
Not a good one, though. One that you hoped came with an exchange voucher.
“I only met you a few hours ago and I’ve already raised your blood pressure, haven’t I?”
There was silence.
Look at him.
It’s the least you can do since you’re probably giving him an ulcer.
Maya forced herself to stare at him.
He was gazing at her thoughtfully. “Yeah, you’ve raised my blood pressure.”
Maya winced. “Sorry.”
Matthieu shook his head. “Do not be sorry. You need me. To help you. To keep you safe. To get rid of your stalker and Vince. You need me and I like to be needed.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I do. So I’m going to go and speak to this stalker of yours and I’ll be making sure that he never stalks you again.”
She opened her mouth to argue and he placed his finger over her lips.
“Nope. I don’t want to hear about how you think I’ll get hurt or some other bullshit. It’s happening. No arguing.”
Who could argue?
She could no longer breathe, so she doubted she could do any arguing anyway.
He was touching her . . . again.
And it was both heaven and hell. She wanted more and yet her brain had kind of imploded. And she wasn’t sure that she could piece it back together.
“No arguing? Good girl.”
Maya narrowed her gaze at him. Then he suddenly stood.
“An alarm system with cameras will get installed tomorrow. Then if Vince tries anything again, we’ll be ready for him.
Of course, he won’t get close enough to destroy any property or touch you.
I’ll get a background check done on this stalker.
And then I’ll pay him a visit. Time for you to go to bed. ”
Her mind was spinning from the quick change of topic.
“What?”
“I’m going to arrange for your garage door to be painted tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary. I’ll wash it off.”
“You will not wash it off,” he said firmly. “You will not go near it. I will get it painted.”
Shoot.
How to explain this?
“And before you start worrying that you can’t afford that, you’re not paying for it. I’ll charge it to your father under expenses.”
Maya should probably protest that. Should feel bad that her dad was paying to get her garage door painted. But it was his asshole police officer that had painted it in the first place, so she didn’t feel too guilty at him paying for it.
If he hadn’t made Vince feel invincible then he wouldn’t have dared do that to her. Wouldn’t have pulled her off the road and manhandled her.
No, her father was forcing her to reap what he had sowed. So it was only fair that he paid for it.
“All right.”
“Good. Now that that is settled, you go to bed. I am going to stay out here on the couch. I won’t be sleeping much so don’t worry about that. Tomorrow, we’ll sort out the bed situation. I can get a bed put into the smaller room.”
She winced. That sounded really uncomfortable. But she simply didn’t have it in her to protest. So she just nodded and headed toward her bedroom. All she wanted right now was to get into bed.
“Just a quick word about the rules. I know you’re tired so we’ll talk about most of them tomorrow. But you are not to leave the house without me. Understand?”
She was going to go to bed and probably fall straight asleep, so that didn’t seem like a difficult promise to make.
After saying goodnight to all of her babies, she stumbled into her room with Dougie and Gummy on her heels. They slept in their dog beds at the end of her bed. Sometime in the night, Dougie would likely get into bed with her.
Dougie wasn’t good with boundaries.
She closed the door behind her then leaned against it.
How was this her life now? How had this all happened?
A few days ago, she was busy worrying about the puppies being exploited and how she was going to find the money to rescue them and also pay her gas bill.
And now . . . she’d been manhandled by Vince, threatened by him, summoned to her father so she could learn that he was being threatened, and met the hottest, sexiest guy to ever exist.
Who was now her bodyguard.
And on the other side of this flimsy door.
What was a girl to do? How could she survive this?
Oh God. What if he knew? Could he know how she felt about him?
Please don’t let him know.
Please let him just think she was a complete nutjob who couldn’t look at people when she spoke to them.
That really was the best outcome.
Maya got into her pajamas and then brushed her teeth as Dougie stood guard at the bathroom door. Then she got into bed.
As soon as her head hit the pillow, she expected to fall immediately asleep.
But her head started to spin even more. Was she being foolish thinking that Ryan was harmless?
She’d quit working for him a few months ago and all he’d done was follow her around since.
No, Matthieu was probably just trying to scare her. As if she didn’t have enough going on with Vince and now this person who was threatening her father.
She tossed and turned for a while. Was Matthieu all right? Had he found the spare blankets and pillow?
She should have made up the sofa for him. What sort of host was she? But he wasn’t exactly a guest, was he?
Urgh. She had to stop thinking so much. She had three yoga classes to run tomorrow and she needed her sleep.
Go. To. Sleep.
Matthieu ended his call to Ink.
The other man had promised to set up a security system and cameras tomorrow. Which also meant that someone would be here to watch over Maya’s pets while they were out.
He knew she was working tomorrow.
He’d made it clear to Ink that no one could go into the spare bedroom where the nervous dog and pig were.
Matthieu shook his head as he did another walk through the house before grabbing some blankets and a pillow from the hall closet. He couldn’t believe that he was sleeping on a sofa because of a dog and a pig.
But he’d slept in worse places and he likely wouldn’t sleep much tonight, anyway.