Chapter 21
M aya sleepily climbed into her pajamas on Monday night. They were white with strawberries all over them. And the buttons down the top were small strawberries. She loved them. They were her comfort pajamas and they always made her feel better when she put them on.
She was tired. She’d worked Saturday, then spent the last two days with her babies or messaging Millie or Livvy while doing her best to avoid being alone too much with Matthieu. He’d spent a lot of time working on his laptop and phone.
It had been kind of awkward.
As she moved toward the bathroom, she glanced out the window.
There he was!
The street lighting was a bit hit and miss around here, but the dumbass had parked right under one of the few lights that actually worked.
Maya felt a wave of anger come over her.
Matthieu was right. This wasn’t normal. And it wasn’t healthy. How long until Ryan pushed things further? She’d thought him harmless because he just watched and never touched her.
But if this had been happening to a friend and they’d told her about it . . . she’d have told them all the things that Matthieu had said to her.
Maybe it was because she’d felt helpless to stop him. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t confront him. It was like a bully, right? If she confronted him, he’d likely back down.
Maya didn’t give anything else another thought as she strode out of the bedroom. Dougie, who’d been waiting at the door, ran after her as she headed out the front door t.
“Stay, Dougie.”
Dougie didn’t leave the property with her, but he did start to bark.
“Quiet, Dougie!” she called out as she reached Ryan’s door and glared down at him.
Was he . . . was that his hand . . . moving?
Oh. My. God.
She was going to vomit! He was out here masturbating? But why? Turning, she saw that she hadn’t closed her drapes.
Yep.
She was definitely going to vomit. Later. After she told Ryan what a pervert he was.
Opening the car door, she scowled at him. Then immediately regretted her decision. He’d obviously been so . . . involved in what he was doing that he hadn’t noticed her approach the car.
“Eww! Oh my God, Ryan! What do you think you are doing?”
“What the fuck!” he cried as he tried to desperately tuck himself back into his pants.
So gross.
“That is disgusting! What—eek!” Her words were broken off as an arm wrapped around her waist.
She was lifted into the air and turned. When she was placed on her feet, she frowned up at her assailant.
Her rather angry-looking assailant.
Who also happened to be her bodyguard. The one who had told her not to leave the house without him.
“Oh crap,” she muttered, directing her gaze to her feet.
“Oh crap is right,” he said in a low voice, his finger sliding under her chin and pushing her head back. “And you’re going to look at me for this part. You are in a world of trouble. Stay. Here.”
“But—”
“No buts. Stay right here or I swear I’m going to turn you over my knee right here and now.”
“Hey!” Ryan protested. “You can’t talk to her like that, you asshole! Who the fuck do you think you are!”
Oh no he didn’t! He didn’t get to speak to Matthieu like that! She spun back to Ryan. “Who the fuck do you think you are!” She pointed at him. “You’re sitting out here, watching me get changed into my pajamas and touching yourself like a fucking creep.”
“He was doing what?” Matthieu asked in a low voice.
Maya gulped. Uh-oh. She didn’t like that tone of voice from him. Matthieu turned to Ryan who had climbed out of his car. Ryan seemed to shrink back when faced with Matthieu’s wrath.
When she’d first met Ryan, she’d thought he was attractive. He kept himself fit at the gym, he was always dressed well, clean cut, smart. Although he definitely spent too much money on hair product. At times she’d wondered if his hair was even real. It never moved.
At all.
That had sort of freaked her out. And then as she’d gotten to know him, well, he’d become less and less attractive. And now, standing next to Matthieu, well, Ryan kind of faded into the background.
“What were you doing?” Matthieu asked, stepping closer to Ryan.
“You . . . you just stay where you are!” Ryan cried, holding up a hand. “You can’t touch me! I’ll call the cops! I’ll sue!”
“Go ahead and call them,” Matthieu said. “I’m sure that they’ll be very interested in the way that you’ve been stalking the chief of police’s daughter. How you’ve been jacking off while watching her get undressed.”
Oh God.
Yep. She really needed to vomit.
What a fucking creep! How had she kept excusing what he was doing? And how often had he been spying on her like that?
Ryan’s face grew smug. “We all know that her father doesn’t give a shit about her. Like any cop is going to believe that I would be doing that. They’ll take my side over hers. The whole force believes she’s a spoiled brat who lies to get her way.”
Right. Because those were the lies that Vince had spread about her. Lies that Kathryn’s sons had backed up. Because they were all fucking assholes.
“So you thought that you’d take advantage of that?” Matthieu asked in a low, calm-sounding voice.
Ryan started relaxing, taken in by his tone. But Maya wasn’t fooled, she could now see that Matthieu wasn’t as calm as he was pretending to be. His shoulders were too clenched. And he was too still. As though he was conserving energy . . . getting ready to pounce.
Maybe she should stop him. Ryan deserved everything he got . . . but Matthieu didn’t need to end up in jail for murdering him.
“Matthieu,” she whispered, moving closer to him. She dared put her hand on his arm. She tried not to shudder in response. That would be kind of inappropriate.
But, then again, when had any of her feelings toward him been appropriate?
He glanced down at her briefly, then back at Ryan. Then he surprised her by moving his arm across her body to grab her hip. Before putting pressure on it so she had to move until she was standing behind him.
“Stay there,” he said firmly.
She wasn’t sure whether he was talking to her or to Ryan.
Maybe both of them.
But she couldn’t just hide behind him. Ryan was her stalker. She should take care of him. Plus, she didn’t want Matthieu to do something he might regret later. Not that he seemed like the kind of guy to make rash decisions.
Suddenly, he moved, drawing off his jacket. He half-turned and held it out to her.
Did he want her to hold it?
“You’re only wearing pajamas. Put that on.”
Oh right. Yikes!
She glanced down at herself. She should have put a robe on at least. Although her pajamas weren’t skimpy or revealing.
“You’re shivering,” he told her. “Put that on or go inside. Where you were supposed to be. You don’t even have any shoes on!”
That’s what he wanted to focus on? Her shoes? Although her feet were cold.
“You could have stepped on something and cut yourself. I couldn’t believe it when I was on a call and heard Dougie barking and found the front door open.”
Oh. Oops.
“Jacket. On. Now.”
She hastily drew the jacket on over her pajamas.
“Are you really going to let him talk to you like that, Maya?” Ryan sneered. “I thought you would have more self-respect than to let yourself be bossed around by a rough neanderthal.”
Was he for real right now?
She stepped to the side of Matthieu so she could glare at Ryan.
“You have some nerve you masturbating stalker creep! You were in your car touching yourself while staring at me . . . without my consent! And you dare to stand there and criticize Matthieu! I’m going to teach you some manners!
” She jumped toward him, but Matthieu caught her, holding her against his chest. Her legs were dangling in the air, but it didn’t stop her from trying to kick and punch Ryan.
“Calm down, spitfire,” Matthieu told her.
“No! He’s the one stalking me and yet he’s standing there looking down on you? No, this asshole better fucking pray that I don’t pay him a visit in the middle of the night and cut off that disgusting thing between his legs. That’s if I can find it because it’s so fucking small!”
This is not a laughing moment.
You cannot laugh.
Her pervert stalker is standing right there. And you need to take this seriously.
But it was hard when all his anger had been erased by the tiny spitfire in his arms. She was fighting with all her strength to get away from him, but she couldn’t budge him.
Fuck.
He hadn’t thought through giving her his jacket to wear, though, had he? Because he seemed to like the idea of her in his clothes.
Of course, her cute attempt to stick up for him didn’t erase his anger at her for disobeying him. And he needed to remember that. No matter how cute she was, she had to learn to obey him.
Rushing out in her pajamas to confront her stalker was not good behavior.
But she’d learn that soon. First, he had to get rid of this asshole. And do it in such a way that he never came back.
“Really, Maya,” Ryan said scornfully. “Is this what you really want? Some oversized, brutish idiot?”
“Brutish idiot?” Matthieu repeated. “I’m the idiot?”
“What’s the highest education you have? A middle school diploma?” the asshole asked snootily.
“Actually, my highest degree is a Masters of Business,” Matthieu replied.
The real idiot of this conversation looked at him in shock. Then he sniffed. “Right. Sure. And I’ll eat my right sock. Maya, this caveman isn’t for you.”
“Right,” Maya said quietly. “But a jerk who objectified me every day I worked for him is? Someone who follows me around, watches me undress and masturbates in his car is what I need?”
Ryan flushed. “I’m watching out for you.”
“Watching out for me? From who? Right now, the biggest threat to me is you!”
“Me? I’ve never touched you!”
“Yeah, but it was only a matter of time until you did,” Matthieu told him. “I bet you’ve thought about it. I bet you dream about it. While you were touching yourself, you were probably thinking about all the things you want to do to her. Weren’t you?”