Chapter 16 Rose
ROSE
The guy had read me like a freaking book.
Phoenix Steele had single-handedly stripped me naked, raw, ripped me open, right there in my own office. Assessing me with that gaze that knocked me off balance, no matter the length of my heels.
Phoenix had been right on all counts of his assessment of me, and this told me several things about him.
One, his cognitive reasoning and judgment weren’t as impaired as the reports suggested, which also made me wonder how many other tests he’d manipulated.
I had to remind myself that Phoenix had spent decades running special ops in the deepest depths of hell.
He knew how to handle—manipulate—a situation, how to read a situation, and how to turn it around to his advantage.
I couldn’t help but wonder if his sudden openness to accept his three goals wasn’t just a ruse. A stepping stone to his goal, which was to do anything to get his freedom back.
Was it all a game to him?
Was I a pawn?
Was he willing to say or do anything to get what he wanted?
How far would he go?
And perhaps a more unnerving question… how far would I let him go?
He knew he was knocking me off my game. He knew he was turning the tables by reminding me that I was not perfect, therefore, stripping my confidence, and therefore stripping my authority.
Yes, Phoenix Steele knew exactly what he was doing.
As I settled in behind my desk, trying to regain the position of authority in the room, I watched him, watching me. Two screwed up humans seeing right through each other, but neither willing to concede.
I see you, Phoenix.
I see that you are going to be my most difficult case to date.
I’d just picked up my pen when my cell phone rang. My heart skipped a beat as the caller ID blinked.
“Excuse me.” I grabbed the phone and pushed out of the chair. “I need to take this.”
He nodded to the door, as if granting me the approval to exit. After stepping into the hallway, I checked the front desk to make sure Zoey was gone, then I answered.
“Hello, Rose Floris here.”
“Hey Doc, it’s Andrew from the morgue. Man,” he chuckled. “I never get tired of that opening.”
“Did you get ahold of your brother?”
“Well, no, but I definitely have something you’re going to want to see.”
“Tell me you found prints on Creepy-Ted?”
“No prints. Something much more interesting, though.”
“What?”
“A mini video recorder.”
My heart dropped to my feet. “I’m sorry, there’s no way I heard you—”
“Yep. There was a small spy cam secured in the middle of the bear’s bow.”
My jaw slacked, my eyes fixed on the window where the sprinkles had turned to rain. A shiver ripped up my spine as I death-gripped the phone.
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as the fact that Dr. Rose Floris has a stalker.”
A stalker. The words grabbed my throat, choking the air from my windpipe.
A stalker who’d broken into my house.
My pulse started to race.
“Was the recorder on?”
“Yep, 24/7 streaming if I had to guess.”
“It was streaming? How?”
“It’s a wireless recorder. Once your stalker—”
“Please stop saying that.”
“Okay, once the dude who secretly wanted to video you got into your house, he used your own Wi-Fi to connect to the internet.”
“And then what?”
“Probably went home and popped a boner and a bottle of Bordeaux.”
“You’re sick, you know that?”
“Hey, I’ve never spied on a woman.”
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered, shaking my head.
Andrew continued. “Hey, at least we know it wasn’t Crazy Carl, right?”
Carl’s tortured body flashed before my eyes, giving me a dose of nausea along with my racing heart.
“Anyway, I assume the guy set up the camera to stream through one of those live streaming apps, then went home, logged in, and voila.”
“Using my own internet connection.”
“Yep. If I were you, first thing I’d do when I got home was cut the internet.”
“Is there a way to trace the computer that the recorder is connected to? Maybe we could find out who it is that way?”
“Well, technically yes, but if this guy knows anything about technology, or if he’s done this before, or if he’s even a bit intelligent, he’s probably got it routed to a fake IP address. Super easy to do.”
“Dammit.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’ve got the recorder. Wanna see it?”
“Yes, of course.” My head started to spin. “Can you have your brother check it for prints?”
“If I were you, I’d call the cops and let them handle it.”
“Yeah right, Andrew, this will rank right below last weekend’s liquor store thief.”
Andrew laughed. “No, gerbils were stolen last weekend. And I don’t want to know what someone is going to do with twenty gerbils from the pet shop. Maybe we could ask your stalker.”
“Stop. Ugh.” I slapped my hand on my forehead. “Okay, text me your address. I’ll be right there.”
“With a bottle of Bordeaux?”
“With a pair of blue-handled scissors.”
He laughed again. At least someone thought this was funny.
“Okay, but I’m at my house. I’ll text you the address, but I’m meeting the boys for poker night in forty-five minutes, so make it quick.”
“I’ll be there in under forty-five minutes.”
My pulse raced as I clicked off the phone.
A stalker.
Everything I had done the night before ran like a list through my head… Oh my God, I’d changed my clothes. Had the perv seen me undress? Had the whole world seen me naked? Was my naked body broadcasted somewhere on the internet?
My stomach clenched, and for a second I thought I might throw up.
“You okay?”
I spun around, the phone slipping from my grip and clamoring onto the floor. Phoenix picked it up.
“Sorry,” I said breathlessly. I took the phone from his hands. “Slippery… uh, cell phone...”
His steely expression told me he didn’t buy that.
“I’ve… I’ve got to take care of something real quick. I’m sorry.”
I breezed past him, but he followed me into my office. I felt his eyes burning into me as I slid behind my computer and began closing out the screens. My hand trembled over the keyboard.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes. Fine.” The cartoon-sounding pitched tone that came out of me did nothing to convince him. I cleared my throat. “I’m fine. Uh, how about you call tomorrow morning and we’ll get our next appointment set up? I’m sorry about this.”
When I looked up, Phoenix was gone. Like a ghost. I blinked, stared at the doorway a minute, then pushed Mr. Steele aside and focused on shutting down the office.
It was thirty minutes before I was able to walk away from work. Two phone calls and eight urgent emails—two, I’d left in draft mode. I needed to get to Andrew’s, then home and immediately turn off my internet.
I grabbed my briefcase and purse, jogged through the lobby, and locked the door behind me as I stepped outside.
The early evening air was sharp and damp, the storm cloaking the street in a gray sheet of rain.
I jogged to my car and plugged Andrew’s address into my GPS.
According to the directions and aerial map, he lived on fifteen acres outside of town.
A drive that would take at least twenty minutes in the rain.
The street lights flickered as I pulled onto Main Street and sped through the town’s square.
The locals had gathered at Donny’s Diner for an early dinner.
Tad’s Tool Shop was bustling with cowboys, probably getting extra supplies to prepare for the severe storms we were supposed to get over the next few days.
Banshee’s Brew liquor store was packed to the gills, as always.
I took a left at the only stoplight in Berry Springs and followed the curvy road out of town.
I was a mile down the road when I saw a large silhouette walking down the shoulder.
Shoulders hunched and head bowed against the rain.
I flicked on my high beams, squinted through the downpour, and leaned over the steering wheel. My foot slowly pressed the brakes.
No way.
No freaking way.
I slowed to four miles an hour and rolled down my window, rain and cold wind swirling inside.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Keeping his stride, Phoenix glanced over his shoulder. “Going home.”
My mouth gaped. I pressed the gas and edged next to him. For someone who was in physical therapy, the guy had some speed. His walking gait equaled my jog.
Rain poured off his hair, the tip of his nose, his chin. He was soaked to the bone.
“I thought someone was giving you a ride?”
“Rather walk.” He kept his eyes ahead.
“You’d rather walk in a rainstorm, in the dark?”
No response.
“Or is it that you didn’t want to burden your brothers with a call?”
Nothing.
“Well.” I glanced in the rearview mirror and blew out a breath. “You can’t walk home.”
“Then why don’t you sign a waiver that says I’m fine to drive.”
“Nice guilt trip.”
“Nice organization caddy in your console.”
I glanced at the “Happy car” car organizer I’d had secured to my console. Everything in its place, divvied up between adjustable binders and multi-sized pockets.
How had he even seen it? Phoenix Steele misses nothing—noted.
I looked at the dark road ahead, blurred by sheets of rain. Goosebumps from the cold outside air prickled my arm. I knew he and his brothers lived on a massive compound at the top of Shadow Mountain, but wasn’t sure where it was—or where I was for that matter.
“How far away do you live?”
“Not far.”
“Define not far.”
“Not far.”
I shook my head. “Get in.”
…
“Get in.”
This. Guy.
“Phoenix, accept help and get into my damn car. Now. I don’t have time for your macho male bullcrap right now.”