22. Naked
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NAKED
NASH
Iclose my arms around Taryn.
The weight of her head against my chest feels right, like she was made to fit in my arms.
I cup the back of her head with my hand, brushing my lips over the top of her head, finding wet hair.
She circles my waist with her arms, crying softly. “I thought I was going to die.” She keeps murmuring between sobs.
Protectiveness surges through me. “You’re safe, Trouble. Colsen and I would never let anything bad happen to you. Right, Col?”
Colsen hugs her from behind. We’re forming a protective wall around her. I’m grateful that he’s here too. If whoever attacked Taryn is still out there, between the two of us we can keep our girl safe.
The thought hits me for just a second that I thought about Taryn as “our girl” as opposed to my girl.
Maybe this sharing thing isn’t as impossible as I feared. Since I arrived in Star Cove for summer training, I’ve found the team cohesiveness I never had in Hemlock Beach. I know without a doubt that my teammates will have my back on and off the ice.
Even more so, Tucker, Colsen, and Mack have quickly become my best friends.
I don’t think I could ever date the same woman as anyone else.
They’re becoming more like brothers with every passing day.
And while Mack’s feelings for Taryn are totally platonic, I know he cares about her just as much as we do.
As Colsen and I hold Taryn in our arms for a couple of minutes, until she calms down and her breathing evens out, my senses are on high alert.
If whoever was chasing her is still here, I don’t want to let my guard down.
The torrential rain of a few minutes ago has eased down, turning into a persistent drizzle that penetrates into our bones.
“Trouble, will you tell us what happened? Were you out for a walk in the rain by yourself?” I know how stupid my question sounds the second it comes out of my mouth.
Taryn shakes her head. “No, I was driving back from Shell Cove and I ran out of gas. Which is weird because I filled the tank right before I set off for the testing center.”
“Hmm.” Her answer does nothing but cause even more questions. “Testing center?”
She nods. “I took the exam for my nursing license today.”
“Ok. I have more questions, but maybe we should get out of the rain. And I assume that whoever was chasing you might have given up now that you aren’t alone. But just in case they’re still lurking somewhere nearby, we’re probably better off going back to camp. Is your car far away?”
“No. I don’t know.” She sounds confused. “Or at least, I don’t think so. I was driving back to camp when it stopped. I was trying to figure out what to do when I saw my stalker behind the car.”
Every detail we get from Taryn makes the situation more confusing rather than clearer.
If she ran out of gas, was her attacker simply lurking around a dark road at night, waiting for an opportunity to strike an unsuspecting victim? It doesn’t make sense. Besides, she said, “my stalker” more than once. Has someone been watching her, waiting for an opportunity to strike?
When Taryn’s old Volkswagen Beetle comes into view, we quicken our pace. Like she said, the car is in the middle of the road with the driver’s door wide open.
We check the surrounding road, but the dim eco lights don’t offer any clues as to what happened.
I lean inside and confirm quickly that the car isn’t starting. “Let’s call a tow truck. I’d rather get you inside and out of those wet clothes than wasting time pushing the car back to camp.” I say, stepping back out of the small vehicle.
“I got it.” Colsen pulls his phone out of his pocket and begins looking for a local tow service.
“No, wait.” Taryn sounds more stressed with every passing second. “Right before I was attacked, I was debating if I should call someone, but… until we get paid, I’m totally broke. The advance from the dolls hasn’t cleared my account yet and…”
Colsen reassures her before I can. “Don’t worry about the money, pretty girl. Between us, we’ll take care of it.”
She begins shaking her head, this time with more vigor than before. “No, I can’t take your money.”
I tuck one strand of silky blonde hair behind her ear. “You will take our money, Trouble. If I or Colsen needed any money and you could help, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
My tone brooks no argument. “Then let us help you.”
“Fine,” she bites out. “But I’ll pay you back as soon as we get paid.”
I can’t help but smile at how stubborn she is. If this were anyone else, I’d find it annoying, but she’s kinda cute.
“The tow truck should be here soon.” Colsen says a few moments later. “If you want to take Taryn to get out of those wet clothes, I can wait for them. I texted Tucker to make some hot tea. Your lips are blue and you’re shaking.”
Taryn looks alarmed rather than soothed by Colsen’s offer. “No. We can’t leave you here by yourself. What if my stalker is waiting? If he hurt you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”
I hate the look of terror in her eyes. “Taryn,” I try to stay calm. “You keep saying my stalker. What is going on?”
“I…”
She’s shutting down, but I need to know what’s happening to keep her safe.
“Please, Trouble, talk to us. Do you think someone sabotaged your car?”
Taryn nods. “I had filled my tank. Shell Cove is twenty minutes away. There’s no way.”
I voice my perplexities again. “But if that’s what happened, how would the stalker know where you would break down? Unless they were tracking you somehow.”
“I don’t know. But they seem to always know where I am and when I’m alone. They always text me when there is no one around.” She shudders.
“They text you?”
Her answer is covered by the loud noise of a motorcycle engine. A black motorcycle comes out from the side of the road racing past us. It happens so fast that I can’t make out what kind of bike it is or who’s riding it.
“Do you think what I’m thinking?” Colsen asks. “That could be Taryn’s attacker.”
He’s right, and I think about chasing the fucker, but on foot, I have no chance in hell to catch him. My mind is in overdrive as things still don’t add up. “I agree. But I still don’t get it. Do you think you were followed from Shell Cove?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?” Taryn shudders. “I’ve been getting some threats by text. I… my phone. I lost it.”1
“Is it in the car?” I ask.
She thinks about it. “I don’t think so. I think I had it with me when I tried to run. But I’m not sure. I was so scared, I can’t remember.”
I hate the way she’s tormenting her bottom lip with her teeth.
I hate seeing her so frightened. “Let’s find your phone, Trouble.
” I say, squeezing her shoulder. “And do you have a purse? We should get that out of your car, too. It would be better to get your car towed to a mechanic shop, but I don’t know if there are any that are open twenty-four hours in town.
But regardless, I wouldn’t leave your purse in the car just in case. ”
We decide to divide and conquer, and while I search the car, Taryn and Colsen trace their way back to where we found Taryn in search of her phone.
“We found it.” They come back a couple of minutes later. “I had it with me when I ran. The screen is cracked, but it’s still working.”
I hand Taryn her purse.
“Nash. What’s up? You look angry.”
My jaw ticks, but I do my best to keep my expression as calm as possible. “Can I see your phone?”
Taryn flinches, reluctant. “I’ll show you the text messages if you want. But before I do, there are some things I need to explain.”
“Fine. But I’m not going to look at your text messages, I promise. There’s something else I need to check. I think I know how your stalker knew where to attack you.” I show her what I found under the glove box.
She blinks a couple of times as she holds the small, round object that was taped under the glove box. “Is this some kind of spying device?”
“It’s an air tag.” I explain. “Unless you put it there…”
“I didn’t.”
Just as I thought. “Someone has been keeping track of you. And if I’m right, I bet this air tag isn’t the only way they did it.”
Taryn unlocks her phone for me, and it takes me a couple of minutes to find what I was after. “See this?” I show her an app in her general settings. “I bet every cent I’ll ever earn as a pro player and every possible future Stanley Cup I might win that you didn’t download this app.”
“What is it?” Taryn’s confusion confirms that my hunch was right.
“It’s a spy app. Whoever put it there can track your location at any time.”
Taryn’s eyebrows knit together as she looks at what I’m showing her. “That’s crazy. I don’t remember ever seeing that icon.”
“Yeah, it wouldn’t show on your screen. You’d only see it in your settings, so you’d have to be looking for it.”
She looks really freaked out. “This is how the stalker always knows where I am. Do you think they can also look at me or hear what I say?”
“I think so. My coach in Hemlock Beach used the same app to track his cheating wife. That’s how he knew she was seeing me. I’m not familiar with the app itself, but I think they can turn on your camera and listen to your calls without you knowing.”
Taryn’s hand covers her mouth as if she were about to be sick. “Oh my God. So they could be listening to us now?”
I nod.
“Do you know how to uninstall it?”
“I think I can figure it out. But we’d have to have your phone checked by an expert to make sure the app is truly gone.”
Her lips flatten out in a determined line. “Can you take it off, please?”
“I can google it and do it while we wait for the tow truck.” I offer.
“Perfect.”
The lights of the tow truck appear in the distance, and I work in silence while Colsen and Taryn speak to the operator.
Once Taryn’s car is parked in her assigned spot in the parking garage next to our building, we head toward our apartment.