Chapter Twenty-Two Cole
The weight room at All Around Fitness is mostly empty during the early evening on a Thursday, just the way I prefer it. It means there are fewer people to avoid.
Two hours of sleep. That’s all I managed last night. I spent the long hours until dawn watching Lars Winters’s location, thinking about when and where he might make his next move.
I’m numb with sleep deprivation. My hands shake slightly as I load the barbell, and I have to concentrate harder than usual on basic motor movements. But I can’t rest. Not when he’s still out there. He’s a predator lying in wait, and he’ll strike when the moment is right.
The second I look away.
The second I let my guard down.
And it doesn’t fucking help that Hailey and I ran into each other at The Bean Counter—the way her face changed when she saw me, the sudden urgency in her voice when she said she was leaving. It was almost like she wanted to get away from me. She thinks I’m following her.
She’s suspicious. Which means I need to be more careful about how I protect her.
I’m midway through my third set of deadlifts when I catch movement in my peripheral vision—someone approaching with a purposeful, deliberate stride. I straighten, releasing the barbell, and turn to find Tyler standing three feet away with his arms crossed and an expression I’ve never seen before.
Angry Tyler is apparently a thing.
“We need to talk,” he says, keeping his voice firm.
“I’m working out,” I reply, reaching for my water bottle. “Whatever this is about can wait.”
“No, it can’t.” Tyler moves closer, lowering his voice but not his intensity. “You’ve missed two meetings in a row, Cole. Two. You haven’t returned my calls or texts. Tracey is asking questions and I don’t know what to tell her because you can’t be bothered to pick up your phone.”
“I don’t owe you or Tracey an explanation for how I spend my time.
” I grab two more plates to add to the bar.
My rage in this moment feels like it could propel me to a new PR.
If the only good thing that comes from this day is me getting strong enough to crush Shitbag Lars’s head like a melon, so be it.
“Actually, you do. It’s called accountability, and it’s the entire fucking point of having a buddy system.” Tyler’s jaw is tight with frustration. “What’s going on, Matthews? And don’t tell me everything’s fine. You look like shit. Did you relapse?”
The word feels like a slap. I drop the plates with more force than necessary, the metallic clang echoing through the weight room. A few people glance our way, but they quickly go back to minding their own business when they see me staring back.
“You don’t know anything about my situation,” I say, keeping my voice low but letting the edge show. “You don’t know me, and you don’t know my life. You sure as hell don’t know why I do the things I do.”
“Then enlighten me.” Tyler doesn’t back down, doesn’t flinch at my tone. “Because from where I’m standing, you look like a guy who’s convinced himself he has good reasons for crossing lines.”
“Some lines need to be crossed.”
The blatant admission slips out before I can stop it, and Tyler’s expression shifts from anger to concern.
“Jesus Christ, Cole. What have you done?”
I want to walk away, to end this conversation before it goes any further. But something in Tyler’s voice makes me hesitate.
“He’s a real threat,” I say finally. “He’s been stalking Hailey. There’s no one else protecting her, so I am.”
“How?”
I could lie. Deflect. Or I could tell someone the truth for the first time in weeks.
But he might run straight to Tracey and tell her about how fucked up I am.
“I’ve been watching him. Tracking his movements. Last week, I caught him trying to break into her apartment through her bedroom window.”
Tyler’s eyes widen. “You caught him? Were you watching her apartment?”
“I was watching him. There’s a difference.”
“Is there?” Tyler runs a hand through his hair, looking suddenly older, like I’m stressing him out. “Cole, listen to me. Call the police. Give them the information you’ve gathered and let them handle it. You do not want to be involved like this.”
“With what evidence? Everything I know came from surveillance that wasn’t exactly legal.”
Tyler studies my face for a long moment. “How deep are you in this, Cole? Be honest.”
The question forces me to stop and look at what I’ve been doing. I know I’m in deep, but I’ve been avoiding thinking about it. The problem doesn’t exist if I don’t examine it too closely.
Right?
“Deep enough that there’s no going back,” I admit.
“There’s always a way back. But the longer you wait, the harder it gets.” Tyler glances around the nearly empty gym, then back to me. “Come to the meeting next week. Tell Tracey what’s happening. Let the group help you figure out how to handle this without destroying your relationship with Hailey.”
“What relationship? She’s already suspicious. Yesterday she ran away from me when we ran into each other at a coffee shop. With the way she took off, you’d think I was carrying the plague.”
“Because her intuition is telling her something’s off.
People can sense when they’re being watched, even if they can’t articulate what they’re feeling.
” Tyler’s voice carries a heavy kind of sadness, like he’s speaking from experience.
“You can still fix this, but only if you stop now and come clean.”
The idea of confessing everything to Hailey, of watching the trust disappear from her eyes when she realizes how thoroughly I’ve violated her privacy, makes me feel physically sick.
“I can’t lose her, Tyler.”
“Then stop doing things that will make her run away from you.”
My phone buzzes with an alert. I glance at the screen, and my stomach drops.
Shitbag Lars is on the move. His current location? Three blocks from Hailey’s apartment.
“I have to go,” I say, already grabbing my gym bag.
“Cole, wait—”
“I can’t. He’s near her building again.”
Tyler grabs my arm as I turn to leave. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Right now, in this moment, you’re choosing stalking over recovery. Do you see that?”
I look at his hand on my arm, then at his face. “This is more important. I need you to understand.”
“What I understand is that you’re going to lose everything if you don’t step back from this edge.”
I pull free from his grip. “I’ll think about the meeting.”
“Cole—”
But I’m already walking away, my mind focused on getting to my car, getting to Hailey’s building and making sure Lars Winters doesn’t get anywhere near her.
I jump into my truck, then shove the key in the ignition. Just as I’m about to put it in reverse, the passenger door opens and Tyler slides in.
“What are you doing?” I snap, looking at him like he’s lost his fucking mind.
“I’m coming with you.” Tyler throws his hands up. “If I can’t stop you, then you’ve left me no choice. Someone has to keep you under control.”
I narrow my eyes, barely able to compute Tyler’s words. Exhaustion is a gray fog descending over my brain, making everything around me feel slow. Or maybe the world is moving at its usual pace, and I’m lagging behind? I don’t have time for delays—not when Hailey is in danger. “Get out.”
“No.” Tyler fastens his seat belt, then crosses his arms over his chest.
“Fuck it,” I spit, then throw my truck in reverse and speed out of the parking lot.
I open the monitor I have mounted to the vehicle, not caring if Tyler sees it. He already knows.
Winters’s location pops up as a moving green dot on a satellite map, and Tyler gasps. “Cole. What the fuck have you been doing?”
Gripping the steering wheel, I shake my head. “What I have to.”
“There’s no world in which you have to do this. Call the police, dude. Let them handle it.”
I feel the crack in my mental state open wider. “Don’t you get it?” I know I sound unhinged now. “They don’t care. We’ve filed three police reports, and they’ve done nothing. He thinks she’s his, but she’s mine.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tyler’s jaw drop briefly before he slams it shut with an audible clack. “You can’t be serious. She isn’t yours. People don’t belong to other people.”
“Says who?”
Yep, definitely sounding unhinged. But I can’t get myself to care. Fear and rage and the urge to protect swirl through me like a hurricane. The feelings pound against my skull, battering the last of my control.
I turn a corner a little too quickly, making my tires squeal.
“Says literally everyone. You do not own her. You may be dating, but she is her own person and deserves to be treated with respect and autonomy. You can’t try to dictate what happens in her life, Cole. It’ll only backfire. Pull back before it’s too late.”
Part of me knows he’s right. I know Hailey’s not mine. But just the thought—not mine—sends a lightning strike of panic through the storm gusting inside me.
Autonomy aside, I feel a responsibility to keep her safe. To keep her in this bubble, away from anything and anyone who might hurt her. I can’t bear to think about what might happen if he gets his hands on her. I can’t let her end up like Emma. I refuse to let him touch her.
Winters’s car is parked on a side street two blocks from Hailey’s building when we arrive. Empty. Which means he’s on foot.
I park and begin a search of the area, checking around her building, the coffee shop she normally visits, and part of the jogging route she takes, all while Tyler trails close behind.
After twenty minutes, I spot him sitting on a bench at the small park where her running path intersects a quiet residential street.
He’s not just sitting. He’s watching. Waiting.
For her.
“Is that him?” Tyler asks, sounding out of breath.
My hands clench as I watch Winters from half a block away. “Yeah. He knows this is where she goes running.”
This is what justifies everything I’ve been doing. This moment, this proof that Lars Winters is stalking Hailey. He’s positioned himself exactly where he knows she’d be if she were out for a jog. But this isn’t when she typically runs. She should be at home with Chewy right now.
“So call the police. He’s here, and he’ll probably still be here by the time they arrive.” Tyler is trying to reason with me, and it almost works.
I pull out my phone to call 911, then hesitate. “What crime is he committing by sitting on a public bench? How the fuck do I explain any of this to the police when they show up?”
Tyler looks at me, but he’s got nothing. Even he can’t come up with a good enough argument.
The system would fail her again. Officers would take a fourth report, maybe spend a few days doing extra patrols in the area, then they’d forget all about her.
But I won’t.
I can approach Winters directly, make it clear that I’m watching him, that any move against Hailey will have immediate, violent consequences. With Tyler beside me, I might look twice as intimidating—if he would stop panting for a second.
“Call Hailey, then,” he finally suggests. “Stop doing things that will make her run away from you if she finds out.”
I could do that. Warn her about how close he is, suggest she avoid her usual routine today.
The choice feels monumental. Continue lurking in the shadows, protecting her without her knowledge, violating her trust. Or break cover, reveal what I know, accept the consequences of my actions…
Tyler’s words replay like slivers of sunshine fighting to break through the storm inside me. I don’t want Hailey to run away from me. I want her to run to me.
But if I warn her, she’ll want to know how I knew Winters was here. She’ll ask questions I can’t answer without confessing to everything.
She’ll never be able to look at me again if I do that. She’ll hate me.
Winters stands up from the bench, stretches casually, then begins walking in the direction of Hailey’s apartment building.
Fuck.
Tyler tails me, throwing his hands up in defeat as I follow Winters, staying far back enough to avoid confrontation but close enough to intervene if he approaches her building. My phone is in my hand, Hailey’s contact information one touch away.
“Call her,” Tyler whispers. “Let her make her own choices.”
Protect her, another voice responds. Do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
As Winters turns onto Hailey’s street, he takes off running out of sight, and I know which voice I have to listen to.
There’s no coming back from the choice I’m about to make.