Chapter 29
“I hate this,” I growled against her lips.
“I don’t like it either, but Wade is right.” She licked my bottom lip, sucking it between her teeth. Her arms wrapped around my neck. The feel of her breasts in the silk bathrobe barely covering her had my cock straining the fabric of my dress pants.
Grabbing her ass, I squeezed her to me. “Let’s just skip it. I’ll spend the night eating your pussy instead.” She was my favorite meal, and because Lock had been home, I’d gone hungry for the last several days. At night anyway. When Lock was at school and Phoebe was home with me…
Shaking her head, she argued, “It will be too suspicious. Do you think I really want to have to spend the night watching Olivia fawn all over you?” She shuddered against me, strengthening my resolve to talk her out of this.
“It’s necessary. Wade made a good point a couple weeks ago.
Not only will it make Cady-Jo more suspicious, but whoever is behind the notes may figure it out if we aren’t there and use it. ”
I saw red thinking about those notes.
Wade had talked to Phoebe after church on Sunday, and she’d had copies of the notes from her publisher by Monday.
My jaw ached for days after I’d read them.
They were disgusting. Each one was meant to degrade Phoebe, to belittle her creativity and her work.
Looking back, she’d been scared for weeks, and I hadn’t seen it.
The only thing that allowed me to sleep even a bit on the nights I had to be home instead of with her was the fact that none of them threatened her or Lock physically. Still, I’d driven past her house more than once on those nights.
Wade became adamant we keep a low profile when another note showed up at Phoebe’s house after the post-church get-together at Louise’s.
Now, we weren’t just keeping our relationship quiet to keep my mother from losing her crap; we were keeping it quiet to keep Phoebe safe until her tormentor could be found.
That made me feel a whole lot better about lying to everyone. I’d told Phoebe I was okay with keeping things secret, knowing it would be temporary. After seeing my mom at church and then spending time with her and my siblings, I’d started to feel the growing discomfort of what that meant.
I’d comforted myself with the knowledge I technically wasn’t lying. As long as no one asked me a direct question, my not volunteering information wasn’t a deception.
The letter had changed everything.
Lying to keep my woman and her son safe was a completely different matter.
It had taken me a solid hour to calm the fuck down when I’d gotten the call from Wade. He’d taken Phoebe and Lock home with the intent of talking to her, and I’d been roped into dinner at Mom’s.
I’d bent Mom’s fork when I’d received Wade’s text.
Wade, being a true friend, had called me shortly after texting, telling me there was a problem, claiming some kids might have messed with some of the construction equipment I stored out back, and asking me to come.
Mom had questioned it, making sure Wade was there, going so far as to ask if I’d be staying after or leaving with him.
It’d been on the tip of my tongue to tell her off.
This was getting ridiculous. If I hadn’t been so worried about Phoebe and Lock, I would have had a showdown with her about her attitude.
Instead, I told her I’d follow Wade’s direction if there was damage and I needed to file a police report. Again, it wasn’t a direct lie.
I was a snarling, snapping mess by the time I got to Phoebe’s.
I wanted to pack her and Lock up, moving them to Dad’s cabin where this psycho couldn’t find her.
I was coming up with excuse after excuse to out our relationship; that way, I could claim her and Lock as mine.
God fucking help anyone who messed with what was mine.
Wade’s assessment was the only thing keeping me from doing just that. That and the pure terror on my scribbler’s face. Right now, the deviant felt comfortable. Confident. If we changed course and altered the perceived balance of power, it might cause them to escalate.
In the meantime, she’d had a friend of Aaron’s come back out to install some discreet security cameras around the place.
They had live facial recognition software which only alerted if a face she hadn’t authorized showed up and allowed for constant monitoring through an app. An app currently on my phone.
All of this had led to tonight with me in a suit, kissing my woman goodbye as I prepared to escort my ex, at my scribbler’s insistence, to her grandparents’ anniversary party.
“We can cancel. I’ll say I’m sick.” I hated the look I knew would be on her face tonight.
It was the same stricken look she got whenever Olivia was around me.
Not that that happened much, and not without someone else there.
I’d kept my promise to Phoebe with pleasure.
I’d already been annoyed with Olivia’s blatant antics before Phoebe became mine.
“Ugh, no. You can’t.” Alex flounced into the room, her silver dress swishing with each step. “We need to make this look good. Someone is after my girl here, and you”—she pointed at me— “are not going to paint a bigger target on her back.”
“Get lost, Barbie,” I snapped, not wanting a second I got to spend with my scribbler to be eaten up by anyone else. Despite my irritation at Alex for interrupting, I was glad she was here and going as Phoebe’s date. If there was one person I knew had my scribbler’s back more than me, it was Alex.
“You say ‘Barbie’ like it’s an insult.” She gave me a pitying look. “You need to work on your insulting skills, hammerhead.”
“Could you two not?” Phoebe pulled out of my arms, and I growled. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at both of us.
“What?” Alex and I said in unison.
Rolling her eyes, Phoebe looked me over, hunger tinged with a worry in her gorgeous green eyes. “You need to get going.”
Her expression closed off, which I didn’t fucking like. Not happening, sweetheart. Grabbing her by the neck, I hauled her to me. Slamming my mouth over hers, I kissed her until I felt her melt against me.
“Ewww.” Alex fake-gagged. “My poor, poor eyes.”
Giving Phoebe one more tender kiss, I promised, “I’ll be thinking about you every second.”
The wan smile she gave me made me uneasy. “You better go.”
Clenching my teeth, I watched her retreat into the bathroom where she said she needed to get ready. My feet stayed planted, my muscles tight. The suit I wore felt like it was made of wool, and I was already breaking out in hives with every second I let this stupid farse go on.
“You really need to go,” Alex pointed out, appearing less antagonistic than usual.
“Fine.” I stomped to the bedroom door. “Take care of her,” I ordered, not particularly caring that I was being an ass to my woman’s demented best friend.
Fortunately for me, and my balls, Alex seemed more amused than offended. “I’ve always taken good care of her, but I’ll be extra vigilant tonight.”
“Good.” That was something.
“Not of her, dumbass. Of you.” Alex stepped into my space, her face transforming from mischievous pixie into a murderously cold and calculating warrior. “You fuck this up tonight, Tyler Marcus Brockmann, and I’ll unleash the kind of hell on you the devil himself will run out of Hell to escape.”
An hour later, running seemed like a fucking superb idea.
“Ty, do you remember when we all went down to Sullivan’s landing senior year?” Olivia droned on. The people gathered around were old friends from high school, and her captive audience.
It had been like that since I’d met her here an hour ago. It’d taken some fancy footwork, but I’d managed to get out of driving her to the party, citing the need to check some job sites while Dad was on a job up in Canada for an old friend who had a serious accident.
“What are we talking about?” Wade sidled up to our group, a pretty blond I recognized from the hair salon a town over on his arm.
“Oh, we were talking about all the fun we used to have…” Olivia picked up right where she left off.
A minute later, Wade nudged my arm, his head subtly jerking to the archway where guests were entering.
Holy. Fuck.
I couldn’t remember my name, how to breathe—hell, my legs felt like they’d give out underneath me.
Breathtaking.
Silky brown hair was curled and piled high on her head, little wisps falling down to caress her creamy shoulders.
Her bare shoulders. The corset bodice hugged her curves to perfection, pushing breasts I knew were soft and sweet up just enough to give a glimpse of her perfect skin.
The red wine color accented her pale skin and made her green eyes glow.
The red silk clung to her hips and legs, falling to the floor, only allowing a tiny peek at the gold heels she wore.
“Wow,” Wade breathed, and I thought I’d explode.
When she took a step, the side of her skirt split, revealing a perfect leg, the muscle of her thigh flexing with the movement.
The sapphire jewelery she wore, a diamond and sapphire pendant around her neck and matching ones in her ears, completed the look.
“Fuck me,” I cursed, watching her turn to greet someone only to swallow my tongue when I saw the back of the dress. I wanted to use those tiny silk ribbons that pretended to be the back to bind her wrists. I could see them now, wrapped around her delicate bones.
“She looks—”
I cut Wade a dark look.
“—nice. She looks nice.”
This is a nightmare. If my best friend had this reaction to her…I’ll kill him.
Wade’s firm grip kept me from stomping across the ballroom to punch Rowdy in the face when he moved to Phoebe, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. “You can’t.”
“He needs to get his hands off her,” I growled, not caring if anyone in our group heard. Phoebe threw her head back, a soft laugh escaping her at something Rowdy said. Alex, who really needed to move her ass between Phoebe and Rowdy, laughed instead.