Chapter Twenty-Three
Gemma
I’m unbelievably pissed at my mother right now.
She called Two’s dads this morning and tattled.
How could she?
Is she trying to ruin my life—ruin this good, sweet, tender thing between me and Two?
When he texted me this morning to let me know what she’d done, I’d been humiliated and horrified. Luckily, he said his parents were handling it well. Just wanted me to know.
If I weren’t terrified of getting abducted by some creeper, I’d take a drive far away from this house just to calm my mind and get away from Mom. Instead, I do the next best thing. I go next door to visit Willa and my little buddy Bane.
“Knock-knock,” I chirp as I enter my brother and sister-in-law’s house.
Bane babbles from somewhere within the home. I follow the sounds of my nephew’s adorable little voice to find him in his room in his bed, clearly just having awoken from a nap. His parents’ bedroom door is closed.
Ew.
They’re probably making more babies.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got him,” I say to the baby monitor, knowing they can hear me. “Keep doing your thing, big bro.”
I hear laughing from their bedroom, which makes me grin. Bane’s blue eyes sparkle with delight when he sees me.
“There’s my Baney-boo,” I croon as I scoop him into my arms. “Did you miss me?”
He continues making cheerful, loud sounds that warm my heart while I snuggle him to me. With Bane, I can almost forget I’m angry at Mom. Almost.
At least over here, I don’t have to see her. Mom doesn’t exactly come over to Callum’s that often. I mean, she tried to ruin his life too…
Guilt assaults me. I know that’s unfair. Mom had her own terrible struggles when she was younger and vilifying her won’t help the situation. I just need a break from her.
I feel Bane’s diaper and decide he needs changing. I’m no expert at this job, but I can do a better job than all my brothers combined. Bane’s only peed on me once. After I change him, I pick him back up and carry him into the living room to wait for Willa to stop being bred by my brother.
Minutes later, they both hurry into the living room. Willa’s face is flushed, with beard burn from my brother’s scruff. Callum wears a smug smirk. They both smell like sex. Yuck.
“What’s up?” Willa asks, sitting beside me. “Everything okay?”
She’s always been one to read people well, especially me.
“Not really.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. “Just Mom trying to ruin my life, is all.”
Callum plops down in the recliner, nosing his way into our conversation. “She’s a master at that shit.”
No matter how much time goes by or how happy Callum is, he’ll never truly let it go that Mom left him for our dad. Truthfully, I’d be pissed too if I were him.
I then proceed to word-vomit everything to Callum, Willa, and little Bane. By the time I finish, Willa’s eyes are wide as saucers. Callum studies me with a pensive look.
“So you have a boyfriend and never told me?” Willa asks, hurt lacing her tone. “I gotta admit. I’m a little stung by that.”
I sigh as I reach over to squeeze her hand. “I know and I’m sorry. It was just a weird thing, you know? I didn’t want anyone to know. Now, apparently, everyone does.”
“Bring him to family dinner tonight,” Callum suggests. “Let’s see if he passes the brotherly test.”
“Oh, he totally won’t,” I say with a silly smile. “Two’s his own weird person. Doesn’t ever say or do the right thing. While I find it endearing, it’s put him on the bad side of every family member he’s met thus far.”
Callum’s smile curls into something a bit wicked. “I like him already.”
Bane grabs hold of some of my hair and hollers as if to throw his two cents in as well. I kiss his fuzzy head and squeeze him tight. I love this little guy.
“Tell us more about this stalker,” Callum says, growing serious. “You said Sloane thinks it’s someone Dad knows. Hell, that could be anyone. He’s friends with everyone in this town.”
“If I know Dad, he’s probably already making a list for Jude,” I say with a frown. “She also thought it could be a girl just trying to scare me.”
“And it’s definitely not that cop?” Willa asks. “He seems like a suspect to me too.”
“Sloane doesn’t think so,” I say with a shake of my head. “It’s creepy to think some old man Dad knows could be doing this.”
“Even if they know Dad,” Callum reasons, “they shouldn’t have access to all your information. They’d know your home address at best. But your phone number? Your boyfriend’s house? The person has connections of some sort.”
“Your dad is cozied up to that new mayor. Phil Draper.” Willa frowns at me. “That guy seriously makes me nervous.”
“Possibly,” Callum says, “but I didn’t get that vibe when I met him. Do you think he just unnerves you because he worked with your ex-stepdad?”
Willa’s ex-stepdad and ex-stepbrother were total assholes. For the most part, they leave her alone now that she’s a part of the Parks, but they still make her wary.
“Maybe,” Willa admits. “Wouldn’t hurt to have Sloane investigate him.”
“She won’t go hunting down people again,” I say with a sigh. “That almost cost her her job last time, especially since she had it all wrong. She’s going to want hard proof that he could be a suspect.”
“I’ll have Jude do a full rundown on him,” Callum assures me. “We’ll uncover any dirt the illegal way and then let Sloane shake down the rest the legal way.”
Despite everything being so messy, I’m once again reminded about how good my family can be. We may have our flaws, but we sure know how to band together in a crisis.
I guess my stalker is officially considered a Park family crisis now.
Family dinners at my house every Sunday are hectic, to say the least. Mom got a new, ostentatious mahogany dining room table to better fit our growing family. If we include our grandfather, his cook, and all the babies, there’s something like seventeen of us. The table seats twenty-two. I don’t know what Mom will do when we max out. Do they make tables any bigger than this monstrous piece?
Rex is in his highchair, already stuffing his face with macaroni and cheese, while Mom rushes around to place last-minute dishes on the table. No one pays me any attention, all of them babbling and catching up, which is good.
Two’s coming to dinner.
Surprise!
Now that the cat’s out of the bag, there’s no reason why he can’t join us. In fact, I want him to join us. Since last night and this morning went so badly, I’m aching to see him to make sure we’re okay—that he’s okay.
Of course he’s late.
Naturally.
Aubrey, with her daughter Rue sitting in her lap, waves me over. As much as I want to cuddle my niece, I’d rather be ready for Two’s arrival. Spencer saves me when he steals the seat beside her and then starts tickling the baby.
Dad watches me with narrowed eyes but doesn’t speak to me.
Finally, the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it!” I shout, bolting for the door.
I’m grinning from ear to ear when I fling it open, ready to leap into Two’s arms. Except, it’s not Two. It’s a man.
One of Dad’s friends.
Chief of police and Sloane’s boss, Hiroshi Tanaka.
The strange bird-like man bores his stare into me. Normally, I might blow off such an intense look, but something about him unnerves me.
“Hello, Gemma.”
His icy cold tone makes me shiver. He waits patiently, like a friggin’ vampire, for me to welcome him inside. I’m tempted to close the door in his face.
“Hiroshi,” Dad greets from behind me. “So happy you could join us today.”
Dad clutches my shoulder and gently moves me aside so he can usher in Tanaka. Their newly formed friendship wasn’t all that surprising. Dad aligns himself with anyone and everyone of importance. Having the chief of police in your back pocket is a flex my dad no doubt wanted to have.
I want to ask Dad why this man is here, but I bite my tongue. When I catch Sloane’s stare on me, she gives me a comforting smile. She’s obviously trying to assure me that it’s okay. Nothing to worry about.
So why do I feel edgy now that this man is here?
I could just be paranoid.
Before I can read too much into it, Two’s hunk of junk roars down our road. He skids to a stop right in front of our house. Since the driveway is full, he leaves his vehicle where it stopped, blocking our road from anyone coming or going.
As soon as he steps out of the vehicle, I run out of the house toward him. He’s waiting for me and catches me when I launch myself at him. Our mouths meet for a starved kiss, each of us mauling the other with desperation.
Yeah, we’re good.
Really good.
We pull apart to grin goofily at each other. He can be cantankerous and strange and obtuse, but he’s also cute, sweet, and funny. I love being with him. It truly is the highlight of my day when I get to see him.
I finally pull away from him and reach for his hand. “Ready for the firing squad?”
He snorts. “Yup.”
Then he pulls my hand closer to his face to inspect my nails. “I like these. It looks like real gold flecks on the matte black.”
I preen at his compliment. “I did them last night after you left.”
“What is that stuff?”
“It’s this really fine gold foil that sort of disintegrates when you handle it, giving it a gold fleck effect. Cool, huh?”
“Very.”
He kisses the back of my hand before letting our hands drop between us, though still conjoined. I lead him into my house where my family’s chatter dies down to meet the newcomer.
“Two?” Tate exclaims in shock. “Holy crap!”
Tate rushes over to us and hugs Two. “This is the girl who ran you over with her car?”
I gape at Two. “You told him that?”
Two shrugs and smirks. “Yes, because you did.”
“I hit you. I didn’t run you over.”
“Wow,” Tate says breathily, eyes wide with awe. “I have so many questions. So many. We’re going to talk about this tomorrow in our session.” He motions for the table. “Come eat with us.”
I introduce Two to everyone as my boyfriend. Some of the family doesn’t know the whole drama about the canceled adoption and Mom knowing his dads, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to fill them in. Especially not with Hiroshi Tanaka watching us with cool interest.
When we’re finally seated to eat, Sloane leans into me and says, “Tanaka’s here to meet with your dad about the stalker. See if he can offer his help. He’s good people.”
Is he, though?
The man continues to study me and Two.
“Yeah, sure,” I mumble.
I glance past Sloane to see Dempsey frowning hard. He’s never been Tanaka’s biggest fan. He must be feeling my uneasy vibes through our twin bond because he’s watching Tanaka like he might be about to do something stupid.
Like kidnap me?
The thought of going anywhere with Tanaka makes me shudder. Why isn’t his wife along for the visit? Why doesn’t he talk much? Why does he keep looking at us?
Finally, Tanaka tears his gaze away from mine to look down at his phone. He pecks away on it with one long, bony finger before he puts it away.
Seconds later, my phone buzzes in my pocket.
I freeze, terror clawing its way up my throat. It’s him. Tanaka is my stalker. Swallowing down bile, I fish my phone out of my pocket and read my message.
Except it’s not a message.
It’s a calendar reminder to turn in an interest form for a school workshop.
Not Tanaka. Just a reminder.
Ugh.
Fear is my new normal and I hate it.