I walked with her to the front door, rolling my eyes at her crazy ideas. “Sure, I’ll just be the person that hands him the guns and reloads his weapons.”
“It could work. Hey, it might be a really good bonding experience for you. You know, kind of like those couples that do really stupid shit like go paint together. You could be them, except cooler.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Alright, let me know how it goes.”
I shut the door and not more than two minutes later had my stalker banging on the door.
“Hey! Reese, I think there’s something wrong with the lock. I can’t get in!”
“That’s because I had the locks changed,” I shouted back.
“Why would you do that?”
“So you couldn’t get back in.”
It was silent and I grinned to myself. That should teach him to come into my house uninvited.
“I’ll just wait out here.”
“For what?”
“For you to open the door.”
“I’m not opening the door, so you can just leave.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why not?” I screamed in frustration. “Don’t you know when you’re not wanted?”
Okay, that might have been a little mean, but since when did I need to be nice to my stalker?
“You may not want me, but I’m your husband and I’m not leaving. I won’t leave you unprotected.”
I unlocked the door and opened it. Craig was standing on the porch with a big grin on his face that just pissed me off. He had to learn that he couldn’t just barge into my life and take over.
“I don’t need any protection, but if you don’t feel you can leave, then you’ll just have to sleep on the porch.”
I slammed and locked the door and went upstairs to get ready for bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Craig
I walked into Reed Security, a little sore from my night of sleeping on the porch. I couldn’t believe that she locked me out of our house, but worse than that, she actually thought I would leave her unprotected.
“What’s wrong with you?” Alec asked.
I plopped down in the chair in the conference room with a sigh. Florrie was smirking at me, like she already knew what had happened.
“Reese locked me out of the house.”
Florrie snorted, but covered it with a sad face. “What’d you do?”
“I don’t know. I went home last night and she had the locks changed. I don’t know what I have to do to get through to that woman. It’s like she doesn’t believe that I really love her.”
“You know, it could be that she’s pissed that you manipulated her,” Florrie suggested.
“I didn’t manipulate her. I did what I knew was right so that we could end up together.”
“So, what’s your plan now that she’s kicked you out of the house?”
“I don’t know. But you know what bothers me?” Alec shook his head. “How did she get the locks changed? I mean, we have sensors that we set up with the door. And I added in a few…extra features. Not just anyone could have changed the locks.”
Florrie sighed and kicked her feet up on the table. “Cap did it.”
“What? How do you know?”
“Because I was walking by his office when he was telling Cazzo’s team to change the locks.”
I stared at her in complete shock. I didn’t understand it. I thought Cap was on my side. “But…that doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t he at least talk to me about it?” She shrugged, like it was no big fucking deal. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you’re psychotic and you’re stalking the poor woman.”
“Hey, I helped you out big time when you were fucking it all up with Alec. You should be on my side.”
“I’m trying to be. I really am, but what do you want me to do when you practically forced the girl to marry you?”
“I expect you to help me plan out how to get her to stay. I went to fucking therapy for the two of you. I had a counselor suggest that we have a threesome!”
“That was totally on you,” Florrie shot back. “Alec and I were completely aware of what she was suggesting and why. You were just too dense to catch on.”
“Well, that’s besides the point. I was there for the two of you, supporting you through all your fights and fucking up against the wall when I was right in the other fucking room. The least you could do is stand up for me to my wife. Tell her that I’m not a psycho. Convince her that she really does love me. Help her to see reason, that me kidnapping her was necessary, and that tricking her into marrying me was completely logical when she couldn’t see what we had.”
“Is that all?”
“That should do it,” I said with a nod. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find someone that can give me some actual advice on how to win my woman back.”
“Who would that be?” Alec asked.
“Who else? The ladies.”
I headed to the common areas of the panic room where most of the women worked from during the day for their sex shop. It was weird. They had a store that they were setting up, but most of their orders were online or sex parties. I wasn’t quite sure how any of these men allowed their women to do this shit. It was fucking dangerous if you asked me. Especially since their first sale had turned out to be with drug dealers.
I was pleased to see that I had a good crowd today. “Good morning, ladies!”
“Hey,” they responded, but went back to their work. I could see that I needed to give them a little more. Claire was my most obvious choice. She was the romantic at heart. And then there was Kate. She had been seduced by Knight, my hero at the moment for his mad stalking skills. Maggie was hit or miss. Either she would freak Reese out with her ability to turn any situation into something violent, or it would show her how awesome it could be. Raegan was maybe my best bet since she was more like Reese than the others.
“I’m telling you,” Kate said to Maggie, “that diagram isn’t medically accurate.”
“I’m not asking for it to be medically accurate. I want it to appeal to my target audience. I just need it to be close enough.”
“Sure,” Kate mocked. “It’s close enough, as in, the dildo will go into the woman’s vagina, but her spleen might get in the way.”
“Uh, not to interrupt, but I have a problem, and I think you ladies can help me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Maggie snorted. “The last man that came here looking for help ended up saying he wanted to eat his woman’s pussy like a starving, mangy dog. Does that sound like advice that you want?”
“Look, you all know about Reese, and I’m sure you’ve heard about my latest predicament.”
“You got her to marry you,” Raegan nodded. “I suppose it wasn’t the stupidest thing you could have done. Though, I probably would have gone for knocking her up. That’s more binding.”
“I’m already on it,” I grinned. “But I need someway to keep her now. See, she locked me out of our house last night.”
“You already have a house with her?” Kate asked.
“I bought her house. See, she originally bought it, but the mortgage was ridiculous and I didn’t want her paying that much. So I had Becky help me out and I paid it off.”
“And you thought that was a good idea?” Maggie said slowly.
“Well, it made her life easier.”
“You need something romantic,” Claire sighed dreamily.
“Yeah, romance hasn’t worked out so well for me.”
“Hmmm, well, then you should save her,” Claire said with a nod.
“Already did that. I saved her from the kidnappers that interfered with my kidnapping. She didn’t seem to appreciate it too much, well, not when she found out what really happened.”
“That’s because it wasn’t dangerous enough.” Claire’s eyes lit up as she jumped up and started pacing the room. “You need something so dangerous that s
he can feel it in her bones. Am I right, ladies?”
“Personally, I like Jackson more now that we’re not running for our lives, but I will admit that it was a lot of fun to be on the run together. I mean, besides the really terrifying parts. However, I did get to shoot a gun and that was pretty cool, now that I look back on it.”
“Right!” Maggie exclaimed. “You need some kind of Bonnie and Clyde situation. Something that she can get involved in. Make it fun for her too. If you save her, but don’t let her have any fun, then of course she’s not going to love it.”
“Good, right. So, what are we talking here?”
“Well, Knight and I were in a building that blew up. Maybe you could do something interactive like that. It was scary as hell, but then he came back from the dead. I’d have to say, that made me want him all the more. Maybe you should fake your death. Nothing makes a woman realize her true feelings like the man she loves coming back from the dead.”
“Good. Good. What else? How do I get to me being killed off and then rising from the dead to stay with her for all eternity?”
“Well, you definitely don’t want her to be the one to kill you, so watch what you say,” Maggie said thoughtfully. “And I wouldn’t recommend knocking her up. Some may like that aspect of how two lovers come together, but personally, I find it to be too cliché. And since you already used Knight as an assassin, I think you need a real life situation. Something that’s a bit more believable.”
“Okay, so we should probably rule out human trafficking. I’m guessing that would be going overboard for her.”
“Right, and we’ve already done that here. I’m pretty sure Morgan would not suggest that.”
I nodded in agreement. Man, this evil planning was hard.
“Okay,” Claire said excitedly, “you guys are gonna think that I’m totally crazy, but have you ever seen the movie Megamind?”
“No.”
“Okay, so Megamind is evil and he needs a good guy to fight. So, he creates a hero. Only, the hero that he chooses is terrible. So, Titan, the hero, flies with Roxanne Richie to the top of the Metro City tower and drops her from the sky and then flies down to save her.” Claire’s eyes were so big and she was so excited, jumping around and clapping her hands. “Perfect, right?”
“Right.” I cleared my throat uncomfortably as I had to break a few minor hard truths to her. “Well, first of all, while I think that idea has great potential, there are a few minor problems. First, I can’t fly, so catching her would be a problem. Second, I think dropping her off a tower would probably make me seem like the villain. So, saving her would kind of make me look like an ass.”
“Sure,” Claire nodded. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“But she has a point,” Kate said thoughtfully. “You need that level of danger. So, what you really need is to be like Megamind, but instead create a villain. Maybe get her kidnapped again, only this time, the stakes have to be higher. You have to prove how far you’re willing to go to save her.”
“But I’ve already done that. I mean, Knight shot me already.”
Kate raised an eyebrow, pursing her lips like I was an idiot. “Knight was stabbed in the chest, fighting off a man that would kill me just to get back at Knight. I highly doubt that your tiny, insignificant gunshot wound ranks as high as Knight’s wound. Besides, Knight technically died in that fire. I was without him for a whole year. See, you haven’t made her miss you yet.”
I nodded. “Right, well, I have a job I’m going out on. Maybe I’ll get shot or maimed on the job. That should gain me some sympathy while I work out a plan.”
“And hey,” Maggie said as I turned to go. “You know, I’m always available with guns and grenades if you need me.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that, but I don’t think blowing me up will help with getting her back.”
“It’s an option,” she grinned.
Yeah, Maggie definitely wasn’t the one to go to. With my luck, Maggie would teach Reese how to kill me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Reese
I slid my key into the door, but it wouldn’t turn. I tried again, but still nothing. What the fuck? I went around to the side door and tried that, but nothing happened. Going around to the back door, I got the same results. I peered in through the window and my jaw dropped. Holy shit. I’d been burglarized. Pulling out my phone, I called Sean. I felt kind of bad. He had to deal with me more than he probably wanted, and he didn’t even know me that well.
“Reese,” he said, almost as if he expected trouble.
“Sean, I’m so sorry to call, but my house has been broken into. All my stuff is gone,” I rambled.
“Whoa, slow down, Reese. What do you mean? Did you get a call from Reed Security?”
“Why?”
“Because the alarm would have gone off if you were burglarized.”
“No, I didn’t. But I’m standing outside my house and there is nothing inside. It’s all gone.”
“Hold on, I’ll be right there. Don’t go inside.”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to. My key doesn’t work.”
He was silent for a moment. “I’ll be right there.”
I paced around my house, trying to find out how they broke in and managed to steal all my stuff. And why did they change the locks? This was crazy. But then I stopped in my tracks. Sean was right. Reed Security would have notified me of a break-in. And who would have been able to replace my locks like that? It had to be someone at Reed Security. But then, why was all my stuff missing?
Sean pulled into my driveway and winced as he talked to someone on the phone. “Yeah…uh-huh…okay, I’ll let her know.”
He hung up and sighed.
“What? Just tell me, did Reed Security change the locks again?”
“Uh…I think you need to talk to your husband.”
“Why?”
“Well, see, the thing is that…well, you don’t live here anymore.”
“What?” I screeched. “What do you mean I don’t live here anymore? Sean, this is my house. I bought it with my own fucking money!”
“Look, I really don’t want to be involved in this.”
“Too bad! You know something and you’re going to tell me right now!”
“It appears that your house was sold earlier today.”
“By who? I didn’t authorize that or even put it up on the market. And how did it sell so quickly?”
“Look, you really need to call your husband. I don’t know how or why he did it. All I know is that as of this morning, this house belongs to someone else.”
I was fuming. I knew my face was red and my whole body was shaking with rage. Who did he think he was? This was my property and I wasn’t giving it up without a fight. Besides, how did he even do it?
I stormed down the steps and got in my car, heading for the one place where I was sure to get the answers I needed. On my way, I called Craig. That bastard was going to get my foot up his ass if he kept this shit up.
“Hello, my little pixie-”
“Don’t you fucking dare call me cutsy little names right now, Craig. How the fuck did you sell my house without my permission?”
“Now, darling-”
“Don’t. I’m not in the mood for your games right now. This goes beyond stalking and kidnapping, or manipulating me into marrying you. You sold my house! The house that I saved up for and worked my ass off to be able to afford. That meant something to me and you just snatched it out from under me!”
“Well, you locked me out of our house.”
“So, your solution was to sell mine? Where am I supposed to live now?”
“At our house.”
“You just sold it!”
“No, our house on the Reed Security property, the one Sebastian suggested we buy. I purchased it from Reed Security and all your things have been moved over there.”
“How did you even do that? I was at school for eight hours!”
“I hired the best movers there were. I mean
, it cost me an arm and a leg, but I wanted it to be a surprise for you. Now, you’re all moved in and you didn’t even have to do anything.”
“And you thought I’d be happy about that?” I shouted.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I thought it over and I think the fastest way for us to move on with our lives is to live together in someplace that is both of ours. Hey, and Maggie said that she would teach you how to shoot. Of course, I would prefer to teach you myself, but I’m out of town.”
“Wait, you moved me into a new house and you’re not even here?”
“Well, I got sent out on a job. Cap thought it would be best if I wasn’t in town when you got the news of your new digs.”
“So, you just left me to deal with all this mess?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I know that you’re busy, so I left you Storm’s girlfriend’s information. Her name is Jessica and she does interior design. Have her do whatever you want. I left my credit card on the kitchen counter for you. Get whatever you need.”
“Whatever I need. Just like that.”
“Yeah.”
I grinned as I pulled into Reed Security. Do whatever I want? I would do that and more. This man would regret fucking with me by the time I was through with him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Craig
“I don’t understand this job. I mean, this sounds more like a domestic matter than anything,” I said, studying the file from the backseat of the SUV.
“It’s fucking ridiculous, if you ask me,” Alec grumbled. “Who hires someone else to watch out for their teenage daughters?”
“Maybe the man just wants to make sure his daughters are fully protected,” Florrie said.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on her seat. “Since when are you so touchy feely?”
“I’m not. I just think that the man is obviously worried about this neighbor and wants the best protection he can get.”
Alec snorted, “Are you kidding? All he needs is a gun and good aim. Hell, even bad aim would work. He just needs to scare away those punk kids.”
“I would have to agree with you. A man that can’t protect his own home doesn’t deserve a family.”
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