“That’s cool. I mean, I’m sure Craig wouldn’t think so, but since you kicked him to the curb, I guess he doesn’t have anything to say about it.”
“Who’s Craig?” the sport coat asked.
“Oh, her husband.”
“You’re married?”
Reese laughed lightly. “Ex. Well, you see, I married under duress. It wasn’t like I wanted to be married. I was actually kidnapped by him.”
“That is so inaccurate,” I grumbled.
“Oh. Do you have a restraining order against him?”
“No. He’s a good guy, just a little…inventive in his ways of getting my attention.”
“But he kidnapped you?”
“Well, I mean, he was stalking me first, which led to me being kidnapped. Technically, he rescued me from my kidnapper, but then kidnapped me again?”
“So, how did you end up married to him?”
She looked back to Florrie. “Did you need something?”
“Oh! I was just coming to say hi. I was going to meet a friend, but she cancelled. So, I’m just on my way out.” She turned to sport coat. “It was nice to meet you.” She held her hand out, knocking over the wine glass and spilling it over the table. The man jumped out of his seat and Florrie dropped the mic during the distraction. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry.” She got down on her knees and then we couldn’t see anything.
“Why is she on her knees in front of him?” Alec growled.
“Uh…I think…she’s cleaning him?”
“Fuck that!” Alec burst out of the truck. I had to run to catch up to him, and then I tackled him to the ground. “Get the fuck off me!”
“No, you’ll ruin my mission.”
“Florrie has her hands on some guy’s junk. Let me the fuck up so I can go shoot him.”
He tossed me off him and moved to get up. I snatched his foot, tripping him and making him fall back to the ground. “You’re not blowing this for me!” He kicked out, catching me in the face. “What the fuck, man? Are you trying to fuck up my face?”
“Get off me!”
I straddled him, grabbing his arms so that he couldn’t fight back. Pulling out a zip tie that I happened to have stashed in my back pocket, just in case, I tied his wrists together.
“Now, just stop struggling. You’re making it very difficult for me to spy on my girl with your freaking out.” He started bucking his hips, trying to get me off. “Ooh! It’s like a bucking bronco. Ride ‘em, cowboy!”
I laughed, looking up to see a woman and her young daughter standing just a few feet away. I slapped Alec in the head several times, trying to get him to stop so that the woman didn’t call the police on us. He looked up finally and his whole body sagged.
“Hey,” I laughed uncomfortably. “We’re just…playing a game of cops and robbers.”
The woman took her daughter’s hand and rushed off in the other direction. I got off Alec and yanked him to his feet.
“Would you relax? Florrie’s coming across the street now.”
Now that he was standing, he broke the zip tie and ran over to Florrie. “What the fuck were you doing on your knees?”
“I was lifting his wallet.” She held the wallet up and I snatched it from her. “Now you know who he is and you can do a background check on him.”
I kissed her on the mouth, pulling back quickly. “You’re so awesome.”
Alec grabbed me by the collar, but Florrie stepped in. “Would you relax!”
“He shouldn’t be fucking kissing you.”
“Shut up. This isn’t about you,” I cut in. “Now, what did you think about him?”
“Um, eh. He wasn’t anything to write home about.”
“Yeah, but she was laughing. Did he…did he seem to have a quality about him?”
“I guess. He seemed charming, but maybe in a smarmy way.”
“What about me? Do you think I have a quality?”
“Definitely.”
I sighed in relief. “What is it?”
“You’re quirky.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Reese
While the date wasn’t going bad, I wasn’t really enjoying myself either. Evan was nice enough and he was charming, but there was something about him that didn’t sit right with me. He was too charming. Too on. It was like he was trying to impress me with all his fun stories and what he did for work. It was all a show. And sadly enough, as I did on every date, I sat here wondering why I couldn’t just accept Craig. He didn’t try and impress me or charm me. He was just himself, and I found myself missing that right now.
“Well, would you let me drive you home?”
“I actually drove myself.”
“Okay. Well, I would love to take you out again.”
He helped me with my coat and we walked toward the door. “Um…” I paused too long trying to come up with something to say. We stepped outside and into the night, but when I turned around, he looked pissed.
“I see. So, you wanted a free dinner and that’s it.”
“What? No, that’s not it at all.”
“Then why don’t you want to go out with me again?”
“Honestly, I just don’t think that we’d make a good pair.”
He scoffed, “Right. You could tell all that by one date.”
“Actually, I can. Frankly, I don’t like your attitude. Everything about you screams that you’re just trying to impress me.”
“Isn’t that what women want?” he shouted.
“No, that’s not what I want.”
“Is everything alright here?”
Of course Craig was here. It was so obvious when Florrie showed up that Craig was somewhere waiting.
“Mind your own business,” Evan spat.
“Why don’t you just cool down,” Craig said, coming up beside me.
I turned to Craig, crossing my arms and glaring at him. “Why are you here?”
“I’m just looking out for you.”
“I don’t need you to look out for me.”
“You came out of the restaurant and he was yelling at you!”
Evan stepped up to Craig, probably trying to impress me in some way. “You need to back the fuck off. Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I’m her fucking husband!”
Evan turned to me, his face contorted in rage. “You said he was your ex. You bitch!”
He lunged for me, but Craig stepped between us, grabbing Evan’s arm and twisting it up behind his back.
“Apologize, asshole.”
“Fuck you!”
“Apologize or I’ll break your fucking arm.”
“I’d like to see you try!”
Craig jerked Evan’s arm and the distinct sound of bone breaking filled the air. I cringed as Evan screamed. This was not how I had pictured this going. I needed Craig to leave. Hell, I needed them both to leave. Craig was saying something to Evan, but I couldn’t stand here and watch anymore. Whatever was going to happen, I wanted nothing to do with it. I turned around and walked right into another man who happened to be very handsome. Despite his concerned expression, his eyes twinkled at me.
“Is everything alright, ma’am?”
“Uh…those two are fighting and…” He walked around me, his face serious. “Uh, maybe you don’t want to do that.”
“Police! Break it up!”
Craig released the man and stepped back. “Officer.”
“What’s going on here?”
“This guy just broke my fucking arm!” Evan shouted.
“Because you tried to attack a woman,” Craig shot back.
“Bullshit, you attacked me because you wanted and apology.”
“Whatever’s going on here needs to stop now, or we’ll take this to the station.”
“Whatever,” Evan spat. “She’s not worth it.”
Evan walked away and left me standing with Craig and the officer. “Are you okay, Reese?”
“Yes.”
“Reese,” the officer grinned. “The name suit
s you.”
“Thank you,” I smiled.
“Oh, come on. You’ve got to be kidding me!” Craig shouted. “Tell me you’re not flirting with this guy.”
I ignored Craig and stared at the man in front of me. He seemed to be very interested, and he handled that whole situation without even pulling out his gun. I’d say that was a big plus.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night.”
Craig snorted. “Are you kidding? Of course she doesn’t. Her last date just tried to attack her.”
“That sounds great.” I pulled out my phone and handed it to him so he could put in his information. He handed it back to me when he was done and grinned.
“Leif. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said, somewhat giddily. It’s not that I really liked him. I didn’t even know him. But he was interested in me, and he asked me out right in front of Craig. It won major points with me. I smiled as he walked away. That is, until Craig stepped in front of me.
“You’re not seriously going out with him.”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?”
“His name is Leif!”
“And?”
“And who names their kid that? Was he born from a plant? Is he a fucking explorer?”
I shrugged. “Maybe he’s from Iceland. I bet he’s got huge muscles.”
“I’ve got huge muscles!”
“And he probably has the best sense of humor.”
“I’m fucking hilarious!”
“You’re gonna have to give me a better reason that I can’t go out with him than that.”
“You can’t because you’re-”
“Married. I know. You keep reminding me.”
I turned and headed for my car in the parking lot. I could feel the heat coming off Craig as he walked behind me. He was pissed.
“Tell me what he has that I don’t.”
“Well, he didn’t try to kidnap me yet.”
“Give it time. You’ve only just met him.”
“He also didn’t try to trick me into marrying him,” I smirked.
He got in front of me, walking backwards so he could still talk to me.
“Hey, I didn’t try to do that until weeks after we first met.”
I stopped walking. “He hasn’t killed anyone in front of me.”
“Alright, maybe he has that going for him, but he’s in danger every single day that he steps out in his uniform. And that’s what you told me was standing in the way. So, tell me why he’s okay to go out with, but not me, when you’re already in love with me.”
I didn’t know what to say. He was absolutely right. I was pushing him away, just for the sake of pushing him away. Maybe I wanted to see if he would still be interested if he had a chance to step away from me. It was all insane. I mean, he was telling me he loved me way too soon, and maybe he was being serious, but I was finding it all very hard to believe. And deep down, I was worried that after the charm of stalking me wore off, he wouldn’t want me anymore. A man like Craig was just too big of a risk. I had too much to lose if he walked away.
“Maybe it’s just because of that. I don’t love him. I can go out with him this once and it doesn’t mean anything to me. You do mean something to me, as you keep pointing out. But I don’t want you to mean anything to me. You stalked me and manipulated my whole life. And as soon as you have me right where you want me, I won’t be so interesting anymore. You’ll drop me and move on to stalking some other woman that you meet at…a pumpkin patch! You’ll shoot some pumpkin that looked like it was about to attack her and she’ll fall for this whole routine of you being in love with her, and how you protected her. But I’m not falling for it, so just leave me alone!”
I walked away and he didn’t follow. At least, not until I was driving down the road to my grandma’s house. I watched as he parked on the side of the road and waited until I got inside. Then he drove away and I was left wondering if I was hurting myself or protecting myself from getting hurt.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Craig
“Three fucking date, Brooke! You told me that she would come around. You said that I just had to keep stalking her. You know what she did when I showed up at the restaurant last night? She ignored me. She pretended I wasn’t even fucking there!”
“Okay, calm down.” Brooke sat across from me in my living room, perfectly calm and relaxed while my fucking world was falling apart. “Listen, I told you that this might happen. She just needs to see that what’s out there isn’t nearly as good as what she had with you.”
I gripped my hair and screamed in frustration. “She’s going out with him again. Do you know what that means?”
“Um…it’s their fourth date?”
“Exactly! Don’t you women have a three date rule or something?”
“Oh…”
I started pacing the room. I really needed to go shoot someone or beat up a druggie. Anything to relieve the tension running through me. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. God, I’m so fucked. If she goes home with him, I’ll never hear from her again.”
“Just hold on. It can’t be all that bad.”
“It can’t be that bad? Are you serious? Does she look like the type of woman that would go screw someone else and then just come waltzing back to me?”
Brooke grimaced. “Okay, maybe you need to do something to make sure that doesn’t happen. Blow up the bridge before they can cross it and get home, or go murder someone so that he gets called out.”
“You want me to murder someone?”
“Well, it’s not too far from what you already do.” I shot her a glare, but she just shrugged. “I’m just trying to be realistic here.”
“I’m not going to kill someone or blow up a bridge. I’ll just have to think of something else.”
“Well, you’d better hurry,” she said as she looked at her watch. “Her date just started.”
“Shit.” I grabbed my coat and raced out of the house and headed toward town. I had to come up with something, anything to keep her from going home with him. But on the way into town, I got a flat tire and then I got pulled over for speeding, which was total bullshit. Since when did the police pull you over for going ten miles over the speed limit? By the time I got to the restaurant, they were already gone. I dialed Cap’s number, praying that he would pick up.
“Yes?” he said, as if he was expecting my call.
“Cap, I need Becky to look up this guy’s address.”
He sighed into the phone. “I really wish I could help you, but today was Becky’s last day, or did you forget?”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, you missed the going away party and everything.”
“Look, I’ll send her a wreath or something. Just get me that address. They’ve already left the restaurant and this is the fourth date!”
“Ooh, that’s not good.”
“I already fucking know that!”
“Alright, I’ll get you the address, but you have to promise that you won’t go shooting anyone.”
“Of course I won’t.”
“Alright, what’s his name?”
“Leif something. He works at the police station.”
There was silence on the other end. “Wait, he works there or he’s a cop?”
“Does it fucking matter?”
“No, I guess not. I just need to know if I should plan on bailing you out later.”
“I’m not planning on confronting him. I just need to show my face so that Reese doesn’t go through with it.”
“And if she does?”
“She won’t. She loves me.”
“Alright. Give me a few minutes and I’ll text you the address.”
I waited outside the restaurant, not having a fucking clue which way I was supposed to head. Frustration was mounting so deep inside me that I thought I might pull out my gun and shoot something just so I didn’t go insane.
My phone beeped and I pulled up th
e message from Cap. I quickly found the location and sped through town to get there. I was about halfway there when police sirens sounded behind me. I hit the gas pedal and sped all the way to the house. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Reese and Leif were just getting out of his car. They must have stopped somewhere. I pulled over, my tires jumping up over the curb. I got out and made a dash for it, but stopped when Reese saw me. I prayed that she would come toward me. I prayed and pleaded, but she just stood there.
I was tackled to the ground, my arms wrenched behind my back as the cop read me my rights. But I kept staring at Reese. I watched as she turned away from me. I watched as she laced her fingers through that jackass’s hand. And I watched as she gave me one backward glance before walking into his house and leaving me forever.
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