“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
My heart skips a beat as he races out of the parking lot and starts toward home, glancing over at me every once in a while with hunger filling his eyes. Feeling bold, I scoot along the bench seat to get closer to him and reach over, trailing my fingers up the inside of his thigh. He tenses underneath me and shifts his gaze to glare at me.
“Alison,” he warns, and I hold back a giggle as I pull my hand away and scoot closer. He reaches out with one hand and pulls me into his side, leaning down and kissing the side of my head.
“I’m going to chap your ass for this,” he whispers, and I wiggle against him, my core clenching at the thought. When we pull up in front of the house, he shuts the truck off and opens his door, pulling me out with him, and I laugh as he scoops me up in his arms. My legs wrap around his hips, and I lean down, kissing him as he holds me in the middle of the sidewalk.
Pulling back, I smile down at him, and he drops me to my feet before spinning me to the house. “Go,” he commands, smacking my ass, and I yelp as I start walking up the sidewalk.
Glancing at him over my shoulder, I wink, and he fights back a grin, shaking his head. I spin back to the front and start up the steps, slowing as something catches the light and sparkles from the welcome mat in front of the door. Stopping on the front step, I suck in a breath.
What is that doing here?
Logan crashes into me and grabs my arms to keep me from falling. “Jesus, Ali. What are you doing?”
My eyes stay rooted to the mat in front of the door where the necklace that I’ve been looking for these past two weeks sits. Logan comes to my side and follows my gaze before looking back to me.
“What is it, Kitten?”
I open my mouth only to close it again as I look up at him. He runs his thumb down my cheek, and I suck in a breath. “It’s my necklace. I haven’t been able to find it since the break-in.”
He turns back to the necklace laid out perfectly in front of the door, clenching his jaw as he pulls me closer. “Inside.”
He grabs my keys out of my bag and opens the door before ushering me inside and leaving me in the foyer as he stomps down the hallway to the kitchen. When he comes back, he’s got a Ziploc bag in his hand. He turns it inside out and uses it to pick up the necklace. Once it’s safely inside, he zips it up and slams the door before turning to me. The bag is set down on the entry table as he reaches for me and pulls me into him.
He buries his nose in my hair and breathes me in. “You okay?”
“No,” I answer, shaking my head. I don’t even want to think about it right now. I just want to go back to five minutes ago when we were smiling and teasing each other. The fact that he was in my house and he took my things is something that I don’t want to deal with at the moment.
“Go pack a bag. We’re going to go stay at the clubhouse.” He turns away from me like he expects me to just do as he says but I cross my arms over my chest and wait for him to turn around again.
“No,” I say when he does, and his eyebrows shoot up.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I unfold my arms and walk off, down the hallway and I can hear him stomping behind me.
“Ali, this isn’t a goddamn joke. I need to keep you safe.”
Stopping in the kitchen, I spin around, and he almost runs into me. “Then call the cops but I’m not leaving my home.”
He growls and pulls me into his arms, pulling me tight against his body. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”
“I am, that’s why I want you to call Detective Rodriguez.”
He lets me go and walks over to the island, bracing his hands on it as he drops his head and takes a deep breath. “The man has told you that he’s going to kidnap you and still you fight me on this. You’ll be safe at the clubhouse, Baby. I need you to be safe.”
“I’ll be safe here. You’re with me.”
“No,” he barks.
“Yes,” I fire back. He’s not making me leave my home.
“I swear to God, Woman. I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here if I have to,” he says, his eyes snapping open, and just from the determination in his gaze, I know he’s telling the truth.
Arching a brow, I meet his intense stare, not backing down. “And what? You’ll just kidnap me like he intends to?”
“That’s not fair,” he growls.
“I’m not letting him take my home from me, Logan. I won’t do it.”
Dropping his head, he closes his eyes again and takes a deep breath. He tilts his head and opens one eye as he holds his hand out for me. I go to him without hesitation, and he wraps his arms around my waist. “I hate this.”
“I know,” I whisper, running my hand down his cheek, and he leans into me. “But I don’t want to go hide out at the clubhouse. This is my home, and he’s already taken so much from me.”
He leans down and claims my lips, pulling me into him tighter before pressing his forehead to mine and sighing. “I’m going to have a heart attack by the time I reach forty, and it’s going to be your fault.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I assure him, my heart beating a little faster with the knowledge that he’s thinking long term. I’m ready to fight like hell for this, and I just hope that he is, too.
* * * *
I wave at Mercedes with my free hand as I pass her office, and she glances up from the papers in front of her, grinning as she waves back at me. Writers pop in and out of offices, the gentle buzz of conversation filling the conference area, and I let out a breath, relieved to be back here as I slip into my office. Setting my bag down on the couch next to one of today’s boxes of letters, I wonder why we don’t just use email as I slip behind my desk and sink into my chair. The coffee warms my throat as I take a sip and lean back in my chair, sighing again. Work and normalcy – it’s exactly what I need after this weekend.
Logan spent the rest of Friday night trying to convince me to go to the clubhouse with him, and when that didn’t work, he tried to use his mouth to persuade me. I’m holding firm though. I refuse to let Chris, whoever he is, push me out of my home and control my life. I don’t care how scared I am, that is not happening. By Saturday afternoon, Logan had given up on the clubhouse altogether but he refused to let me out of his sight for even a moment the rest of the weekend – even following me into the shower. He tried to play it off as sexy and fun, but I know better. This whole situation is really hard for him, and I need to try to be more understanding.
I can’t even imagine what he’s going through, and I wish he would open up more about his girlfriend. Maybe if I knew how she died, I would understand why he’s freaking out so badly right now. Then again, maybe it’s just the fact that he lost her that’s making him act like this now. Maybe even the possibility of something happening to me brings up everything he went through when she died. I wish he could just relax a little though.
We haven’t heard from Chris since the necklace showed up on Friday night, and there haven’t been any more presents left on the porch. I want to know what it means. Why would he steal the necklace only to leave it there for me to find? A part of me hopes that he’s just washing his hands of this and that he’ll leave me alone but all I have to do is think about the last letter he sent to know that isn’t true. It’s too hard to wrap my brain around though. The entire situation sounds like the plot of a movie, and it doesn’t feel real. The thing that scares me the most is that I don’t know what the best course of action is. If I knew the best way to go, the best way to handle this whole situation, we could make a plan, and it would put my mind at ease, but right now, we’re kind of stumbling along in the dark.