Without ceremony, I drop the papers next to her elbow. Grabbing my mug, I lean against the counter across from the island, crossing my legs at the ankles and sipping the lukewarm coffee while I wait.
Thankfully she finishes off her food before tentatively lifting the small stack.
Her brows grow closer together with each flip of the page.
I remain silent, letting her take it all in on her own time. Every now and then, her eyes flit up to meet mine, only to return to reading.
The sound of paper crinkling fills the silence from it crumpling inside her strangling grasp.
With an eerie calm, she sets the stack down and looks my way. Nerves prickle under my skin, and I’m hyperaware of her every tick as she stares me down.
A full minute passes before she finally speaks. “Why did you keep this from me?”
There’s no point in lying now. I put my feelings on the line this morning; holding back now would only serve to piss her off more. I can handle her ire, but what I don’t want is for her to act out irrationally because of her anger.
“I didn’t like the idea of your work being used against you.” Her eyes soften at the admission, and I can no longer keep my distance. I need to be near her. “Everything your stalker has done makes me want to rip him limb from limb, but this”—I stab a finger at the excerpts—“perverting your words”—another stab—“makes me want to do it with rusty tools.”
Coconut floats toward my nose as she sways in her seat, a hand braced on my chest, the muscles flexing under her touch. I circle an arm around her and pull until the few inches between us are gone.
Dropping my chin to rest on the top of her head, I inhale, letting her ground me. I may have told her she sees me as her shelter in the storm, but she’s always been my anchor.
Training, missions, deployments—Maddey was always there if any of us needed her. She’s practically a one-woman USO.
“I’m sorry I kept this from you.” I trail my fingers up and down her silky back. “I was trying to protect you, but I only ended up being the one to hurt you instead.”
Again, she’s silent.
I don’t move. I continue to embrace her, seeking comfort in the feel and scent of her. The longer I hold her, the more emotion starts to creep in, and I come to the startling realization that I’m scared. My entire world is in my arms…what if I can’t keep her safe?
Woof! Woof!
Trident’s sudden bark startles Maddey, and I straighten to see Justin and Paul entering. Both of Justin’s brows rise as he takes in the scene in front of him, but I don’t address any of the questions I see burning behind his eyes.
Dad, if you have any pull with the big man upstairs, please let Tink’s prediction of castration be wrong. I would really like to give Mom those grandbabies she wants one day.
Maddey bites her lip, swiveling to her brother then to me and back again. The worry, the fear, the pure uncertainty swimming in the pools of her pleading eyes douses any of the primal urges I typically have when I see her take her lip between her teeth.
“Madz?” Justin rushes her, taking her by the shoulders and holding her out for his inspection.
She’s pale underneath her summer tan, and there’s a constant flare to the outer corners of her eyes as if she’s in a horror movie checking to see what lurks in the dark.
“What happened?” This time Justin directs the question to me as Paul moves in closer, Trident close to his side.
“Why don’t we all sit?” I gesture to the living room instead of the kitchen table where we typically sit.
I get the feeling Maddey is seconds away from crumbling. Guiding her to the round reading chair, I whistle for Trident, and he settles in to snuggle at her feet. Knowing the dog will serve as emotional support for her while I do the heavy lifting is enough to ease a little of the weight I’m feeling.
Justin and Paul take opposite ends of the couch, and I settle across from them on the ottoman, resting my elbows on my spread knees, looking for the fortitude to get through this.
The time for games is over. It’s not that I wasn’t taking the task of helping figure out who Maddey’s stalker is seriously, but this new threat takes us to DEFCON 1.
“At some point during the night, the power to the house was turned off.” Two stone statues face me as Justin and Paul take in the information.
“You’re just telling us now?” Confusion laces Justin’s tone.
“We didn’t know it happened until we woke up.” They’re both silent as they process all the things I’m not saying. Everything that has happened with Maddey and the things I’ve implemented during my stay to help put an end to all this, they have been a part of. They are well aware that the system should have sent out an alert when disabled.
“What did your contact say?” Paul asks, referring to the security firm.
“They are running diagnostics on the system, but the early assessment is it’s because the power was switched off at the house and the system itself wasn’t attacked. That might be why it never triggered.”
“Wait.” Justin holds up a hand. “What do you mean switched off at the house?”
“The breaker box itself was turned off.”
“What?” Justin and Paul say in unison, and I nod.
“That’s not the worst part.” I look over at Maddey, waiting for her to meet my eye. The Good luck quirk to her lips and arch of one of her brows has me giving her one of my own. My girl doesn’t let anything keep her down for long.
I also get the impression leaving me to handle this by myself is payback for me leaving her out two days ago.
From behind me, I pull out the Ziploc bags we stored the pictures in to help preserve any potential evidence. There are only two—Maddey alone in the hot tub and me talking to her from outside it—in the bag Justin takes. Maddey thought it was best to keep the ones that gave away the details about what went down between us from Justin.
I tried telling her I didn’t care, but she convinced me that wasn’t the best plan. She reminded me that though Connor is the brother with the shortest fuse, Justin’s temper is going to be tested enough with everything else he’s being hit with.
She also tried to say there was no point in telling them about something that had an expiration date. I let that particular comment go for the time being; we have enough to deal with at the moment. I’ll tackle setting her straight on us after she’s safe.
“These were taped to the wall this morning.” I point to where they were displayed for our viewing pleasure earlier.
Justin and Paul move closer together, studying every detail, looking for clues. I can tell the instant they come to the same conclusion I did.
Their gazes go from the pictures, to me, to Maddey, to the ceiling, and back down to the pictures.
“Come on.” Justin jumps to his feet, not bothering to wait for anyone to respond before walking out the door.
We all follow, not saying a word as we take both flights up to the rooftop deck. Justin circles the hot tub, looking from it back to the bag of pictures still clutched in his hand.
“You were here?” He points to where Maddey sat the night before.
“Yes.” Maddey takes a step closer until her shoulder brushes my arm, relaxing the instant we make contact.