I hear cheering from the phone and Gran Mill whistles. Megan laughs, breaking our three-second passionate kiss.
“Don’t stop on our account!” Gran Mill says. “Oh, but do keep it PG because there are kids here. None of that dirty after-hours stuff.”
“Jesus, Millie, the kids don’t all like that crazy sex-book stuff that you read,” PopPop chastises his friend.
“Speak for yourself,” Gran Tilly states.
Megan starts laughing uncontrollably and I grab her hand and sprint into her house. Once inside, I close the door and push her against it, leaning back down to kiss her again but this time, with no audience.
Her arms fly up and wrap around my neck. And I deepen the kiss, pouring all my feelings into each flick of my tongue and each caress of my lips against hers.
After a moment, she pulls back, breathing heavily. “Clark…I need to show you something.”
She takes my hand and I follow her up to her room. She motions for me to sit on the bed and I comply. Then, she hands me a photo album and opens it, pointing to a photo.
It’s at graduation. Our parents made us pose for an uncomfortable photo. I look back up at her in confusion.
She shakes her head. “Not us, look behind us.”
I look back down and my heart starts thumping. Anthony. Anthony is in the photo and he’s looking right at her.
My eyes shoot up to Megan’s. “That motherfucker,” I mutter as I close the book. “Hold on.”
I look at my watch and call Kent. He’s done with practice.
“What’s wrong?” Kent asks.
“Anthony has been stalking her. For years, possibly.”
“Fuck. OK. That elevates things. Shit. Uh, give me a few minutes. I’ll call the security firm and expedite things.” He hangs up and I look back up at Meg whose mouth is hanging open.
“Security firm?” she manages.
I nod. “Just…hear me out, OK?” I ask as I pat the bed next to me. She sits down slowly.
“OK,” she says as she takes a seat.
“When you left, I called Kent. I explained everything. The police aren’t going to do anything unless Anthony does something serious or we have more evidence.” Kent explained what I already know.
“And?”
“And, what if we…get him to give us more evidence?” I ask.
Megan visibly shudders.
“No, fuck no. That motherfucker will never lay a hand on you again. I don’t mean that, Megan. I would never ask you to be physically in danger,” I say to her as I place my hands on her shoulders and look into her eyes.
“Then what?” she whispers.
“Kent has a plan. And I think it’s a good one,” I say.
She raises an eyebrow.
“Just…listen before you decide,” I tell her.
She crosses her arms in that adorable stubborn Megan way, but she doesn’t speak.
I take a breath and explain the plan.
“We’ll lure him to my apartment which is currently getting outfitted with serious security and motion sensor cameras. We’ll make it look like we are in there, but we won’t be. We’ll be at Gary’s apartment, next door. We can watch everything that’s going on and call the police. That should be enough to get him locked up for a while. We can get restraining orders in place and all of that.”
“I still don’t get why he even cares about me,” she says.
“Because you told him no and he didn’t like that. If I was a guessing man, I’d say he just wanted to get what he couldn’t have, and then he could declare it a win for him and move on,” I say.
“I guess. I still don’t get why he waited for so long to make a move though?” She gives me a small smile. “Guess the joke’s on him since you already defiled me.”
I choke on a laugh. “Who knows? He’s not mentally stable. And, defiled you?”
She shrugs.
I lean forward and press a kiss to her lips. “You are not someone to be defiled, Megan. You are an amazing person, an amazing woman, who deserves to be worshipped and celebrated for who you are. And I hope that I did that for you. I hope that I gave you everything you needed and wanted out of that experience. And…I hope that you’ll let me continue to do that, to be the best man I can for you and to be there for you and to help you when you need it.” I push a stray lock of hair away.
She’s blushing and it makes me love her that much more, but I’m too chickenshit to say the words right now. She’s been through too much these past few days. She needs to heal and process things.
“You’re right,” she whispers.
“I know.”
She playfully swats my arm. “You’re also a giant jackass.”
“I know.”
“But, you’re a cute jackass.”
“I know that too.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Can we go back to my place now? We need to make plans on how we will take down this asshole. And don’t worry, I have plenty of backup for us.”
She grins. “Like four siblings?”
“And their four significant others.”
“That’s a lot of backup,” she says.
“That’s what you get with the Moore family. Laughs, love, and a whole lot of people that have your back,” I state.
She grins. “I think I could use that right about now. Although, I hate admitting it.”
I run my finger over her bottom lip. “I bet you do, but I’m glad you can admit it.”
“Well…there’s this song…you may have heard it before…something about ‘sometimes you can’t make it on your own,’” she says with a laugh.
“Yeah, U2 is awesome,” I state, my grin widening. I stand and hold out a hand. “Let’s get back to school. We have things to do and assholes to bust.”
She stands and takes my hand. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Megan
I always knew Kent had connections, I mean, the guy is a baseball star. But I had no idea he had connections like this.
Kent is at Clark’s apartment when we arrive along with some man who looks like he eats other men for dinner.
“This is an acquaintance of mine, Bryce Gallagher. He owns one of the best private security firms in the world and he happens to be in town this week, so he stopped by to set up security for us,” Kent says with a grin.
Bryce shakes our hands, which is sort of like if a small doll shook hands with a giant. “Nice to meet you both. I owe Kent a favor for some tickets he got me, so I’m setting this up myself. I hear we have a bit of a stalker situation and we need to catch him red-handed, yes?”
Clark and I both nod.
“Great. I have one of my guys on him, so we’ll know all his moves. But we’ll need to lure him and catch him on camera and then I’ll have my team call it in to the cops. I don’t want you anywhere near here. So, we’ll stage what looks like Clark leaving and you alone in the apartment. Only it’ll be my undercover operative, Lacey.” He motions to the door and there stands my doppelganger. OK, she doesn’t exactly look like me, but she is the right build, height, and she has on a blonde wig that matches my hair.