“One of the other guys, Liam, had enough and told Austin to back off, or he’d make him back off. And Liam offered to walk me back to my room. Nothing happened. Liam was with Desi, one of the other girls, and was just being a good guy. He said Austin was a good guy, too, and he just had a crush, but he’d talk to him, and it would all be okay. However, I was barely in my room five minutes when Austin picked the lock and broke in.”
Fear glittered in Robyn’s eyes, and I hurried to assure her. “He didn’t hurt me. He just … wouldn’t let me out of the room. Kept trying to convince me we were meant to be together and how he’d kill himself if I didn’t feel the same.”
“Son of a bitch,” Robyn whispered.
“I knew it was manipulation. I was finally seeing who he really was.” Anger warred with the terror he’d awakened. “But I was so scared,” I admitted, “I didn’t know how he far he’d take it.”
“How far did he take it?”
“I was sharing a room with Desi’s best friend, Kylie. When she couldn’t get in, Liam showed up and demanded Austin open the door. Austin did and pretended like it was all good, like he hadn’t kept me trapped in there with him all night, refusing to let me out. Everyone tried to brush it off as harmless, so I packed my stuff and used what money I had left to get a ticket home. Except the cheapest flight I could get was to California. So I stayed there for a few months, working a couple of server jobs in San Diego. I was afraid to come home to you, like I said, but I felt stupid for sleeping with him. And … he had my email and was on all my social media accounts.”
“He harassed you?”
I nodded. “I blocked him on social media, but it was like a car crash. His emails kept coming in, and it was like I had to read them. I couldn’t look away. I think I didn’t delete my email for so long because I hoped that eventually, the emails would stop and I’d know he’d gotten bored. His emails were much of the same as what he’d said in that hotel room in Vietnam. But one day in April, I got an email that made me sick to my stomach.”
“What was in it?”
I stared unseeing at the takeout cartons. “It was sexual. He threatened to rape me.”
Robyn sucked in a breath, and I finally looked at her.
“That’s when I got angry. I decided enough was enough. I deleted my email account and packed up my stuff and called Dad to see if he could help me pay for a ticket to come home. Something I still owe him.” I sighed heavily, beyond irritated with myself.
“And when you got home, I wasn’t there.”
At the self-admonishing note in my sister’s voice, I glared at her. “Don’t do that. I’m the one who abandoned you, not the other way.”
“But I didn’t know you were going through this. That some asshole has been harassing you. Stalking you.”
I flinched at the word stalking considering what it meant to her. “Not stalking. Ish. Not like … not like Lucy. When I got back to Boston, my head was still up my ass and I got a job at a bar where I met Maddox. You know, the hot, dangerous type.” I looked away, not wanting to think about my stupidity with that guy. “He was an asshole, but he was a tough son of a bitch and I guess, moronically, I thought he would make me safe. Eventually, I pulled my head out of my ass, dumped him, got a job at a coffee place and a server gig at night. Anyway, I was gaining the courage to fix things between you and me.”
“But then all the stuff with Lucy happened.”
“Yeah. When Mom called to say you were home … that same day … Austin found me in Boston.”
“What?” She narrowed her eyes.
I gave her a sad smile. “I was planning on stopping by Mom and Dad’s after work, but Austin walked into the coffee shop that afternoon.” Indignation churned in my gut. “He played it as if nothing had happened, like we were just two friends meeting again after an absence. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want you to know how much I’d messed up.”
“Regan …” She reached for my hand. “I’m sorry if I made you feel you were letting me down.”
I shrugged. “You didn’t. I was just always comparing myself to you and constantly coming up short.”
“Don’t. That’s not fair to either of us.”
I nodded, emotion thickening in my throat.
“What happened?”
“It was weird … he’d come into the coffee place, twice a week, same time each visit. But there was nothing more to it. He didn’t threaten or badger me. It weirded me out, but it went on like that for months, nothing happening, before I got on that flight to Scotland.”
Robyn pushed her half-eaten and now cold Chinese away. “Nothing at all?”
“Nothing.”
“Damn.”
“Damn? Isn’t it a good thing?”
“Yeah and no.” She got up off her stool, running a hand through her hair as she stared pensively across the large room. “It doesn’t fit the usual pattern. Normally these things escalate.”
“Maybe he got counseling?”
“Yeah, but if he got help, he shouldn’t have been coming into the coffee shop twice a week.”
“Maybe he liked the coffee.”
My sister side-eyed me.
I sighed. “I know, it’s weird.”
“Is this why you don’t think you should take the job?”
I nodded. “Is it responsible for me to become involved in Thane and the children’s lives when I have this hanging over me?”
Robyn considered this for what seemed forever and then exhaled slowly. “Let me call Autry first and get him to do a background check on this guy. See where he is and what he’s up to. I doubt we’ve got a problem here, but I think we should still leave a statement with Autry.”
Autry was Robyn’s close friend and ex-beat partner back in Boston. He worked as a beat cop at the same precinct as my dad. I worried my lip with my teeth before admitting. “I didn’t want Dad to know.”
“Seth would not blame you for this. He, more than anyone, knows how these kinds of people work. You are not to blame.”
And there it was. The thing I couldn’t admit to my sister.
That somehow this was all my fault.
“I just hung up with Autry and …” Robyn’s voice trailed off as she marched into my room and noted my luggage. She glared at it. “What is that?”
“First, what did Autry say?”
Robyn glowered at me. “Luggage?”
“Autry?” I insisted.
She gave in first. “First, this guy has a record of harassment. Two women. He slept with them and started stalking them.”
“Wonderful.” I slumped on my bed.
“Good news … he’s never taken it further than stalking and has desisted once the police got involved. So Autry is going to stop by his apartment and give him a warning. Seth doesn’t need to know about it. Autry is still going to monitor Austin’s movements. With behavior like that, we’re never completely out of the woods, but I’m confident he won’t follow you to Scotland. He probably doesn’t even know you’re here.”