“Alright, fine, but you know what would make me feel better?”
“What’s that?”
I pause for a few seconds. “If you shared your iPhone location with me. That way, if I can’t get ahold of you or if something goes wrong, I can at least see where you are.”
She laughs. “Fine. I’ll share it when we hang up.”
“Thank you. Love you, sis.”
“Love you too,” she says and ends the call.
I suck in a deep breath, then walk into the house. Immediately, I hear music playing in Everleigh’s room and find her carefully hanging clothes that arrived in her inventory order yesterday. I give her a kiss, and she’s all smiles. I have to force myself not to show my anger, but she notices.
“Uh-oh, what happened?”
I slowly close my eyes before meeting hers, trying to compose myself so I don’t sound like a paranoid maniac like when I called Annie.
“I got another text.”
Everleigh shakes her head. “More threats?”
“And photos,” I say, handing her the phone so she can see for herself.
“Did you forward them to the detective?”
“Not yet. I will right now,” I say, attaching screenshots and sending them in an email. I sit on the edge of the bed, and Everleigh gets back to work, but I can feel her mood shift.
“I hate that bitch,” she mutters. “I swear, I’m going to hunt her down myself if she doesn’t stop. I’m tired of this. Right when I feel like things are lookin’ up, she comes right back into the picture and ruins everything.”
“I know, I’m sorry. This is my fault.”
Her brows furrow. “No, it’s not. You didn’t ask for her to constantly harass you like this. I just hate that no one can do anything about it. It’s so damn frustrating.”
“I think she knows she’s under my skin, but I think it irritates her even more that I don’t respond. She has nothing to feed off when I ignore her, so she keeps trying, hoping I’ll crack,” I say.
Everleigh sets down the extra hangers she was holding, then comes closer to me. I wrap my arms around her waist, pushing her against me.
“I love you so much,” Everleigh whispers, threading her fingers through my hair. “We’ll get through this together.”
“I love you too, baby. I’m so worried something will happen and I won’t be able to do anything about it. I know her words are just threats, but what if she does act and actually harm one of you guys? We don’t know how the fire started or who broke in, so then my mind wanders to her being the culprit. And if she is, what else is she capable of doing? What if she escalates next time? I want to protect all of you but I can’t. Maybe driving me insane with threats is what she wants. I’m just rambling at this point,” I breathe out in irritation.
“Concerned and protective Archer is hot.”
That makes me chuckle. “And somehow throughout all of this, you always make me laugh.”
Everleigh crawls onto my lap, pushing me back on the bed. She hovers above me, grinding against me, and teasing the hell out of me.
“I was thinking about something,” she says with a devious smirk.
“Hmm?” I say, lifting up to capture her lips again.
“That we should get a dog.”
I make a face. “We have Sassy.”
“Yeah, but Sassy totally needs a brother or sister, plus it’s what couples do, ya know? They get pets until they’re ready to have babies.”
I wrap my arms around her, kissing her again. “I’d love that.”
She squeals, then rolls off me and stands. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really.” I shake my head. We had breakfast less than two hours ago.
“Did you tell Annie?”
I nod, then replay the conversation.
“I don’t blame her, you know,” Everleigh admits. “I have an overbearing brother who gets concerned a lot too. It can be a bit much.”
“But at least you know our intentions are sincere.”
“Yes, I do.” She flashes a sweet smile. “So what kind of dog do you want to get?”
“A Doberman,” I say without having to think about it. “We need a guard dog. One that can rip heads off intruders.”
She snorts. “They’re big babies. Trust me. A friend of mine had one growing up, and let's just say, Sassy is more ferocious.”
I chuckle. “Ours would be different.”
“Yeah, right! What about a chocolate lab?”
“You said Sassy needs a friend. What about a husky?” I suggest.
“Hmm. Can we get more than one?” She blinks up at me.
“No way! We can’t have three dogs. We wouldn’t have enough time for that. We’ll just have to take some time thinking it over since it’ll be our first baby together.”
Everleigh beams. “Or we could just make a real baby?”
I lean over and kiss her. “You’re the only woman in the world I’d have kids with, but not yet.”
“Alright, I can live with that.” Everleigh paints her lips across mine. “Wanna practice?”
I groan, wishing we could. “I have to go back for my afternoon sessions…”
“Hmm...I think you can fit an extra one in right now.” She waggles her brow, making it impossible to deny her.
“Fuck yeah, I can. But it’s gonna be a quickie.”
Everleigh removes my clothes, then hers, then within seconds, she’s straddling my legs. We move together flawlessly and give each other exactly what we need. She always knows exactly how to take my mind off things because right now, all I can think about is her.
Chapter Fifteen
EVERLEIGH
Ding.
I jump for the millionth time when the door chimes and a customer walks in. I can’t complain because it’s a sound I’ll never get tired of hearing, especially now since the shop re-opened last week. I’m grateful for it, but I’m on edge. Lexie shoots me a concerned expression, but I look away and greet the woman who came in.
After helping her find some lovely tops and accessories, I ring her up. I notice the way she looks at me and immediately grow suspicious. When the store is empty, I sigh in relief.
“You doin’ okay? You’ve been jumpy.” Lexie asks, studying me.
I inhale slowly and relax my shoulders. “I’ve just been on edge lately. After the fire and the weird text messages Archer keeps getting, I’m feeling anxious.”
“You need a break, Ev. You’ve been working nonstop since the grand reopening. You’re stressed and that just adds to it.”
“I wish that would actually fix my issues, but I doubt it.” I meet her eyes. “But maybe I’ll leave early tonight since I’m off this weekend.”
“Yeah, you should. Go have lots of hot kinky sex with your man. Then come back Monday and tell me all about it.” She grins.
“Remind me to talk to you about boundaries during your next employee review.”
“Oh shush. You love giving me all the juicy details.” She waggles her brows.
After I restock some jewelry, I grab my bag and phone, then tell Lexie goodbye. I take out my self-defense keychain and walk to my car, then check my back seat before getting in. I hate that I’m so tense and on high alert, but I can’t help it. Maybe Lexie is right. I just need a little R&R.