I keep all of her monsters away and keep new ones from surfacing. What a fine job I’ve done of that, I scold myself. Should’ve gotten rid of Jameson years ago when I had a distrust of him upon our first encounter. But no, I wanted to give him a chance to prove me wrong. I try to see the best in people and give them a shot, but sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and go with your gut instinct. If I’d done that, he wouldn’t have been able to insert himself so deeply in our lives.
Rayne
As soon as the bathroom door shut behind Hadley and Jacey, the Spanish Inquisition began. Question after question was shot in my direction by all three of my nosy brat sisters. But I can’t fault them for doing so, I would’ve done the same thing if it had been any of them in my position. That’s the kind of relationship we have. We keep nothing from one another.
This especially became important to all of us after Billie experienced being stalked. She had a feeling it was who it was, but didn’t share for fear of being wrong. She didn’t want some fool to lose his job if her intuitions were off. But after living through that with her, we promised one another that if we ever had an off-feeling about anyone ever again, we’d tell the others so we could all keep a better eye on the situation.
It also brought us closer than we ever were before. And seeing as I wasn’t the brother that got annoyed with his baby sisters hanging around him, we did everything together… well, as much as we could with the years that separated us. There were some things I did that weren’t age appropriate for them to be around. But Jacey and I, we included them in as much as we could. We never wanted them to feel left out of anything if we could help it.
“You have got to be shitting me,” Billie dumbfoundingly responds after I’ve shared what all we uncovered today.
“Do we have any proof that it’s Jameson? Outside of our suspicions that is?” Justine asks me.
“No, unfortunately we don’t. We don’t have cause to take it to the police outside of the fact that someone infiltrated our home. We can’t prove who it was one way or another. It pisses me the fuck off!” I all but shout the last part, trying to control my temper so I don’t scare my baby.
“Why wasn’t someone here watching y’alls home while no one was here? I thought that would be part of the protection detail,” Sibley loudly vocalizes her question.
“Shh,” I hiss, placing my finger over my lips. “Jace is trying to get Hadley down for the night. I don’t want her to overhear us and become frightened.” I shouldn’t have to remind them of this. I understand that having a young girl around is new to everyone, but we were keeping our conversation low for a reason.
“Sorry,” she impishly replies with an abashed look on her face. I know she feels bad so I won’t continue drumming in these facts; unless one of them gets rowdy again.
“We’re just worried and upset, Rayne,” Justine informs me, and I know it’s true, because I’m not Rayne to them unless their emotions are at an all-time high. Being called big brother by them has always felt like an honor and privilege. So, when they bust out and use my given name instead, I know that their feelings have exploded and aren’t going to sizzle out anytime soon. If anything, they’re likely to boil over and leave a huge mess for me to mop up.
Just another day of paradise in my life.
Jacey
When I make my way and join the others it’s to come across the girls relentlessly pacing the living area. My eyes follow their pattern and I could swear under oath that my hardwood floors are going to have permanent feet paths in them from how heavily they’re stomping their feet.
Each one of them is sporting their own maniacal scowls as they turn around and glance over in my direction. “Everyone okay?” I ask as my eyes bobble from one sister to the other.
“They’re feeling a bit over the top,” Rayne informs me as I turn my attention to him. “Come here, baby.” He wiggles his fingers, calling me over to him. Needing to feel his arms wrapped around me, I don’t stop long enough to declare my feminine independence. Instead, I rush over and collide with him. The desperation to feel safe and secure is ramping its way throughout me. The only person on this planet that can fortify those feelings is my man.
“Baby, you’re shaking,” he states as he further engulfs me into his embrace.
“This is supposed to be my sanctuary, Rayne. I can’t help but feel as if my every move, and all of my words spoken are being watched and listened in on. I can’t live my life feeling as if I’m being monitored and have to watch over my shoulder and carefully display what I’m willing to be overheard and possibly shared world-wide. This could’ve been someone in the media instead of Jameson, have you even considered that as a possibility?”
“No, Jace, we haven’t. It didn’t even come across our minds as a potential threat. Lucky is going to do his thing and see where the microphones are being pinged to. If he can get an IP address, he’ll be able to follow it and find the owner of the devices. For now, everything’s been removed and we’re free and clear to roam around as we please and say whatever comes to mind.”
“I wish I could experience the same freedom you are, but I just can’t get past the infiltration of our home, Rayne.”
“We could always get y’all a room where we’re staying until someone can go through the house again,” Billie offers.
“No,” Rayne whisper-shouts. “Nobody is going to send us running out of our home. How do we know that’s not the intention behind this? What if someone, for some reason, wants us to leave? I refuse to go scurrying off into the night like a fucking rodent so the big, bad, macho, wanna-be fucker of a man can come in here and do whatever it is he wants to do. My daughter loves this house, and I’m not going to let some jerk-off push us out. Nope, not happening,” Rayne says with vehemence laced in his tone.
“I worked hard on this house and made it our home. I don’t wanna leave either, but I would feel better if we had the house combed over again,” I solemnly admit.
“Then that’s what we’ll do, Jace,” he responds with satisfaction. I guess giving him his way on this topic has made him a happy man.
It figures that when a man gets his way, his entire temperament and body structure changes. He’s no longer stiff, anticipating a sparring of words with me. His shoulders have relaxed and his face no longer encompasses a scowl.
25
Rayne
Using my contacts, I have a team of professionals come through and sweep the house. No more listening devices were found and there was nothing that they could find that would cause any alarms. We’re safe, but I was warned by Lucky that us locating everything could be like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. We may have unintentionally declared war.
Oh well, I say bring it on to the slithering piece of shit. I will not be run out of this town with my tail between my legs. Jacey and I talked last night and decided to send the girls home. They’re going to take Hadley with them along with a security team on a ‘girls’ trip’ getaway. We’re going to use it as a pretense to make sure that the four of them are safe from whatever this is looming over our heads.