“Right, right. That’s a good idea. Maybe I can throw him off the trail if I just kill him with kindness,” the voice replies.

“Or I could just kill him.”

Ray barks out a laugh when he hears the gasp of shock through the phone line at his suggestion.

“What?! No! Absolutely not. We’re not talking about killing anyone. I told you that in the beginning. No one needs to die. We just need to pull back a little. No more threats, no more going off on your own. This needs to be finished so he packs up and leaves. Layla will go back to doing what she’s supposed to, and no one will ever know I had anything to do with this.”

Ray sighs as the person rambles on and on, trying to tell him what to do and what not to do. He doesn’t like it when people think they can boss him around. He was hired to do a job, and he doesn’t care what the fuck this person wants. He’s going to finish it how he wants to, and if someone has to die, well then so be it.

He cuts the person off mid-sentence and hangs up the phone without a goodbye, tossing the cell phone into the passenger seat and studying the photo in his hands for a few minutes.

He looks up from the picture when he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. Layla and the idiot joined at her hip are finally done stretching at the entrance of the trail. They take off into the woods running side by side.

Ray smiles to himself as he tosses the butt of his cigarette out the window, opens the car door, and makes his way over to the F150 parked close to the trail. Luckily, with the nice weather lately, the park is packed early in the morning, and his beat-up Honda doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. He’d found the last available parking space in the crowded lot, crouched down low in his seat, and sat waiting until the coast was clear.

He ambles over to the truck, bends down to tie his shoe next to the front tire, and glances around for any signs of anyone looking his way or paying any attention to him. When he sees no one, he stands up and quickly shoves the photo facedown underneath the windshield wiper blade on the passenger side, right where Layla will see it when she gets back into the truck.

Ray smiles to himself and whistles softly as he makes his way back to his car.

He can feel his dick swell in his pants when he thinks about the look that will be on Layla’s face when she sees that picture. Her full lips will part in surprise, and maybe a lone tear will fall from her eye and down her cheek. Soon enough, he’ll be so close to her that he’ll be able to lick her tears right off of her cheek. He wishes he could stick around for the show, but he’ll be with her soon enough. Right now, he’s got supplies to purchase and a kidnapping to map out.

Chapter 18

When I woke up this morning, still wrapped in Brady’s arms after the best night of sleep I’d had in forever, I decided a morning run was needed to get my adrenaline pumping in some way other than rolling over to face him and pulling him into my body.

When I tried to slide out of his arms, he pulled me back against him, ran his hands down my side, and hitched my leg back over his thigh and slowly entered me from behind. Thirty minutes later, and after I was too worn out to move, he was the one who suggested the run.

Being with Brady is so easy that it scares me. I’m growing attached to him quickly, and for someone like me, that isn’t good. I can’t get attached to him. He doesn’t understand why I do the things I do, and even though he apologized last night for questioning me repeatedly about my choices, I know it still bothers him. If he sticks around after this case is over, it will always bother him. He might try to hide it so as not to upset me, but it would eat away at him. He’s not the type of man to sit back and watch someone suffer.

I don’t know why I’m even entertaining the idea of him being here after my stalker is caught. We’ve had sex a few times. That’s it. Mind-blowing, brain-numbing sex, but still…only sex. We’re not in love and he hasn’t promised me anything beyond today. He’s here because he has a job to do, and I’m probably an easy way to pass the time. I shouldn’t be worried about disappointing him down the road. It probably won’t be long now until the police figure out who is behind all of the threats, he’ll go to jail, and Brady will go back to his own life.

“So, tell me about your sister. Is she younger or older than you?” I ask, trying to banish thoughts of Brady and I having a future together as we jog past the first mile marker on the trail.

“She’s younger by two years,” he replies with a smile on his face as he thinks about her. “She’s had a rough time of it lately. Married an abusive asshole that my parents loved, and after he busted her face and broke some bones about six months ago, she finally got up the nerve to leave his sorry ass and showed up on my doorstep with her daughter.”

I shake my head in both sympathy and anger for this woman and her daughter. Hearing something like this always makes me regret the complaints I have about my own life.

“I’m glad she was able to get away and that she has you to lean on.”

Brady lets out a mocking snort.

“Yeah, well, I was an asshole myself for a long time. She didn’t deserve that shit from him or me. I have a lot of making up to do with her. Keeping an eye on her and Emma and helping them out is the least I can do.”

I wonder what he means about him being an asshole to his sister, but I don’t want to push him to tell me something he doesn’t want to so I move on to another subject.

We run three more miles, talking easily about both of our childhoods. I tell him about some of the better memories I have of just my dad and me, and he tells me about his three best friends, all Navy SEALS scattered throughout the world. Men he keeps in contact with all of the time and knows he can trust or turn to for help whenever he needs it.

I’m glad he has people like that in his life. I can count on one hand the friends I have who I can rely on like that. Actually, I can count on one finger, but even after what he did for me at June’s bar, I’m still not sure if our friendship will ever be the same.

“So, you and Finn. Just friends, right?” Brady asks nonchalantly, staring straight ahead.

I smile to myself when I hear the wariness in his voice.

Could he possibly be jealous of Finn?

“Yes, just friends. We met in elementary school. He was a loner because he lived in the town’s only orphanage, and I was pretty much in the same boat because my family had a lot of money and when you come from money it can make people petty and resentful. So we stuck together and defended each other when kids were nasty on the playground,” I explain, thinking back to that time and smiling when I picture a ten-year-old Finn shoving some boy who had just called me a rich bitch. “Finn went into the Marines right out of high school, and when he came back injured, he couldn’t get hired anywhere. Surprisingly, it was really easy to get my mother to agree to hire him as my bodyguard. It’s the one time I didn’t have to fight with her.”

We round the bend that takes us to the end of the trail and slow down our running until we’re walking slowly, stretching our arms as we cool down.

“So, you guys never hooked up? I mean, friends hook up all the time. Sometimes you need to scratch an itch and no one else is around. And he’s a good looking guy. And always around you. Chicks like Marines and all that ‘ooh-rah’ shit…” Brady trails off, once again not making eye contact at all, and that makes me smile even wider.

“Brady, are you jealous of Finn?” I ask, turning to face him as he holds onto his foot and pulls one of his legs behind him to stretch out the muscles in his thigh.

“What? Jealous?” he asks with a nervous laugh. “Why would I be jealous? I mean, you’ve known him all your life. It would make sense if you guys were together. The media already assumes you are. Every time they spot the two of you in public they take a close-up shot of your left hand looking for an engagement ring.”

He’s rambling now and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard or witnessed. I can never tell Brady that though. Something tells me he wouldn’t take too kindly to being called cute.

“You read tabloid articles about me and Finn?” I ask as I move closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he drops his foot and rests his hands on my shoulders, gently kneading the muscles there.

He rolls his eyes and lets out another awkward laugh before leaning down and kissing my lips quickly before moving back.

“It was just for research. You know, trying to figure you out before I got here.”

We break apart and Brady holds onto my hand as we head across the parking lot towards his truck.

“Mmhmm, research, right,” I mumble with a laugh.

He ignores my comment, opens the passenger door for me, and helps me climb into my seat. When he gets in on his side and starts up the truck, I stare at his profile.

He finally looks over at me, and I raise my eyebrow questioningly, waiting for him to just admit it. My silence and the way I’m looking at him finally gets to him, and he lets out a huge sigh of defeat.

“Okay, fine! I’m jealous as fuck. God dammit, I can’t believe I just said that,” he complains.

I laugh and shake my head in wonder at the fact that he’s actually had these thoughts in his head.

“I swear to you there has never been nor will there ever be something between Finn and me. He’s just a friend. You have nothing to worry about.”

Brady seems satisfied with my answer, and I lean over the center console to kiss his cheek. He quickly turns his face though and my lips press against his. I bring my hand up and place it against the day old stubble on his face, liking the way it feels against the palm of my hand. He nibbles teasingly at my lips before gently sliding his tongue past them and tangling it with my own.

I could kiss this man forever and never grow tired of it. His lips are soft but firm, and his tongue sweeps through my mouth slowly and gently as if he’s trying to taste every single inch of it. He sucks lightly on my tongue and a whimper escapes my lips. Brady slows down the kiss and gives me one last chaste peck before pulling away and shifting the truck into gear.

“You know, now that I think about it, Finn and I did go on a few dates back in high school to test the waters,” I tell him teasingly, trying to pay him back for getting me worked up with that kiss and then pulling away before I was ready.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Brady asks with a laugh.

I snicker to myself as I look away from his sparkling green eyes, the laughter dying on my lips as I see something stuck to the front of the windshield right in front of me.

“Stop the truck,” I tell Brady softly as he begins backing out of the parking space.

“Stop the truck!” I shout in a panic as he slams on the breaks and looks over at me in confusion at my outburst.

I fumble with the handle and fling open the door, standing up on the running board of the truck to lean out and around the windshield to pull what I saw out from under the wiper.

Getting back into the truck and slamming the door closed, I stare in horror at the photo I hold in my hand. It’s a picture of Brady and me in this very truck from the night we were at June’s. My heart thumps wildly in my chest as I take my eyes off of the intimate moment someone caught on camera to read the words penned in black marker right at the top.

I read them four times before Brady finally snatches the photo out of my hand and growls in anger when he sees what someone has done—what they’ve said and what it means.

“All that beautiful, blonde hair will be spilling over my thighs soon. I can’t wait to wrap my hands around all those silky strands and force your mouth where I want it to go,” Brady reads aloud, practically spitting each word from his mouth with the force of his fury.

My stomach clenches in revulsion and fear. My chin quivers as I watch Brady’s fists clutch tightly to the photo until he’s crumpled it so hard that it’s unreadable and his knuckles are stark white.

He reaches across my body and pops open the glove box, shoving the ruined photo inside and slamming it closed before putting the truck back into reverse and peeling out of the parking lot. He doesn’t say a word to me as we drive through town. I have my arms wrapped protectively around my body as I hunch against the door of the truck, staring out at the passing landscape and swiping angrily at the tears that have now started to fall.

This disgusting human being took something amazing between Brady and me and turned it dirty; a moment in time where I felt free and alive is now tainted by some faceless person. All this time I’ve been fooling myself thinking that I wouldn’t let this person get to me. Even after he attacked me outside that bar, I thought I could put on a brave face and it would all blow over quickly without ruining a piece of myself in the process.

The rearview mirror on the passenger side of the truck is angled in such a way that I can see myself in it as I rest my head against the window. I stare angrily at all of my blonde, beautiful hair that I took down from its high ponytail after the run. It’s wild and untamed and even though my mother has always been the one to insist it remain long, I usually don’t mind it. I love my hair and the confidence it gives me. I love being able to hide behind it when I need to pretend to be someone else. Now all I see when I look in the mirror is a dirty pair of hands wrapping a handful of it around his fists and forcing me to do something I don’t want.

I tear my gaze away from my reflection when I realize Brady just drove right by the road that would take us to my cabin.

“Where are we going?” I ask, breaking the silence in the cab of the truck.

“Someplace safe,” he replies rigidly.

An hour later, I stand in front of the small mirror in the bathroom staring at the woman reflected back. She looks nothing like me. But I guess that’s what I wanted when I locked myself in here and found a pair of scissors in the medicine cabinet.