Page 32 of You are the Reason

My arms wrap tighter around Tanner’s waist, as we zig-zag through traffic and he rests one of his hands over mine. My body leans into him, moving as one. We left Emma back at the house to get settled, she pleaded with me to stay there, and as much as I would have loved to, I have a shift at the bar tonight.

“You alright, back there?” he asks through the bluetooth headset.

“Yeah, I’m perfect. Today has been … perfect.”

Tanner laughs at my lack of a better word, but I can’t get over how great everything felt today. I got to see a different side of him, a more relaxed and calm version than the one I’m normally in the presence of.Thank the Lord,because man he can be a piece of work. Seeing him with his sister, the care and bond they share reminded me of what I could have had with Kyle; what we did have before it was all taken away.

“Do you want to take this back home with you?” I ask when we pull up outside the apartment, gesturing to my helmet. “In case you and Emma go for a ride?”

He looks at me as if I have two heads. “Nah, keep it here. Princess doesn’t ride, she’s more the ‘private jet’ type.”

“Your parents have a — never mind, I don’t even want to know.” I shake my head, there are some things I don’t need to be privy to, not when I’ve got so many secrets of my own.

Tucking my helmet the best I can under my arm, I follow Tanner up the steps to my front door. He would get a big head if he knew, but I’m so glad I never changed those locks. I attempt to step further into the apartment, but I’m stopped by the brick wall of muscle that is Tanner’s back. I can’t see around him, something has him planted where he stands.

“W-what is it?” Placing my hands on his waist, I try to move around him. “Tanner, let me see!”

Several photos are scattered all over my floor. Bending down to pick one up, I see it’s of me. I reach for another one and it’s the same thing; a picture of me from a distance, almost like a paparazzi shot. The photos are all of me, over the course of the past few weeks. At the cafe the first day I met Sophie. Waiting out the back of Twisted Sister, after a shift. Running with Lou-loo. The four of us on our double date.

He warned me to stop.

Tanner gets down on one knee to meet me at eye level. “Do you have any idea who could have left these here?”

“No. I — no, no idea.”

It has to be another warning. Regardless of who has sent them. I spread the photos out in front of me on the coffee table. Staring at them for far too long.The phone call. The break-in. Now, stalking?It’s the first time I’ve considered them being anything other than coincidence. Could they be connected?

“Kins, I need to tell you something.” My eyes snap to Tanner’s and I feel every hair on my body stand up.He knows something.“You’re probably not going to like what I’ve got to say, but I think you need to know.”

I freeze. My whole body tenses up as my eyes plead with him expectantly. He pats the cushion on the couch next to him, encouraging me to sit. It’s the last thing I feel like doing right now, I want to pace up and down this damn room; but for him, I sit.

“You know the day we went to the market and on the picnic? The first time we all hung out as a group?”

“Yeah, our ‘double date’?” I furrow my brows, urging him to get to the point.

“Well, that day I noticed a blacked-out SUV following us.” Tanner rests his hand on my thigh to stop my foot that is subconsciously tapping. “I called Jesse to see if he had also noticed, and after some deep thought, he realised he had.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that both you and Jesse have been aware that someone was following us? And neither of you said anything?”

“I’m saying something now,” Tanner says softly.

“No. You’re only telling me because whoever was following us — scrap that followingme, has left me this.” I gesture towards the table of photos. “I wish you had told me. And since when are you all buddy with Jesse? That was, what, the first time you guys had met? Why would you go to him and not me?”

“I just wanted to protect you.”

I don’t even know when I stood up, but I’m pacing the length of the room. I understand that Tanner wanted to protect me, but Jesse knows better.Jesse knows.Shit — Jesse. I bring up his contact and dial his number in a matter of seconds.

“Hey Mea—”

“Don’t‘hey Meadow’me, since when did we keep secrets from each other, Jess? A car’s following me? Why am I the last person to know?” I snap, blurting everything out without even taking a breath.

Jesse mumbles something unintelligible under his breath, and as disappointed as I am that he has kept this from me, my frustration fades away when he finally speaks.

“I fucked up Kins, I should have told you weeks ago. There is so much you need to know — the owner of the car, it’s Lance. I’m trying here — but I don’t know. I don’t know how I’m going to protect you.”

“Lance? Lance …Lance Harding —the girl, the case Dad worked on …” my voice trails off.

He sounds defeated; tightness radiates through my chest at the thought of him holding onto this, fighting this alone. My eyes flick to Tanner, but unlike Jesse, he looks angry and protective, the blues of his eyes are almost black and his fists are clenched. He sits with his elbows on his knees, and when he notices me looking at him, he lowers his head.

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