Page 65 of Go Away, Darling

She pushed back enough to look up at me. “You’re stuck with me now.” She shrugged. “No take backs.”

I crushed her to me all over again and I think I heard some sandwich hit the tile floor. “Oh thank God.”

She nuzzled against my chest. “I’m worried, Chris.” She squeezed me tighter.

I held her just as tightly. Hell, I wanted to crush her into me so we could become one. “I’m worried too. Mostly about you and Linc. Come with me on the road, or go stay with Beau.”

“Linc has camp this week. He’s been looking forward to it all summer.”

Crap.“I’m getting you both bodyguards then. Don’t fight me on this. If you won’t leave and I can’t be here, then this is the way it has to be.”

“Okay.”

“And I’ll have to tell my brothers about us. I’ll want them to look in on you too.”

“Okay.”

“Please don’t argue with me,” I sighed. “You and Linc are my whole world and if anything happens to you—”

“I’m not fighting you.” She shook me.

I thought back over the last few things she said. “You said okay?”

“I did.” She smiled up at me.

“You’re not fighting me.”

“I’m not.” Then she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed me. “If there’s someone out there watching you and your brothers then they’ve seen you spend all your spare time here. Yes, I want protection and you better have some too.”

“I will.” God, she was so beautiful and smart and way too good for me. I brushed back her hair and just stared at her. “Maybe I can call in sick with the stomach flu. Pretend I’m not fit to pitch for the next week.”

“And what if this goes on and on? Are you going to quit pitching for the rest of the season to stay by my side?”

“Maybe.” Honestly it sounded like the best idea either of us could come up with.

“No. That’s what people like this want. They enjoy seeing their victims panic. They want to throw us off and get us to change our patterns. They feed on the chaos.”

“You’re really pretty and smart. And...wait, have you done this before?” She soundedexperienced.

She shrugged. “My mom had a stalker when I was in high school.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Even sculptors have their mega fans.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing but letters for a long time. Then at one of her exhibits the stalker handcuffed himself to my mom. After that he was in jail for a little while, but when he got out I had a bodyguard. So did my mom. That went on for months until...”

“Until?” I really didn’t like the way she looked away. It sent a chill down my spine.

“Until he snuck into our house with a gun and held my mom hostage. He died in prison five years ago.”

“Were you home?” Fuck, I’d never wanted to bring someone back from the dead so I could kill them all over again, but I sure wanted to now.

“No. I was in college at the time. Mom was living with her boyfriend then.” She squeezed me again. “So you see, there are many reasons why I like life to be quiet and steady, and I’m not about to turn down professional protection when there is a known danger.”

I knew she meant all of that to comfort me, but it didn’t. It just made me feel even more helpless. We lived in a world where anything could happen and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do to change that.

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