Page 49 of Hidden
“You’re hurting, Asher,” she said. “Maybe I’m assuming too much, but I think a quiet night together, maybe with a glass of whiskey in front of your fire, might help.”
He huffed out a laugh as she proposed exactly the night that he wanted but hadn’t been able to ask for.
“And we’ll talk?” he said, lifting his free hand and tracing his fingers along her jaw.
“If you want to. We have time. If that’s not what you need tonight, it can wait.”
He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. “Thank you. After this morning, I’m not sure I deserve it, but thank you.”
She grinned up at him, then waggled her eyebrows. “After what happened even earlier this morning, I trust you can make it up to me.”
“So what do you want to do?” Ellie asked, curled up beside him. After walking into his house, they barely made it to his bed before he was buried inside her. Both the wall and the couch had proved tempting options. And both would have been a fine place to lose themselves in each other. But now that they lay tucked under his comforter, enjoying the quiet together, he was glad they’d delayed their gratification for the full extra minute it took to get them upstairs.
That they were both naked and sated helped. As did the glass of whiskey they were sharing. In fact, it was a damn good way to end the day.
“I want to be open with my family. But honestly, my cousins are going to be such a pain in the ass about this,” he replied.
She laughed at his comment, her breath fanning across his bare chest. “They are going to be a pain in the ass. Especially Cody. And maybe Mitch.”
Once they’d settled in with their drink, he’d bitten the bullet and asked what she’d meant that morning. He’d already accepted that he’d acted like a jerk. But he felt like an even bigger one after she told him why she’d hesitated.
They’d crossed the line in their relationship only minutes before Chad and Sabina arrived. And she’d learned from Sofia that, for good or for bad, when news hit the Warwick grapevine, it traveled faster than a toupee in a hurricane. What he’d interpreted as her wanting to hide what was between them had been the opposite of her intent. She’d only wanted to give him time to decide how and what they told his family.
“Are you okay with it, though?” he asked. “Because it’s not just about my family. If we’re open about it, the first time we’re spotted together in public…”
“It’s going to be all over the entertainment news,” she said, finishing his thought.
“The media went crazy when Cody and Tia started seeing each other,” he said. “And completely berserk when they announced they’d gotten married on New Year’s Day. It will be the same for you when it gets out that we’re together.”
“I’m used to ignoring the press,” she said. “I won’t say it doesn’t bother me. But it’s not going to stop me from doing what I want to do. From being with someone I want to be with. Your cousins, on the other hand, are family. What they think and do matters.”
He stroked his fingers through her hair. “It does. But not to the extent that it determines my life. And besides, they won’t have any real issues. They’ll just tease the shit out of me. Once they get their fill of juvenile taunts out of the way, they’ll be happy for me. For us.”
“So no secrets then?” she asked, splaying her fingers across his stomach.
He kissed the top of her head. “No secrets,” he agreed before taking a sip of his drink. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, I almost hate to ask, but how did it go today after I left HICC?”
She spent the next ten minutes filling him in on everything she’d talked about with the team. Including how they suspected her phone had been weaponized against her. And how someone could accomplish what it appeared they’d done.
None of what she told him was good. But the psychological aspects of it horrified him—it took a special kind of person to want to terrorize someone the way they seemed to be terrorizing Ellie.
“Did Dr. Garcia mention what might motivate someone to go to those lengths? Or what they might hope to accomplish?” he asked.
She nodded, her hair sliding over his skin. “Nothing definitive, but she said in situations like mine, the perpetrator is usually motivated by hatred. Or jealousy. Unlike my stalker, who considered himself in love with me, whoever is behind this wants to destroy me.”
“I think I just lost my appetite,” he said, setting the unfinished drink down. The analysis rang true, and the thought of someone hating Ellie so much terrified him.
Ellie stretched over him and picked up the glass. “I don’t mean to force this on you, but we’re safe now. We’re together, and we have this moment. Don’t let him or her ruin it.” She held out the whiskey, and with a sigh of resignation, he took it. She was right. They didn’t know what tomorrow or even the next moment would bring. Worrying wouldn’t change that.
“So jealousy or hatred is the likely motivation,” he said. “What do they hope to accomplish?”
Ellie didn’t answer right away. Instead, she plucked the glass from his hand and took a sip before handing it back. “My destruction,” she said quietly. “Although what that means isn’t clear. It could mean my death. But it could also mean driving me to some sort of mental break. To some point where I’d lose the life I have.”
“So the destruction they seek may not be yourdeath, but maybe the death of the career that’s given you the life you have,” he posited.
Her fingers started to trace circles on his stomach. “It’s an interesting distinction,” she said after considering the comment. “If true, that would mean this is more about jealousy than hatred.”
“I would imagine there are a lot of people jealous of you.”
