Page 53 of The Bodyguard
“I’m not saying it wasn’t the same person. I’m just trying to make sure, based on the facts, that it is. You’re a famous person, Brin. Especially around these parts. A guy noticing you, pointing you out, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen.”
“You think it was just some random fan? Then why was he staring at me? Why didn’t he come over and introduce himself. Ask for a selfie? That’s what fans do. Stalkers just watch.”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying that if the only two things tying the man in Dallas to the man you saw today is a black hoodie, that’s not much to go on.”
She slumped, but I knew she could see the reason in what I was saying.
“You think I might have panicked?”
“If you did, it wasn’t for lack of reasons,” I said. This person had been trying to scare her for months. That’s what the phone calls were about. The dead cat on her door. The picture sent to her phone.
However, an actual confrontation is not something most stalkers did. They tended to stay in the shadows. That wasn’t how Brin was describing these situations.
“I suppose that could be true,” she said. “I just got this really creepy vibe.”
“You’re on a alert. As well you should be. I’m not saying we’re still not going to take every precaution. And if I see a strange man walking around in a black hoodie you can be damn sure I’m going to have some questions for him. I just don’t want you to feel as if you’re not safe.”
“I feel safe here,” she said. And she said it so quickly it made me feel good. Like I had accomplished some feat.
“Good.”
“I would like to burn off some energy, though. Between finding Romeo and…whatever that was today, I’m all jittery.”
She wanted to burn off steam because she was jittery.
Don’t go there. Don’t go there!
“I was thinking of a run. Would that be okay? I mean, do you think it’s safe enough to do that alone?”
“I’ll go with you. Could use a run myself.”
She beamed and I thought I would run a marathon for her if only she would continue to smile like that for me always.
Just for me.
* * *
SABRINA
I liked jogging with Garrett. He matched his pace to mine. Whether that was slower or faster than his normal pace I didn’t know, but our strides were pretty even. We didn’t talk at first, in the manner of true runners, we just got a feel for each other’s rhythms. How our arms worked, how our breathing labored, until finally we were in sync.
And once we were in sync it felt…really good. I couldn’t remember when I had felt this much in tune with another person’s body next to mine.
“Was this really how you did it? You lost your baby fat by just running?” he asked as we ran straight down the long stretch of road between our two ranches.
“It wasn’t baby fat. It was just fat. It’s okay to say that Garrett.”
“Not to me, it isn’t. You act like you were some kind of freak. You were a few pounds overweight. I never understood the big deal, quite frankly.”
It was more like thirty pounds, but he was trying to be sweet so I wasn’t going to point that out. “The big deal was that I was Jennifer King’s daughter. And not what she expected me to be.”
“Fuck her expectations. What didyouwant to be?”
Since that question came perilously close to my own thoughts about what came next in my life, I really tried to think about the answer. The sad truth was that I didn’t have one.
“I don’t know. I didn’t back then and I don’t now. Which is part of my problem in trying to decide what comes next. You’re going to think this is ridiculous, but aside from planning Ronnie’s wedding, being stalked is the only other thing in my life right now. Which sounds really horrible when you say it out loud.”
“What do you love to do?”
