Page 32 of The Bodyguard
“Tell me again why you need to throw a party.”
“Because I’m bored!” I shouted and threw myself back on the couch. “I need something to do, and if you say shop, I’m never speaking to you again.”
“Wedding planning is work.”
I sat up. It wasn’t enough to keep me occupied. To stop me from thinking about Garrett. And sour cream onion dip.
“I told you, most of it is already done. You and Bea need dresses. At some point I’ll come to Dallas...”
“Oh, no. I’m not letting you bully me about dresses. I’ll pick my own. Bea can pick her own, too.”
Bea picking her own dress? This made me fractionally worried. “I did mention there is going to be press at this wedding, right? And cameras, lots and lots of cameras.”
“I promise. I’ll have a proper wedding dress. But we still don’t need an engagement party.”
“I need it,” I groaned.
“You could get a job,” Ronnie said gently.
“You’re so funny,” I quipped. “Me, working. Now that’s the real joke.”
“What about stuff around the ranch? We are more than oil and big energy industries. I believe The King’s Land has a hundred and fifty head of cattle. Plus our stock-horse breeding program. Maybe start learning the family business.”
“You mean go outside?” I asked incredulously. “In the dirt and mud with the animals? What shoes would I wear?”
“You mean they don’t make Prada cowboy boots?”
I squinted my eyes. “Are you being for real right now? Because I could do some serious research.”
“I have to go. Clayton’s calling, but whatever you do…don’t call it an engagement party. Too many bad memories!”
She hung up and I pouted. Didn’t she get it? The point of replacing one engagement party with another was to erase all the bad memories. Like that night never happened.
The phone, still in my hand, started to ring again. I answered without even looking because I just assumed it was Ronnie calling me back, saying she forgot to tell me something.
“Yep,” I answered. “What did you forget?”
There was a pause. As if she was surprised I had picked up so quickly.
“You can’t run from me, Sabrina. I’ll always find you. Soon we’ll be together.”
The strange dark voice echoed in my head and I dropped the phone like I had been holding a rattlesnake up to my ear.
I immediately reached for it and ended the call. Then I blocked the number.
I sat down on the couch and considered what had just happened. My hands were shaking and I shoved the phone between the cushions of the couch like that buffer might protect me from the person on the other end of the line.
I thought about the voice. It hadn’t beennormal.It was distorted, somehow. Something to disguise it so I wouldn’t recognize it when I heard it in person. Why bother? Unless it was possible I knew this person? No, that couldn’t be. There was a time I’d suspected people from the show, but nothing ever came of it.
But how did he keep getting my phone number? The last time I had changed numbers I hadn’t really told Ronnie or Bea why. Only that a stupid fan had hacked my phone so I was taking precautions.
No biggie. Nothing to see here.
But if I changed my number twice in two months, they would definitely suspect something. Bea absolutely would call me on my bullshit. I couldn’t think about that. For now the number was blocked and I would be super cautious about answering any calls.
But it meant he wasn’t gone. I thought back to that day in Dallas, at the running trail. This was how I had felt then, certain I was being watched.
Was it just my phone or did he know where I lived? It wasn’t like it would be hard information to find. I was the daughter of oil baron Hank King. The King’s Land had been featured in multiple magazines. Yes, the ranch was isolated. With wide-open views in every direction. Not an easy place to sneak up on undetected.
