Page 62 of Triggered By Love
“Hold it there,” Damon said. “You kidnapped my sister from my parents’ house.”
“Are you interested in your sister’s safety? Have you thought about who would want to target your sister?”
“Avery doesn’t have any enemies. I keep an eye out for her, and I haven’t seen anyone suspicious.”
“Yet someone is targeting her, wouldn’t you say?”
The other man paused and huffed. “She’s been under a lot of stress, and I don’t want to feed into the paranoia. As far as I can tell, the threats are against men who are dating her. That quarterback is using her for publicity, and he claims he got a threatening note.”
“True, but if Avery’s so safe, who broke into her apartment?”
“I didn’t tell Avery, but I saw her model wrangler, Ivanna Chu, leaving the building. I wondered why she was lurking around, especially since Avery was out of town. She has a motive because Avery critiqued some of her designs and rejected them from the show.”
“Whoa, there. You’re suspecting the model wrangler? Tell me about her.”
“She’s one of those social climbers. Hanging on to my sister to steal her ideas then talking bad about her behind her back. Last week, I caught her snooping around the building. When I confronted her, she said Avery gave her a key and she was dropping off gowns.”
“No reason to trash the place and steal the designs,” Jason said. “If they were so important, why did Avery leave the notebook?”
“She’d just come back from the emergency room, and my brother Chase threw her clothes into a bag. He practically hog-marched her out of the apartment,” Damon said. “Look, I can protect my sister. She can stay in my apartment and work from there.”
What he said made a lot of sense. Avery needed to get back to work, and the threat to Matt Swanson was tangentially related to her. Someone, likely an old lover, wanted Avery for himself.
“I’ll stay at Avery’s place to trap anyone who makes another try,” Jason said. “By the way, if someone is threatening Swanson, do you think it might be one of Avery’s old boyfriends? Who was she dating before Brando?”
“Why don’t you ask her? Put my sister on. I want to speak to her.”
“You’re not worried about any stalkers or ex-boyfriends?”
“Put my sister on.” Damon’s voice was firm.
Jason hung up instead.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Avery didn’t wantto speak to Jason on the way back to New York City. He was a brute and thoroughly rude. Ordering her around and acting as if nothing had happened the night before.
Nothing of import.
She’d just as soon forget her temporary insanity. It had to do with the Chianti and tiramisu. Nothing more. She’d acted out, and it had meant absolutely nothing.
“You’re not at all worried about the threat Matt Swanson received,” Jason’s flat voice stated rather than asked.
“He’s a big boy.” She crossed her arms and huffed. “He’s getting all the drama he wants.”
“What about anyone stalking you?”
“I’m too boring to stalk, and I don’t want to talk.”
“Since I have you as a captive audience, I’ll go through what I’m thinking.”
“La, la, la, la, la, I’m not listening.” She turned her head away from him and stared out the window. The trees wore their summer greens, and the parkway was uncrowded on this Sunday morning. She and Brando used to do this drive in his convertible. They’d spend his off days upstate at a bed and breakfast, go hiking or float on a rowboat, then watch the sunset from an overlook or across a lake. They’d always hold hands, and he loved taking pictures of her, of the trees and plants, the scenery, and the many birds and an occasional deer he spotted.
He was such a peaceful man. A gentle one and considerate. He steered clear of anything that triggered her and never questioned her about her past. He accepted her the way she presented herself—a young creative professional who loved art and design. He appreciated her style, her reserve, and her need for solitude. And he never probed into areas that made her uncomfortable.
Quite unlike the inquisition she was receiving from one Jason Burnett. Rude. Annoying. Brute.
“You’re going to listen whether you like it or not,” he said, shutting off the radio. She reached for the knob, and he palmed her hand. “My car.”
