Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Summer

“Pearl!” I latch onto the fact my friend is nearby and will save me. I maneuver around Roan’s shoulder so I can look at her. “Pearl, tell him to put me down, sweetie. Tell him…”

“I’ll pack her stuff for you and have Spade drop it off later.”

“What?!” What the actual hell!?

Pearl’s eyes meet mine. “Don’t sweetie me. Why didn’t you tell me that asshat was bothering you? And a restraining order? Really, Summer!”

“I…I just didn’t want you to worry. You shouldn’t have to put up with that kind of crap.”

“We’re friends. Friends tell each other when they have problems. They let each other help with problems like this - big ones like these.”

“You met your soulmate! What was I supposed to say? Some weirdo took my friendliness for something it wasn’t and decided to fucking stalk me, can I come stay with you?”

“Yes! That is exactly what you are supposed to say. So now, you have a choice. You can come stay with me and Spade so I know you are safe and taken care of,” she purses her lips before going on, “or you can go with Roan and keep me from worrying about you. You pick but you’re doing one of the choices.”

“She’s trying to run again, Pearl.”

“Ohhh!” I could kill him if my hands were free. “You… you… tattletale. You are such a child! I can’t believe you would…”

My words are cut off when I feel his palm come down on my ass. All the air I was using to rant with comes out in a sudden gasp of shock and more than a little dismay. “You’re the one being a child. Running away from…”

“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say it!”

“You can’t run from your problems, little girl. And you can’t escape me. Not when I might be the reason you are in danger.”

“This is unbelievable. Really?”

“Yes, really!” Both Roan and Pearl say it, shutting me down hard and fast.

All the fight drains out of me, and I hang down Roan’s back completely defeated. Pearl comes around the side of Roan so we can look at one another while we talk. “Please, hon. I am worried about you. I’m not really mad about you trying to keep this from me, I’m worried. I’m worried that you didn’t feel like you could come to me for help. If it isn’t Creepy Scott you are dealing with someone a lot scarier and a lot more dangerous. I just…I want you to be safe.”

“I know. I didn’t say anything because…it’s embarrassing. Why can’t I just handle this? The guy is practically nothing and yet I’m running scared of him. And why me? Why would he become so attached to me? Why was I nice to him? It’s…” I slump against Roan’s back once again. “It sucks.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t doubt crazy. A crazy person who is obsessed can be very fucking dangerous and you shouldn’t be ashamed about being so damned sweet. It’s why we love you.”

She rubs my shoulders and I rest my forehead against the small of Roan’s back in order to hide the fact my eyes are stinging with unshed tears, and we had this whole conversation right in front of Roan…or rather, right behind his back while I was hanging over his shoulder.

“Take her home, Roan. Protect her.” She stops Roan by grabbing his upper arm with a surprisingly firm grip, “But if you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

They must be saying something with their eyes because the two of them stare at one another for a long time without saying a word before Roan finally gives Pearl a nod and a promise. “Yes ma’am.”

I don’t say another word as Roan takes me down the elevator and I am not lucky enough to get to the parking garage without anyone seeing me handcuffed and thrown over his shoulder. A couple steps into the elevator halfway down and look me and Roan up and down.

Roan doesn’t seem put off or disturbed by their attention at all. Instead, he just steps to one side making sure not to back up too far so that I would be pushed up against the wall of the elevator. He gives the man a friendly head nod before offering some explanation.

“It’s alright. I’m a cop.”

“Oh my God! Roan, you… jerk. Now they’re going to think I’m being arrested for something.”

The elevator cannot reach its destination fast enough as heat floods my cheeks. When the door dings open the old man leans over to Roan.

“It’s alright, son. I had to tie mine up with a silk tie before we got married. Handcuffs would have been so much easier.”

“Jim! Leave those poor kids alone.”

We walk out as the old man’s snicker comes floating over to me before the doors of the elevator swish shut.

“Oh, my fucking God! I can’t believe you! Those people thought… hey!” he quickly sits me down on the jeep seat and uncuffs one wrist and brings the still cuffed hand around before securing it to the door handle with the empty side. “What the fuck? Do you think I plan to fling myself out of the moving car? Really.”

“I asked. Now… we do things my way.”

“You asked? You didn’t ask. You just demanded I come home with you. There was no question there for me to have a chance to answer it.”

He pulls back but doesn’t automatically shut the door after stretching the seatbelt around me. “Okay. Would you have come home with me if I asked you to?”

We have a stare-off for a breathless moment before I set my chin in a defiant tilt. “No. I won’t be just an obligation - a job - you feel you have to do because you think you owe me something.”

“Thus, the handcuffs, sweetheart.”