She leaned in to kiss my newly healed cheek before jogging out to her car. Realizing Liam was still standing in the same spot, I turned to look at him.
“Why are you still here? You can go now.” He didn’t respond. He didn’t even blink. “Dude, leave.”
“I can’t,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Sure you can. Put one foot in front of the other and get the hell out of my house.”
He shook his head. “I don’t feel right leaving you here alone without knowing who did this to you.”
“I am not your responsibility. Wanting to fuck me doesn’t give you the right to act like my protector. I can take care of myself.”
His lips twitched. “Clearly. That’s why you ended up on the floor with a broken face.”
The anger rose so quickly, I thought I’d burst into flames. “Get. Out. Now.”
He moved to the door but turned back to me. “I don’t want to be at odds with you, Red. Can I send someone to help you clean this up?”
“No. I will not allow one of your staff to come clean for me. If you want to help me, fine, but don’t send your people to do it for you.”
He unbuttoned his sleeves and started rolling them up.
“No. I wasn’t serious. I don’t need your help. Thanks,” I said trying to hide the utter shock I felt when I realized he’d planned to help me clean my house.
He sighed and shrugged. “Will you at the very least contact me if anything else out of the ordinary happens? I want to uncover whoever is behind all of this. They need to be put down.”
Because I agreed with that, I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll keep you posted on all the weird shit in my life. If you agree to keep me in the loop about anything you find related to all of this.”
“Deal,” he said, holding out his hand.
My brow furrowed at the zap when our hands met. Why was it happening in my house too? Maybe it was him. Maybe he was staticky. Part of me knew that wasn’t it, but I shoved that part of me down and reached around him to open the door.
“Goodbye, Fraser.”
I just wanted him out of my house so I could brood a bit before going to buy a new laptop. After he closed the door behind him, I straightened up my house before changing into my running gear. I was just finishing tying my sneakers when there was a knock at the door.
Half hoping it was my attacker from earlier so I could rip out their throat, I got to the door in a blink. I opened the door so fast I heard it groan as I nearly pulled it off the hinges. I moved to the side in case another bat came at me, but it was Liam again.
“What? Do you not understand what ‘leave’ means?”
He handed me a piece of paper. “This was on your lawn. Whoever taped it to your door didn’t do a good job.”
“Did you search my yard?”
“Yes, and your woods” he said, his tone insinuating I should have done so myself.
I glanced at the note, it read: Stay out of our business.
“Well, if they think this will stop me, they’re idiots,” I said, crumpling it up.
Liam took the ball of paper from me to smooth it out again. “This would be what we call evidence. I’ll take it to the lab.”
“Great. That means you can leave. Again.”
He looked down at his phone as a text came through. His jaw tightened as he handed me his phone.
“Minuscule tracking devices?” I whispered as I read the message again. I looked at him as I returned his phone. The meaning behind the trackers hit me as he slipped the phone in his pocket. “They track these women after they eat the candy. But why?”
“That’s what we need to find out.” His jaw clenched for a second before relaxing again. “In the meantime, be aware of what’s happening around you, Red.”