“Did the last stalkers get this close? You know, in her fucking house?” I shout out the last words. “Bottom line, you should have fucking called us.”
“Well, you clearly found out,” Tommy says. “I need help, guys.” He looks at us. “We had all the letters tested and got nothing. Not even a fingerprint.”
“If we help you,” Hunter starts, “you let us take over.” He waits for Tommy to say something, but he just nods. “You let Brian take over everything that has to do with her on the road. If he says jump, she fucking jumps.”
“Fine,” a soft voice says, and our heads swing to the archway where Kellie stands with Cori by her side. She walks in, and when I see that her eyes are red, I know she’s been crying. “I’ll listen to whatever Brian tells me.” Tommy gets up and goes to her, bringing her into his arms. She wraps her arms around his waist as he whispers something in her ear. She just nods at him and then sits at the table.
“Now that I know everything”—her voice is as strong as it could be—“I want to go over all the plans.” She doesn’t look at me, not once. Her head stays down as she takes the booklet I made, and then I lean back in the seat and let Hunter do all the talking. When we leave five hours later, my body feels like it’s going to explode. This whole day has been one test after another. I wanted to throat punch Tommy for being so stupid, then I wanted to shake or hug or just protect Kellie. It was up and down the whole time. Every single time I thought about this asshole in her house, I wanted to hit something. Then I would catch her shaking her foot because she was nervous, and I wanted to reach out and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.
“You need to reel that shit in,” Hunter finally says when we get in the car, and he drives out of the driveway. I look in my passenger side mirror, watching the gate close behind us.
“I swear sometimes I want to kick his ass,” I finally say. “To not even tell her.” I shake my head.
“Doesn’t matter,” he says. “She knows now, and from the look on her face, she isn’t going to be a problem.”
We don’t say anything the rest of the drive home, and when I get to the gym two hours later, I let all my frustrations out. I end up collapsing on the bed when I get home.
Two days later, I’m in the middle of my living room when the doorbell rings. Tossing the remote onto the couch, I get up and walk to the door. I just got out of the shower, so my hair is still wet, and all that I have on are my shorts. Unlocking the door, I pull it open, and my mouth falls open when I see who is standing there.
“Hi,” Kellie says, and I look her up and down. She is wearing black yoga pants and a loose black and white striped top with a pink jacket. A faded blue Yankees cap sits on her head, and she’s braided her blond hair on both sides. “Sorry for showing up unannounced.”
Shaking my head and trying to get a hold of myself, I move out of the way to let her come in. “Please, come in.” When she enters, I look outside and don’t see anyone with her. “Did you come here by yourself?”
“Yeah, I just finished packing, and I borrowed Cori’s car so people wouldn’t follow me,” she says and steps into the living room since it’s right inside the front door.
I’ve lived in this house for five years, and it’s only me, so my house is small. Plus, a bigger house means more cleaning, and no one has time for that. I mean, not that I actually clean my house, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to clean a big house. “Can I get you something to drink?” I ask her. Walking to the oversized gray couch, I grab the remote and turn off the television.
“A water would be good. Thank you,” she says, putting her oversized bag on the floor beside the door and following me to the kitchen. I didn’t know what type of house I wanted when I started looking, but the minute I saw the open floor plan, I knew it was what I wanted. Walking to the fridge, I open it and grab her a water bottle. When I turn around, I see her pulling out one of the stools from around the island. I hand her the water bottle. “Thank you.”
“What are you doing here?” Finally, the question comes out.