Page 71 of Filthy Player
Maybe someone to slap some sense into me.
“I’m not about to risk anything happening to you, the fact she’s followed you to work, or at least knows where you work, scares the shit out of me. I’m not going to lie, Paige. And there’s no way in hell I’m playing this off. Not with you.” Beaux’s voice sounded broken, harsh and thick, filled with shards of glass. The effort it was taking him to explain all of this, was obvious.
I still couldn’t move toward him. I couldn’t comfort him. His eyes went glacial blue and he scanned the room. “Not with any of you. You’re in this mess because of me and I will take care of it. Starting with a security system. Jaxon will have his team here first thing tomorrow to install it.
“Security,” I murmured. “Security and safety and stalkers.” Oh, my. I was losing my mind.
I’d been photographed in the last month. I’d noticed them. Traffic had picked up at the garage. All of it was an annoyance but it hadn’t terrified me. This went beyond terrifying and I fell back a step, away from Beaux.
He reached for me but I held up my hands. “No. No, I just, I need a minute.”
“Paige,” he croaked. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” He was. I knew it. I could feel it rolling off him along with his fury.
It didn’t matter. I loved him. Had fallen in love with him. But I didn’t realize in doing so, from what they were saying, my life could be at stake.
All I knew was I needed space. A place to think and organize my thoughts, lay everything out that he’d just told me, what it meant for me in the upcoming days or weeks.
Was Beaux worth it?
Of course he was. A thousand times yes.
Was I strong enough to handle it?
I had no answer for that one.
“Excuse me,” I looked at my dad. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. We just want you safe.” He sounded as torn apart as I felt, as Beaux looked, as equally torn up as Mike was clearly fuming pissed.
I squeezed his hand and let him go. “I need some time alone,” I said to Beaux. “To think.”
“To think?”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my fear clogging my throat and making the words bounce.
***
I went to my room, pulled a pillow to my chest, curled up against my headboard and stared out my window.
Then I jumped off the bed, looked outside, and slammed the blinds shut.
Was she out there? Watching us now? Was she hiding in the trees? Behind my neighbor’s fence? Was she using the garage? Did she know I worked at Ride’Em Rough? Was she doing anything other than turning my life and my safety upside down?
I didn’t want to think about her, what she was doing, but until she was caught or stopped, it would be the only thing I did.
Knowing someone was threatening your life and following you didn’t exactly scream comfort.
A knock tapped on my bedroom door and I ignored it. It wasn’t locked, but I was still too stunned to speak or move.
It didn’t matter how many times I rearranged what Beaux and Jaxon had said downstairs.
I didn’t know how long I’d been in my room when the knock happened again.
I stared at the closed blinds.
The door creaked open and it was Melanie’s sweet and concerned voice I heard. “I think you need a drink.”
