Page 64 of Playing with Forever
“He was arrested twice for stalking and assaulting former girlfriends,” Tate said, giving me a quick rundown. “He was fifteen one time, seventeen the next. Because he was under the age of eighteen all records were sealed, and as far as I can tell he basically got a slap on the wrist for it. You know how it is, the guy’s young, so they want to give him a chance to grow up and do better.”
“Yeah, and after that, he clearly got smarter. Knew how to do it so he wouldn’t get caught,” I murmured. I stared down at the file, expecting to see Heath’s name there at the top—and froze.
It wasn’t Heath.
The file saidBrandon Smith.
I looked up at Tate, my blood going cold. “This is—this is the coworker I asked you to look into.”
“Yeah.” Tate sounded a little confused. “I’m still tracking down the ex-boyfriend. But this is pretty concerning, right?”
More than that. My heart slammed against my chest and I threw the file aside and got to my feet, grabbing my phone. “I have to go.”
I was pretty sure this man had tried to break into her home just two days ago and now he had her alone at the office. I had to get to Andrea.Now.
CHAPTER26
Andrea
Ichecked the time on the computer again as I finished tweaking another video. 5:30 pm. Ugh. At this rate, it was going to take us at least another hour to finish the presentation we needed to turn in by tomorrow morning, first thing.
Unless Brandon started doing something other than stare at me, which I was beginning to find disconcerting. We were in the conference room, sitting across from one another at the table, and I could feel him looking at me. It was taking everything in me not to snap at him.
I exhaled a deep breath and told myself it was just the stress from the last couple of days. On top of the stress from the last week. On top of the stress from the last couple months.
Wow, I needed a vacation.
Brandon was probably just worried about me, but I suspected that wasn’t the case. I had appreciated his sympathy and listening ear the other day, but I had the feeling that he was going to try to ask me out again and I really did not have the patience to get it through his stubborn skull that I wasn’t going to date him. Ever.
Brandon was a good guy. But no matter how many good qualities a guy had, they could piss you off if they wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
You’re just being paranoid,I told myself, sighing and sitting back in my chair. I had been an absolute wreck for the last week. Of course I was going to start getting pissed off for no reason at people who didn’t deserve it.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Chase’s place. I was sure he’d find a way to get rid of the stress for me…
Brandon cleared his throat. “Andrea?”
I glanced over at him. He was still staring at me. “You okay?” I asked.
“I’m—I’m fine.” Brandon smiled at me. It was a cute smile, he was a cute guy, but I suddenly felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. “I’m actually doing really great, because you and your boyfriend broke up. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything at all. But that uneasy feeling inside of me increased.
“I’m sorry you were hurt, I really am. I never want you to be hurt,” Brandon continued, sounding robotically sincere. “But that’s why you need a different kind of man. A kind, nice person who will show you just how special you are. I hope that you’re ready to see that now. You just had to go through that breakup with thatjerk,to appreciate what you really need, what you really want.”
I opened my mouth to tell himactually, the last thing any woman enjoys is being told what she wants,and then forced it shut again because I didn’t want to do or say anything to antagonize him. I had to remind myself that most people weren’t like Chase, they didn’t like it when I was defiant and prickly.
Still, Brandon was delusional, and I couldn’t ignore that horrible sick feeling swirling in my stomach. Some instinct in me screaming that something was wrong, and I didn’t knowwhy, but I knew that I needed to listen to that voice.
“Brandon,” I started slowly. “You’ve been incredibly kind to me…”
My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. It was from Chase.
“Sorry, one sec…” I opened the text.
IT’S BRANDON,Chase’s text read.GET OUT OF THERE NOW. I’M COMING FOR YOU.
Panic jolted through me, and I felt my expression change to reflect that apprehension the second I read the message.You have no poker face,Violet would always tell me, laughing. She wasn’t wrong.
