Wolf

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  I ran to the grocery store and picked up a few things without incident. I even went to the bank without encountering any bank robbers. It was like the best day ever! I got home and started whistling happily when my driveway was clear of any black SUVs that could potentially be holding Reed Security employees. However, that joy was cut short when I opened my door and heard beeping. I looked around, thinking I had set a timer somewhere and forgot to turn it off, but the beeping sound grew more distant when I walked away from the front door.

  Cursing, I headed back for the door, and sure enough, there was a touch screen on the wall that had a blinking light. I started pressing buttons, trying to make the sound go away, but nothing worked. If anything, it seemed to get worse. I hit another button and a loud, booming voice came from somewhere in the house, like on a megaphone.

  Intruder. Intruder. Intruder. Intruder.

  Over and over, the stupid thing blared. I continued to press more buttons, but nothing would stop the stupid thing. I ran to the closet and grabbed the toolbox off the floor. After finding the hammer, I raced back to the front door and slammed the hammer against the touchscreen. The sirens and the voice saying Intruder continued. I covered my ears and slid to the floor in frustration. On the brink of tears, I was ready to hit that infuriating man with a hammer. He had officially ruined my day.

  “Reese!”

  I looked up and sprang to my feet when I saw Craig standing in my doorway with his gun drawn. I raced toward him and swung the hammer as hard as I could, but the man was too fast and caught my wrist before I could actually swing the hammer down on him.

  “Reese, are you okay? It’s me. You’re okay now.”

  “I know I’m okay, you idiot! I’m pissed because I was having a good day and then I walked in my house and alarms started blaring!”

  “Didn’t you get the note?”

  “Do you see a note in my hands?”

  He actually looked at my hands like he was expecting to see one and then looked at me all puzzled. “It was under the mat. Didn’t you get my text?”

  I started shaking and I felt like my whole body was about to explode in rage. “How the hell would I have gotten your text? I never gave you my number!”

  “That doesn’t mean the text wouldn’t have gone through.”

  I was just about to yell at him again when Sean came bursting through the door, gun drawn and looking at me still holding my hammer above my head and ready to strike.

  “I heard the call. What’s going on here?” Sean asked. “Who broke in?”

  “Nobody broke in,” I snapped. “This idiot installed a security system in my house and didn’t tell me!”

  Sean furrowed his brows in confusion. “How did he install a system without you knowing?”

  “My friend gave him a key and permission to come over,” I shouted.

  Craig released me and walked over to the busted system and pulled what remained off the wall. He did something to the back and the noise stopped. My ears were still ringing as Sean started talking again.

  “Who gave him permission to come over?”

  “Brooke.”

  He snorted and then started laughing. “You gave Brooke access to your house?”

  “Hey, she’s a very reliable friend.”

  “Yeah, until she hands over the keys to your house to your stalker.”

  “Hey, I’m not a stalker,” Craig said emphatically. “I was just looking out for her.”

  “I want him arrested, Sean. This has gone on long enough.”

  “What do you want me to arrest him for?”

  “Breaking and entering.”

  “I had a key,” Craig grinned. “That’s hardly breaking and entering. As far as I knew, I was allowed on the property.”

  “Fine, then arrest him for…showing up at my house again!”

  “I work for the security company that installed it. I came here because we got a call.”

  I screamed in frustration and stomped my foot on the ground. I was so angry! “Then arrest him for installing a security system without my permission.”

  “We talked about it last night. I told you I was coming out here to install it today.”

  “Would you shut up!” I turned back to Sean and pleaded with him. “Please, Sean, you have to arrest him for something, and make it stick!”

  “Reese, I can escort him off the property, but unless you file a restraining order, I’m not sure what you want me to do. He’s right about everything you’ve thrown out so far.”

  “Then arrest him for…keeping me safe against my will!”

  Sean just stared at me with a bored expression. I heard a little snicker and I turned on Craig and swung as hard as I could, punching him in the face. Pain shot through my wrist and I squealed in pain, trying my best not to look like the pathetic wimp that hurt herself punching someone.

  “That wasn’t bad, little Reese’s.”

  “Don’t call me that!”

  “Let me see your hand,” Sean said, trying his best to hold back a laugh.

  “What are you laughing at? I wouldn’t be hurt right now if you had taken him away like I told you to.”

  “You know, Sean, I think I want to have this woman arrested for assault.”

  “What?” Sean and I said at the same time.

  Craig shrugged, giving an innocent as fuck look. “You saw it, Sean. She hit me right here,” he said, pointing to his jaw. “That’s assault.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve been stalking me and when I finally lose it and hit you, you want me arrested?”

  “Sean?”

  Sean shook his head at Craig and then pulled out fucking handcuffs. I shook my head in disbelief and backed up slightly. “Sean, you can’t seriously be thinking about arresting me.”

  “You did assault him right in front of a detective. What do you want me to do?”

  “Pretend you didn’t see it!”

  “I’m sorry, but I have to do it. If he went to my boss and made a complaint, I could get put on probation.”

  “So, you’re arresting me instead?”

  He sighed and pulled my good hand behind my back.

  “Of course,” Craig sighed a little. “I do feel bad about all of this. I could maybe be persuaded to not press charges.”

  I glared at him, my temper flaring even hotter than it already was.

  “What do you want?”

  “Just an hour or two of your time where we sit down and talk like civilized adults. You don’t yell at me for talking to you or try to assault me again.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. I was pissed. There was no way I was going to be blackmailed into sitting with my stalker. This was ridiculous.

  “No.”

  “No?” He snorted and nodded to Sean. “I want to press charges.”

  “This is not the way to get her to like you,” Sean mumbled.

  “She’ll cave,” Craig smirked. “She doesn’t want to get thrown in jail.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the back of Sean’s car with a grinning Craig. He could suck it. He thought he had won, but there was no way I was going out with him.

  “I don’t understand why my stalker is sitting in the back with me,” I said to Sean.

  “He needs to make a statement. It’s easier if we all go together.”

  I glared at Sean and then turned my glare on Craig. He leaned over and brushed his lips against my cheek. I flinched back and kicked out at him, getting him in the leg.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “You need to lighten up. It’s just a date.”

  “I didn’t-”

  “Children, please!” Sean said from the front seat. “We’re here.”

  Craig’s brows furrowed and he sat forward in his seat. “Wait, you said we were going to the police station. Why are we at Reed Security?”

  “Because the two of you are acting like rebellious teenagers with out of control hormones. So, I’m sitti
ng you down with your parents for a lecture.”

  “You called my mom?” Craig asked incredulously.

  Sean parked the car and turned around in his seat. “No, fucker, Cap’s gonna talk to you.”

  He got out and opened my door. I stepped out and looked at the new building that was being constructed. It looked like it was almost finished, but Sean led us to another building.

  “You know, if you’re not taking me to jail, you could at least take off the handcuffs. If you remember, I have a hurt wrist.”

  “It wouldn’t be hurt if you hadn’t assaulted me,” Craig grumbled.

  “Hey, stalker-boy, lay off the assault talk. You really want to walk in there with all your teammates and claim that a woman half your size assaulted you?”

  Craig snapped his mouth shut and we headed inside.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Craig

  “Fuck,” I swore as I walked into Cap’s office with Reese and Sean right behind me. Cap was leaning back in his chair, staring me down, but not saying a word. I knew this was gonna be fucking bad. Cap nodded to the chair, so I sat and waited for him to speak. I wasn’t gonna lie, my palms were sweating and I was a little scared at the moment. Cap was fucking scary when he was pissed.

  “So…” Cap stood and walked around his desk. He leaned back against the front of the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Stalking?”

  “I-”

  “I didn’t tell you to fucking speak.” I snapped my mouth shut. “We’re supposed to protect people and you’re stalking a woman.”

  “I-”

  “Still didn’t give you permission to speak.”

  I felt like a fucking child being reprimanded.

  “Look, I get that you like this woman, but if she asks you to leave her alone, you leave her alone.”

  “Thank you,” Reese said with a smug grin on her face.

  “Not so fast,” Sean said from behind us. He walked around and leaned back against the desk in the same position Cap was in. “Don’t think that you’re off the hook.”

  “I didn’t-”

  “This isn’t a discussion,” Sean snapped. “You’re a fucking teacher. You assaulted a man, even if he is twice your size, right in front of a cop. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that the man had been stalking me for weeks and I wanted it to end!”

  “He’s harmless.”

  “Hey,” I said, a little put off being called harmless.

  “Shut up,” Cap snapped.

  “Whether or not you were being stalked, you assaulted him in front of me and then you purposely refused his offer to get you out of trouble. If you get arrested, you lose your job.”

  Okay, that I didn’t know. Shit, now I felt bad. I hadn’t really thought about that at the time, but it made sense. As a teacher, she would need to have a certain reputation. And an arrest record would be very bad for her.

  “The two of you need to get your shit together,” Sean said. “Reese, you can’t afford to get thrown in jail. And Craig, I get that you like the woman, but you’re just pissing her off. Back the fuck off.”

  I turned to Reese, trying to look as sincere as possible. I really felt bad now that I knew what might have happened.

  “I’m sorry, Reese. I didn’t think about getting you in trouble at work. I’ll…leave you alone.”

  “Thank you.” Sean cleared his throat and she wiggled uncomfortably in her chair. “And I’m sorry that I hit you. It won’t happen again.”

  “Good. Now that that’s taken care of, I’ll send a team over to your house and have your system fixed.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Reese said, rising from her chair.

  “Yes, it is. And the system is still being charged to this dumbass. I’ll have someone walk you through how to use it tonight so you don’t have any more issues.”

  “I can-”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Cap snapped. “You don’t go anywhere near her.”

  I clenched my jaw in anger, but didn’t say another word.

  “Sean, maybe you could take Reese down to the training center. Hunter’s down there and he can take a look at her wrist.”

  “Sure.”

  Sean and Reese left, but I knew Cap wasn’t done with me yet. I sat there and waited for it. I knew it was coming, but it was just a matter of how long it would take. Cap moved around to the other side of his desk. He sat down and let out a deep breath.

  “So, what the hell am I supposed to do with you?”

  “Help me get her back.”

  “You never had her.”

  “I would have.”

  He tapped his fingers on his desk as he thought. “What do you want me to do? I can’t make her like you.”

  “I just need a way to get to know her, for her to get to know me.”

  “You can’t go chasing after a woman-”

  “Bullshit. You went after Maggie. You put a fucking chip in her.”

  He cleared his throat and nodded. “Right, but I had her to begin with. You haven’t even been on one date with her. How do you expect her to suddenly come around when you just threatened her with jail?”

  “Well…okay, so I fucked up there.”

  “You think?”

  “Look, I just said that I was wrong.”

  “So, again, how do you expect me to help you?”

  “Call a meeting.”

  He snorted and then laughed. “You think they’ll help?”

  “You owe me,” I said pointedly. He nodded, knowing I was referring to his distrust in me when we were attacked. “You didn’t trust me when you should have. I was fucking tortured and you turned your back on me. Now, I forgave you for the sake of working together, but that wasn’t fucking easy. You know that I would never do anything to hurt anyone I care about. And that goes beyond everyone at Reed Security.”

  “Fine. I’ll get the boys.”