“One last thing. What’s the news on this stalker? Should I be concerned?”
The weight of that question settled around me just as I started to feel lighter. My shoulders rose and fell, revealing my bewilderment at that situation.
“To be honest, I don’t really know. I haven’t gotten any emails, messages, or anything in weeks. Connor and I have been back to my place to clean it and to get a few more of my belongings. He won’t allow me to go there alone.” I rolled my eyes.
“As he shouldn’t.”
“I knew you’d take his side.” Truth was, I didn’t want to go to my place alone, either. For obvious reasons, I didn’t feel safe there, and Connor’s loft felt more and more like home. To be honest, wherever he was felt like home.
“I’m taking your side. I want you safe.”
“Thanks, D. But the truth is I think possibly he’s moved on. Perhaps this guy, whoever he was, found something or someone special to fill his time and he’s lost interest in me.”
“So maybe he’s stalking someone else. That’s your hope?”
“Of course not, D. I’m just saying, he could’ve found a real girlfriend to occupy his time, or a hobby or something, and he’s done with obsessing over me.”
I said those words with all the hope I had in my body. I really wanted them to be true. I didn’t want to have to think about someone following me whenever I went out alone, or have to look over my shoulder every time I stepped out my door, but the pit in my stomach that rose up as Destiny gave me a stop being delusional look, was all I needed to know that I was living in a fantasy.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Connor
“Is this really even still necessary?” Resha whined as she tossed another puny ass punch in the direction of the mitt I held up with my right hand.
Lowering both hands, that wore punching mitts, I gave her a hard glare. We were standing in the middle of the same ring where my Underground fighters fought. She’d somehow convinced me to do another photoshoot for my TKO products for social media purposes and my website, which I obliged, but only under the notion that she switched her workouts up to self-defense lessons that I would teach her.
“If it weren’t necessary, I wouldn’t have you doing it.”
She awkwardly folded her arms due to the boxing gloves she was wearing. Admittedly, she looked cute as hell in the purple workout leggings and grey, sleeveless top she wore. The clothes perfectly outlined the hips, ass, legs, breasts, and everything else I loved so much.
“But how do I know this guy is even still out there? Oh! Maybe he got hit by a bus and, you know, is out of commission or died and we’re doing all of this self-defense nonsense for no reason.”
“There’s always a need for self-defense All women should know how to protect themselves.”
“I know. I’ve taken self-defense in the past.”
“How long ago?”
Her eyes dropped to the floor.
“I knew it.”
“It was like six or seven years ago, I think,” she mumbled.
“And you haven’t practiced anything since, have you?”
She defensively put her hands on her hips. “I don’t like to sweat.”
“You like sweating for me,” I reminded her.
An annoyed smile crept onto her face. “That’s different. And I’m just starting to workout now. Can we take it slowly?”
“Babe, we’re only here three days a week. I need to teach you what I can in the limited time I have you down here. What if you’re ever presented with a situation where you have to defend yourself?”
“How would that even happen?” She held out her arms. “Either you’re always with me or the security you’ve hired. I’m never alone. He scared the hell out of one of the cameraman at the photoshoot yesterday, by the way.”
“Who? Gary? Good, that’s what he’s there for.” Gary was one scary looking motherfucker. I knew it, and it was the reason I specifically requested Brutus send him to the photoshoot Resha had to do the day before for a company she worked with. Abe had moved on to another assignment. Her work assignments had been picking up since she was feeling better, but that meant I couldn’t be with her at all times. Hence, the need for additional security.
“Yeah, well, unless you know something I don’t know—”
“He’s still out there, Resh.”
Her mouth snapped shut.
“How do you know?” she finally questioned.
Removing the punching mitts from my hands, I tossed them to the side and moved closer to her, taking one of her hands into mine to begin removing her boxing gloves.
“Brutus and I, along with Detective Brookes, have been looking into the security personnel of your building. At first, we didn’t find anything. Everyone hired by the property management company looked above board. But their records were incomplete. That’s why it’s been taking so long to track this fucker down. Turns out, they hired a company off the books, to not have to pay premium prices for security. They’ve been lying to their residents when they say all the security staff is trained and has gone through a background check.”
“That’s what I was told when I first moved in.” She slid her right hand out of the glove I loosened and I tossed it to the side.
Nodding, I moved to remove the second glove. “It’s what they told everyone, except it’s a lie. A lot of the security staff worked under the table so there are no records. We’ve had to ask a lot of questions, knock on doors, and even knock a couple of heads to find out the real names of former security staff in the building. I believe it’s someone who used to work there.”
She looked at me with a wrinkle in between her eyebrows. “But you said you know he’s still out there. How?”
“He’s still messaging you. I didn’t want you to find out, especially after the miscarriage, so I had Brutus hack into all of your email and social media accounts and scan them for messages from him. I delete them before you ever get a chance to see them and then block the email addresses.”
“How …” She paused. “So he’s still emailing me? Sending messages?”
I nodded slowly.
“And you just delete them without telling me?”
“Don’t get pissed. You weren’t checking your email or other accounts often, so it wasn’t difficult to hide messages from you, but it was enough for me to know that that fucker is still around. Still obsessing over you.”
She sighed, dipping her head and moving in close to me, resting her forehead against my chest. “I just want this to be over. I want him out of our lives so we can move on.”
Lowering my lips, to place a kiss to the top of her head, I assured, “He will be gone, a stór. I promise you with everything that I am. That fucker will be found and taken care of.”
The tingling in my fingers signaled how much I meant the words I spoke. I used to get that same feeling before every fight. It was my body’s way of telling me it was game on, and anyone who dared stand in my way when I got this feeling would have to either lay down or get put down. Most of the time, it didn’t matter which one they chose, but in this case, with this fucker, I was all set to put him down like the dog he was.
****
Resha
“All right, cousin, what’s on the agenda for today?” I questioned as I placed my bag down on the desk in the studio where we recorded our podcast. We were back, finally, after nearly a two-month hiatus.
“I was thinking since we’ve gotten so many questions while we were away, we should do a listener Q and A episode. We talked about it before, remember? We just never got around to it. What do you think?”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”
“Great. I’ve already gone through our emails and gotten a list of twenty questions. That should fill up the hour. You look cute by the way,” she commented.
“Thank you. I had that shoot with the plus size fashion brand I told you about. They’re expanding their workout line and saw some of the
pictures I’ve been posting lately in my workout gear.”
Destiny lowered the cup of coffee she’d been sipping on. “Oh, here, this is for you. A white chocolate mocha latte with whipped cream.” She handed me the second drink she had.
“Oh my goodness! Thanks, this is just what I needed.” I moaned as I closed my eyes at the first sip of the warm beverage.
“So they liked the workout pics, huh?”
I gave her a side-eye. “Don’t start.” Destiny had been trying to get me to workout with her off and on for years.
“What? I’m just saying you look—”
“All right, enough, enough. Yes, I have been working out more and I’m actually liking it. Having Connor be my own personal trainer doesn’t hurt. Have you seen that man in a pair of grey sweatpants? Sheesh!” I fanned myself with my hand as Destiny giggled.
“No, but I’ve seen Tyler in grey sweats and yeah … I get it.”
We both laughed as we prepared the studio and the microphones to record the podcast. The questions that Destiny had picked out were pretty good. More than one listener had questions about my love life, noting that I seemed happier and even glowing in my latest Instagram and blog posts.
“I don’t discuss much about my personal life for reasons, and you faithful listeners know that. But I will say that I’m happy,” I responded to the question while also happily playing with the engagement ring on my finger.
“Well, that’s that on that,” Destiny summarized before moving on to the next question.
The show went a little longer than we’d anticipated, turning out to be about an hour and a half. But at the end, Destiny and I were happy with the way it turned out, and we scheduled it to go live the next day.
“Okay, I’m going to head home and start cooking dinner before Connor gets in,” I told Destiny as we hugged one another good-bye.
“All right, Resha. I need to head to my office and get in an hour of work before leaving.”
“Don’t work too late.”
“Pssh, and have Mr. Townsend show up here, looking crazy because I wasn’t home on time? No thank you.”
I laughed at the thought because I could imagine Tyler doing just that. Then I spun around and came face-to-face with Gary, the scary looking security guard Connor had put on request for me. Laughing, I recognized I had my own protective man to worry about.
I nodded at Gary as I passed, and he followed me into the elevator and down to the parking garage where my car was parked. He’d followed behind my car for most of the day after I put my foot down and insisted that I didn’t need to be driven everywhere. Connor finally relented, giving me the modicum amount of space I needed to breathe.
About fifteen minutes later, I found myself pulling into the parking garage of the home I now shared with Connor. Gary followed me up to the elevator and rode up with me, presumably to do his normal sweep of the loft before heading down to the entryway of the elevator until Connor arrived home. It was our nightly routine.
Patiently, I waited on the elevator while Gary stepped off, looking from left to right.
“Hey, Resha, I— What the hell?” Mark barked.
“Put your goddamned hands up!”
“No, Gary!” I went running off the elevator to stand in front of Mark who Gary had his gun aimed at. “This is Mark, Connor’s brother!” I assured, my eyes falling to the barrel of the gun, my heart pounding in my chest.
Gary’s dark eyes slowly moved from mine to look over my shoulder, and he lowered the gun. “Mark O’Brien. You work at Townsend Industries.”
“Yeah, man, what the hell was that?” Mark questioned as he rolled from around me.
“Connor said he had a brother. Wasn’t expecting you to be in here,” Gary explained.
“I’m starting to think I need to call before I come over,” Mark grumbled.
“That would be helpful,” I added, giving him a side-eye.
He returned it with a sheepish look, obviously remembering the last time he’d dropped by unannounced.
“I’m just going to check out the rest of the place and head down to my regular post,” Gary stated.
I pushed out a heavy sigh. “That was unnerving.” I leaned down to give Mark a hug, which he returned.
“Tell me about it. That guy looked like he was ready to blow me the hell away.”
“He was. According to Connor, all of these guys are ex-military. Anyway, what’s up?” I asked.
“Not much, had some free time and wanted to check-in with the siblings.”
I giggled every time he referred to me as his sibling, just like with Connor.
“You two decided on a date yet?”
“Hmhm.” I nodded. “The first day of spring, March 19th.”
“Nice. Where at?”
“Destiny and Ty’s. Connor agreed to the location.”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll have my tux ready to go.”
I grinned, knowing that Connor planned to ask Mark to be his best man but I didn’t want to ruin that surprise for him so I kept my mouth shut.
“You want some lemonade? I made it fresh-squeezed last night.”
“Anything you make, I’m eating or drinking. Lead the way.”
Mark followed me in the kitchen, and we sat and talked for a while over some Hershey kiss cookies I made earlier in the week. Mark loved them, and I told him to take the leftovers home. I planned on making chocolate lava cakes for dessert that night, which Mark made me agree to save him at least one. Since the recipe I had made six, I figured that wasn’t much of an issue.
“My sweet tooth’s been acting up lately,” I confessed.
Mark shrugged as I walked him toward the elevator door. “You’ve been working out. You’ve earned it, right?”
I laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Does for me.” He popped another cookie into his mouth.
“You keep that up and those aren’t even going to make it to your place.”
“I need the extra energy. I’ve got a fight tonight at the Underground.” He winked at me.
I shook my head before bending down and giving him a hug. “Just be safe.”
“What’s the fun in that? See ya later, sis.”
I watched as he rolled onto the elevator.
“And don’t forget to … lock the door,” I mumbled the last bit since the door had closed before I could fully get my statement out. Connor was always complaining about how Mark forgot to lock the door and anyone could just walk in.
I wasn’t too worried about it since I knew Gary was still downstairs, keeping watch. He wouldn’t let anyone up that didn’t belong here.
With that, I headed for the kitchen to prepare a garlic and herb linguine dish with shrimp scampi and broccoli. I wanted something kind of light for dinner since I would be making a decadent dessert. About halfway through cooking the main dish my phone rang.
“Hello? Gary?”
“Hey, Ms. McDonald, I’m sorry to bother you but, uh …”
I started to get nervous. Never in my wildest dreams had I envisioned a man as big and scary looking as Gary sounding this … anxious. Afraid.
“Gary, what’s the matter?”
“It’s my daughter.”
I blinked, my head jerking backwards, not expecting that sentence to come out of his mouth.
“You have a daughter?”
“Yeah. I’m a single father. Anyway, she’s only seven and her school just called me saying her ride never showed to pick her up for the after-school program she attends on days I work late. She’s all alone down there and—”
“Go. Go get your daughter!” I insisted.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
Looking at the clock on the wall I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Connor will be home in another thirty minutes. The door is secured and locked. I’ll be fine. Go get your child.”
“Thanks so much. I’ll make this up to you and Mr. O’Brien. I promise.” He sounded like he w
as already walking or running in the direction of his car.
“Don’t worry about it, Gary. Take care of your family.”
I hung up knowing a little more about the man who protected me. Apparently, everyone had their weaknesses. Gary’s was obviously his daughter. I smiled to myself as I continued cooking, wondering if Connor would sound like that about our daughter in the future. I could envision him being just as protective over our own little girl as Gary. Or teaching our son how to box. I couldn’t wait for those moments. And when fear tried to creep in, reminding me that I couldn’t know for sure that those times would ever come to life, I remembered Connor’s steadfast assurance that we—us, he and I, and our family—were no coincidence.
Those thoughts had me singing along to the workout playlist I’d decided to make to help get me through some of the more challenging workouts that Connor had been putting me through lately. I thought about sharing it with my followers on Instagram as I stood at the kitchen counter, stirring the contents for the lava cakes in the mixing bowl, when I heard the elevator door open. Looking up, a smile crossed my lips as I noted the time.
Placing the bowl down, I wiped my hands off with a towel and straightened the apron I wore before heading out of the kitchen to welcome my man home.
Unfortunately, the man who greeted me as the doors of the elevator opened wasn’t my man at all. No, this man with dark brown hair, beady brown eyes, standing at about five-foot-eight with a slight bend and an awkward gait was not Connor.
The sneer on his face told me he wasn’t there to do any good. The gun in his right hand confirmed this.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Resha.”
The way he said my name made my skin crawl, and suddenly I remembered where I knew this guy from. I’d come face-to-face with my stalker many times before.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Connor
I watched the fucker look over his shoulder repeatedly before he tried the lock of the elevator that led directly to my loft. Rage seeped inside of me when it opened, unobstructed by a lock or the fucking security guard that I hired to keep Resha safe. Getting out of my car in the empty parking space I parked it in, I knew Resha was up there by herself while that fucker made his way to her.
No Coincidence Page 28