Page 40 of Bad Enough

Kai stuck her tongue out at Waters, which earned her a raised eyebrow and a strange comment of “Rule six” from him.

“Okay, okay,” she spat back rather than apologizing. “When it first started, I didn’t know you, and by the time it had begun escalating, we were in Roatán, and then we weren’t together. When I was back in your orbit, I had slightly larger concerns, remember? So when was I supposed to tell you? Last I knew, which was the middle of May”—a sharp glance was thrown at Sylvan—“she hadn’t mentioned anything, so I figured maybe the assnozzle had gotten bored and moved on. Apparently not.”

Waters snorted. “You think?”

He examined the purple sheet of paper first, reading the words on the page and frowning. He turned it over, saw nothing there, then held it up to the light, again finding nothing but the shadow of the ink from the front side.

While he was examining the note, Sylvan whispered to Kai, “Who is this guy? How does he know you couldn’t find your favorite bra? How does he know which one is your favorite? What haven’t you?—”

The ponytail-wielding blonde looked at her with another grimace of chagrin. “I’ve been a super shitty friend and have been keeping secrets, but… some of it is because I didn’t have a choice. Do you remember when I came back from filming, and I was so upset?”

Sylvan nodded, then her eyes widened, and her mouth opened into an “O.” “He’s why?”

Kai nodded. “His name is Waters. He was the consultant I told you about for the Navy SEAL movie I just filmed. We hooked up while working on it, some things happened, and we ended up separated for a bit. A few weeks ago, we were sort of forced together again. It’s a long story, but basically, we’re back together.”

Both women turned their attention back to the man in question. He was totally focused, looking over the envelope with the same intensity as he had the note.

Sylvan felt a tremor go through her as she watched him. She turned her head to Kai and mouthed, “Wow!”

Kai grinned, mouthed back, “I know,” and then gave a dramatic shiver.

“I saw that,” he mumbled.

“Of course you did, G.I. Joe,” Kai retorted.

When he looked up, there was no smile on his face, but he winked at Kai, and there was definitely something funky going on with his eyes.

Was that what the authors meant when they wrote about heroes whose eyes sparkled with lust? Dayum.

Waters turned his attention back to the envelope and looked inside. “What the ever-loving fuck?” he growled.

He dumped the contents of the envelope out onto the coffee table and started pawing through what appeared to be photos of Sylvan in a variety of local places, including inside her home. There were also pictures of her in the main bar area of The Library.

The Irishman whistled.

A glance at Sylvan showed Waters’ concern. “This is a bit more than annoying messages and emails. This is the first time you’ve gotten something like this?”

“I’ve gotten direct messages and emails, but not with… extras.”

“And this came to your house? Hand-delivered?”

“I saw the letter carrier come up the walk about twenty minutes before I went to get the mail out of the box. Technically, I have a post office box, but… the letter carrier empties my box each day and brings it to the house. I don’t like to go out if I don’t absolutely need to.”

Waters glanced at his watch. “That was just under an hour ago. He’ll be long gone by now. How long have you been having problems before today’s delivery?”

Kai looked at Sylvan, who nodded encouragingly at her. “Tell him.”

Sylvan shifted slightly on the couch, Kai’s arm around her shoulders, head leaning comfortably against Sylvan’s. She didn’t deserve this woman as a friend.

“The freaky stuff started around Christmas time. I remember because I was running a Christmas card exchange with my readers, and he was sad because he missed registering for it.”

The Irishman stood up, hands on hips, and he looked at Waters. “What are you thinking?”

The two men’s eyes were locked in some sort of psychic connection. Waters shook his head and looked at the floor. “Shit, this is going to be a cluster. Walk with me.”

The two men stepped out onto the back porch, closing the door between them and the women. They watched Waters tell the other man something, then he showed the dark-haired man something from the envelope, and then both men turned to look at Sylvan for a moment.

“The other guy, they call him Demon,” Kai said. Sylvan’s brow furrowed. “It’s a nickname.”

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