Page 38 of F Is for Honey Bee

No shit. He was standing right in front of his stalker, a stalker who’d just offered to drive him home. “I can manage driving myself.”

“What if you get sick while you’re behind the wheel?” Arlo shook his head. “It’s not a big deal for me.”

It was for Jonah. “I drove in this morning with no issue. I’m just going to go home and rest.”

He hurried past Arlo, eager to gather his belongings and make it to his car before the guy… Before he did what? Strong-armed Jonah into his car?

As Jonah reached the back exit, he heard Arlo calling out his name. He ignored it and kept going. Once outside, Jonah sprinted to his car, jumped in, and took off, catching a glimpse of Arlo exiting the building as he pulled out of the parking lot.

What in the hell was going on? Arlo had a ton of issues, but he’d never displayed any signs of being a stalker. Yet now, out of nowhere, he was suddenly concerned and considerate—two qualities he had never shown during their relationship.

When Jonah made it home, instead of leaving his car in the driveway, he pulled into the attached garage and closed the overhead door.

“I’m not overreacting, right?” he asked himself.

Kijani’s cruiser hadn’t been in the driveway when Arlo had dropped by, when Kijani had been in his wolf form on Jonah’s living room floor. Arlo must have driven by Jonah’s house at some point and noticed the car parked there.

Or maybe every time the cruiser was parked there.

“Shit, he has been stalking me.” Jonah got out and hurried inside the house, making sure his doors and all his windows were locked, wondering if he would ever feel safe inside his home again.

He paced, searching his memory in an attempt to recall anything that stood out in his relationship with Arlo, any unnerving moments he might have dismissed at the time.

Nothing came to mind.

Had Arlo’s sudden focus on him only started recently, or had it been building since their breakup? Wait. What if Arlo had watched Jonah when he’d been dating Flint?

But there was a two-month gap between Arlo and Flint where Jonah hadn’t been seeing anyone.

If Arlo had been stalking him, wouldn’t he have tried to rekindle things with him during that time?

“How am I supposed to know?” he said to himself in exasperation. “It’s not like I’m an expert on stalkers.”

But maybe Kijani was. Jonah reached for his phone, only to find it wasn’t in his pocket. It was probably still in the car. He headed past his front windows to retrieve it but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Arlo pull the mail truck into his driveway.

Jonah hit the floor, cursing himself for leaving the blinds open. When you lock your house up tight, close the blinds, moron.

A moment later, the doorbell rang. Jonah rolled to the wall under the windows and held his breath. His heart nearly gave out when he heard the doorknob being jiggled.

As much as Jonah loathed to admit it, Flint had been right when he’d said there was something off about Arlo. How fucked up were things when his abuser was right about his stalker?

“You just need to get to your phone to call your guard dog…guard wolf,” he muttered softly.

Jonah was afraid to lift up a little to see if Arlo was gone, so he decided to inchworm his way to his garage. Thank goodness his front door lacked any kind of glass. But he would still have to be careful. If Arlo looked through the front windows, he would be able to see him once he was close to his garage door.

It was a chance Jonah had to take. There was no telling when Arlo would leave, and Jonah wasn’t going to stay stuck under his windows.

He flipped to his stomach and inched forward like he was some soldier belly-crawling in the trenches. Now would be a good time for his nosy neighbors to call the police about a suspicious guy on Jonah’s porch.

Unfortunately, they’d seen Arlo plenty of times while Jonah had been dating him. They wouldn’t think anything of him being on the porch.

They’d probably even wave to him with a smile.

As he inched along, Jonah reminded himself to be very quiet so Arlo wouldn’t know he was home.

Jonah’s head shot up when he heard the faint sound of his phone ringing. He looked toward the windows, praying Arlo had already left.

The doorbell rang again. “I just called you and heard your phone ringing,” Arlo said through the door. “Seriously, Jonah? You’re that pissed about my concern for you?”

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