Page 28 of Montana Heat

“That’s a shit-ton of stuff to be isolated.”

She let out a sigh. “I’ll never forget an officer explaining that sometimes bad luck just happened. And that just because it did, it didn’t mean someone was after me.”

“This was definitely more than bad luck.”

“Finally, later in the month, I came home and found my house door ajar. The whole place was trashed.” Kenzie cleared herthroat. “The words GET OUT were painted across the walls in blood. I’ll never forget that.”

Blood? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That was some next-level shit. “That had to have been terrifying.”

“I found out it was animal blood, but still…” Her lower lip trembled.

I edged closer, fighting the urge to put my arm around her. She slid toward me, though, leaning into my side.

That felt good.Right. I didn’t want to think about it too deeply, just wanted to lend my support.

“I went back to the police, and they still dismissed me. Said it was a Halloween prank. But my mom and dad told me to go to another station. My friends came with me, adamant that someone listen, and that’s when we were put in touch with Detective Watters. He looked at it all as a whole and agreed I was definitely in danger.”

“Finally.”

“I couldn’t go back to my place, but he advised me to lie low elsewhere. I floated between my friends’ houses and my parents’, but that was risky too. I didn’t want my friends or family to be targeted, so I switched to hotels and bounced around, trying to stay under the radar. And messages were coming nearly every day. Every single time I got on my computer, I had emails and messages from the stalker.”

The tremor in her voice and dejected slump of her shoulders told me how much this was costing her. She was on the verge of tears.

All I could think of was that I wanted to protect her. To do whatever she needed to help get her through this. Knowing we were opposites or that things couldn’t ever work out between us had no effect on the need.

It was instinct, plain and simple. And I didn’t have the first inclination to fight it or even try to understand it better.

“So, you came here,” I said.

She nodded. “Detective Watters knew Charlie and thought my getting out of town would be a shake-up of sorts. That the stalker would make some sort of mistake or do something that would give us a clue as to who it is.”

We were still touching, so I didn’t move. I wanted the connection between us. “Some of the guys at Resting Warrior are looking into it too. Jude is pretty impressive when it comes to computer stuff.”

She let out a sigh. “The cops didn’t find anything useful when they tried to dig into the stalker’s online footprint.”

“Yeah, well, Jude isn’t restricted by stuff like Miranda rights and chains of evidence. If there’s something to be found, he’ll find it.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “I just want this to be over.”

“I know it has wreaked havoc in every part of your life. If it’s okay, the Resting Warrior guys and I are going to take turns keeping an eye on you and around here. I’ll make sure you meet everyone so you recognize them.”

She pulled away, and I had to tamp down my disappointment. “You guys don’t have to do all of this.”

“That detective sent you to Garnet Bend for a reason. Part of it was because he knows Charlie, but it was also because of Resting Warrior, I’m sure. We take care of our own.”

“But I’m not one of your own.”

I winked at her—actuallywinkedat her; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that to anyone. If the guys could see me now, they’d harass me to no end.

“Consider yourself temporarily adopted, City.”

“City.” She smiled softly, like she liked the impromptu nickname. And damned if that didn’t make all sorts of different parts of me sit up and take notice. “Okay,thank you.”

“I’ll get your car fixed.” I tapped the hood lightly. “Nothing that was tampered with will be a problem.”

She reached out and squeezed my hand. I felt the same electricity I had that first day we’d touched. “Thank you for that too.”

“You’re probably going to get sick of having people around you so much, but after what the stalker tried with your car, we don’t want to leave anything to chance. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

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