Page 50 of Blame It On The Carols

Patrick stood in front of me and my mom with his gun drawn and aimed in front of him.

A few minutes later, Tony came out with a man I’d seen plenty of times before handcuffed in front of him.

“Sean?” I asked, stepping out from behind Patrick before his body immediately blocked mine again. I squinted to try to see better, barely recognizing him with the full beard and long, shaggy hair.

“Stand back,” Patrick commanded, his weapon still aimed as Tony and Sean moved through the living room.

“What in the world is going on? Sean isn’t a threat. He runs my fan club,” I insisted, trying to get past Patrick so I could explain to them that they had the wrong guy.

But then it immediately hit me that there wasn’t any reason for Sean to be in my mother’s house.

It had been a while since I’d seen Sean, given that he moved two years ago and was now working remotely. Curtis took over managing him, which meant there wasn’t a need for me to be involved anymore. My heart sank when I realized that my issues with a stalker started shortly after Sean had left.

The rest of the security team came out, two of them assisting Brock, who had a bloody face. They helped him to the recliner and then stood guard beside him.

I covered my mouth and looked up at Sean with more tears filling my eyes.

“They weren’t going to let us be together,” he said, shaking his head. “I was your biggest fan, and you never even noticed. You don’t care about your fans or anyone other than yourself.”

“That’s not true,” I objected, my mind racing as I struggled to put all the pieces together of what was happening.

“It is, and you know it. I’ve done everything for you, Makayla. Everything!” he shouted, making me jump back behind Patrick. “You’re so caught up in yourself that you didn’t even see that I was in love with you. I tried to tell you, but you blew me off so many times. I didn’t get your attention until I pretended to be someone else.”

“Kevin,” I whispered, shaking my head, the reality of it sinking in.

“Yeah. And even then, he still wasn’t good enough for you. You had to come back to this hell hole and crawl back to your stupid ex-boyfriend. He didn’t care enough to make things work the first time. What makes you think he will now?”

“That’s enough out of you,” Tony said, shoving him forward as the sheriff took him into custody.

“I love you, Makayla! One way or another, I will be with you!”

His voice floated outside before the door slammed shut. Patrick secured his weapon in its holster and then turned to me and my mom.

“Are you two alright?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head, though I was pretty shaken up. “She has a cut on her head, so someone needs to tend to that.”

“We have medics on the way,” one of the officers from the sheriff’s department answered.

I followed my mom over to the couch and sat down as officers and my security team rushed around us. They were securing the scene and collecting evidence, so we sat there, out of the way. Brock sat across from us, holding a towel against his forehead where a massive cut was bleeding.

“I am so sorry,” I said with a sob. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“This isn’t your fault, honey,” my mom assured me, squeezing my hand gently.

“Yes, it is. If it weren’t for me, Kev—Sean wouldn’t have come here and hurt you guys. I mean, look at poor Brock. Are you sure we can’t do something for you until the paramedics get here? That looks pretty bad.”

“I’m fine,” he said, waving me off. “I told them I could suture it myself in the bathroom, but they refused to let me. So now I’m just applying pressure to stop the bleeding until someone else can do it for me. It’s honestly not as bad as it looks. A couple of stitches, and I’ll be back to normal.”

“How did he even get in here?” I asked, turning to where Patrick was talking to the other guys on my security detail with an iPad in front of them.

“He was able to disable the cameras somehow. That’s why no one saw him enter the house. The guys watching the house were monitoring the front and back door since the cameras should have caught any motion along the side of the house. It appears he came in through a window in the guest room.”

“Where I was supposed to be staying,” I said quietly. “I left the stupid window open because I was hot that first night I got here. I closed it but didn’t bother to lock it because it always sticks, and I didn’t want it to wake you up. Plus, there’s never any crime in Sugarplum Falls.” I rubbed my hands over my eyes and shook my head in frustration.

“You didn’t know any of this was going to happen,” my mom continued, rubbing my back soothingly. “We all tried to be as prepared as possible, but at least now they caught him. He can’t bother you anymore, Makayla. All of that is over now.”

I lifted my head and let my shoulders fall as I exhaled a heavy breath. Just then, Aiden came flying through the door, eyes wide as he searched the room for me.

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