Page 50 of Mine to Keep

“Matt, maybe you should stay here until this is over.”

“What?” I nearly choked on my water. “That’s crazy.”

“Why is that crazy? We have an extra room; you’d have privacy. This way the police can do their thing, and we can do ours. Knowing you’re safe will put everyone’s mind at ease and the focus on your insane stalker.”

“JJ, I can’t, for so many reasons.”

JJ sat back and folded his arms over his chest. I smiled at the fact that he did it without wincing.

“Tell me your reasons.”

“Look at you, JJ. You did that without making a face. You’re coming so far.”

“Nope. I won’t be sidetracked by your praise. Speak.”

I rolled my eyes. “First, you’re my client.”

“Who you lived with for like five months already so it’s notnotallowed.”

Damn. “But I signed off on that, so I’d have to explain my move to my boss.”

JJ snorted. “We aren’t talking about full-on living here, just while all of this is going on. Would your boss even know?”

“Also, Nick. I don’t know what’s going on with us but whatever it is, it’s new. This could destroy it before it even begins.”

JJ waved a hand at me. “Preposterous. Next.”

“I like my own space. This house is amazing, and you have a lot to do here, but it’s not mine.”

JJ sighed. “Where you are isn’t safe, Matt. They got to you in the garage; they could figure out a way to get into your apartment.”

I’d thought about that, but I didn’t want to be run out of my own home. Was my stubbornness my worst enemy right now? Maybe, but I wasn’t weak and I wasn’t going to just run and hide. “Thank you for the offer, JJ, but I’m going to pass for now. If I truly fear for my life, I will remember this.”

I could see his disappointment, but he nodded curtly. “I can’t force you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you could.”

I was happy when he laughed.

“Massage time.”

That ended the conversation, and the remainder of our session was filled with JJ telling me all the new treats Saintly Sweets was making next week. That, of course, had me promising to stop by.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nick

Noel was helpingme run background checks on the list of people Matt gave me. Problem was, it took time. Doing the easy search of criminal records, grievances, and workplace citations wasn’t the part that took a while—it was the other things. Issues that were never filed with the police or at work. Like clubs that had blacklisted them, and the only place to locate that would be in their systems.

Stalkers weren’t always obvious people. Sometimes it was someone with no priors, winner of most respectful human or some shit. It was a person that one day saw someone and fixated. It was believed that stalkers had a pattern, but that wasn’t really true. They’d gone out with someone and broken it off, and they’d become obsessed. It might have never been the case for them until now.

Those little details were the hardest part. Not easy to build a profile and find enough proof that would stick.

“Did you see the bagger bike on the garage footage?” Noel spun in his chair. On top of what we had in our privatebedrooms, we had an office that was dedicated to all of our “tech shit,” as Angel liked to call it. This way multiple people could work at the same time.

“No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t used. I just couldn’t pick it up on any footage.”

“We gotta get better cameras.”

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