Page 23 of Mine to Keep

“This is certainly more wrong than serious. You’ve found nothing, Nick, and you’re surveilling maybe an innocent person and listening in on Matt’s Ring convos. You’re tracking a maybe stalker by being one.”

I tried convincing myself that wasn’t true, but deep down I knew it was. “I got a feeling, Noel. Something isn’t right with this.”

“This past week, has he received any new packages at his door?”

I shook my head. “I think the Ring camera put a stop to that; it’s why there was a note on his car.”

“Since the car note, anything else?”

I ran my fingers through my hair tugging at the ends. “I don’t know because I haven’t asked. He’s said nothing, and regardless of what you think, I’m not following him around.”

Noel lifted a hand. “Okay, chill. So, what do you want to do?”

“He said he didn’t want help right now. I’m trying to respect that.”

He snorted and motioned to my computer. “No, you’re not.”

“You’d do the same thing.”

Noel’s nostrils flared, and I could tell he wanted to argue but I understood my brother, and that went both ways.

“Maybe I would. But, Nick, you’ve done all you can for Matt. If he needs help, he’ll ask for it.” He gently kicked my leg. “We all agreed when we decided we’d help people who needed it and couldn’t get it anywhere else, it would be because they asked for it or like in Four’s case, left us no choice. That said, it always gets a vote. You either stop this or take it to a family meeting.”

I wanted to be mad at him, but he wasn’t wrong. “Fine. I’ll back off.”

“If Matt gets in trouble he’ll reach out to us or the police, but the choice has to be his.”

“And if some psycho takes him? If I’m not watching, we won’t know. And he won’t be able to ask for it.”

“If—and that’s a big fuckin’ if—that happens, we vote and deal with it…as a family.”

That was our deal. If there was an issue that had the potential to be dangerous but would help someone who was in a bad way, we voted. Majority would win. I knew in my heart if I brought it to the table, it would be a unanimous yes. However, as it stood, there wasn’t enough to go on, and Matt had specifically asked for no help right now.

“Fine.”

“Good.” Noel stood. “You’re teaching for the next two days they’re scheduled. Gabe actually did pretty great with tracker location today. We may have found his strength.”

“Well, we have JJ and if Gabe can do that, it’s better than nothing.”

He chuckled. “It’s Friday. Mason is picking the movie, and Shep ordered Thai.”

“I’ll be right out.”

Once Noel left, I took one more peek at the Ring camera, and nothing. I put my computer in sleep mode and joined my family for movie night.

The entire weekI’d planned to hack into Matt’s Ring camera and basically stare at it, waiting for someone or something that would tell me who the fuck was doing this. But every time I went to do it another thing came up. An alert for something I was watching or waiting on, an email that led me inevitably nowhere, but I was too stubborn not to follow any and all possibilities. I slept when I could and not for very long. By Friday I was itching to check the Ring footage, but Matt hadn’t reached out and I wasn’t going to be another creeper in his life.

After working with Angel on Friday afternoon, I needed a drink. In the kitchen, Matt and JJ were sitting and talking. The second I stepped in they quieted, and that wasn’t suspicious at all.

“What?”

“Nothing,” JJ said at the same time as Matt responded, “Huh?”

I narrowed my eyes and opened my beer. I didn’t look away as I took a few gulps, and neither did they. Thing was, I knew JJ, and he was tapping his fingers on the table.

“You’re lying.”

“Am not, how dare you!” JJ snapped, and I grinned. “Fuck. I was fidgeting, wasn’t I?”

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