Page 17 of Fearless Bond

“Don’t. I’ll wait for you here. It’s just a few days.”

“Can I talk to the dude?”

I glanced in the direction of the kitchen. I did find grumpy Barclay extraordinarily safe, but I couldn’t see him sounding reassuring to Laure. “That would be weird.”

“If you don’t let me talk to him, I’m sending a rescue party. Your choice.”

Shit.

“I’ll call you back.”

“You have ten minutes.”

I sighed and shuffled to the kitchen. Barclay was heating something in a pot on the stove. For the umpteenth time, it hit me how huge he was. The roomy kitchen looked like a doll house around him.

He glanced up when I entered. “How did it go?”

“My friend, Laurel, he’s worried about me. He’ll pick me up in three or four days because he can’t come earlier.”

Barclay frowned. “You can stay here until he comes. It’s not like I don’t have enough space.”

“Thank you. I was hoping I could stay with you. Laure wants to send his people to keep an eye on me.”

“Why? If your ex appears, the entire town has my back. Tell your friend not to send anyone.”

“Um. He doesn’t… He doesn’t trust my judgment.”

Barclay raised his eyebrows as he wiped his hands on a kitchen towel.

“That’s not nice of him,” he stated, his expression stony. He folded his beefy arms across his chest, and his pecs bulged. He was a freaking beast. Um. I shouldn’t stare at him like this.

I needed to explain. Hopefully, Barclay wouldn’t think I was crazy.

“Laure means well. See, I have these attacks, and they can get really bad. Like a while ago? They start like that, like I can’t breathe. But they can get worse. Much worse. Sometimes… often… I need help. Medication, calming exercises, someone to look after me. Laure makes me feel safe, but he’s busy. He has concerts and travels a lot…”

“You mean Laurel… Riley? The Laurel Riley?” Barclay whistled.

“Yes, but that’s beside the point. He worries about me. He says he wants to talk to you, or he’ll send a rescue party to come get me.”

“And you don’t want that to happen.”

“Too many people. Strangers. I’d rather wait here with you if that’s okay. I feel calm here. I haven’t been anxious at all, not until you said you saw Damian in town. And even then, I calmed down quickly…” God, I was inviting myself into this man’s home. But he’d already said I could stay. “I can pay you.”

Barclay snorted at the mention of money, then jerked his chin to the phone in my hand. “Call Mr. Riley, and I’ll talk to him.”

“Thank you.”

He watched as I fumbled with my phone until I found Laure in my recent contacts. This time, he picked up immediately.

“Yeah?”

“Laure, Barclay says you can talk to him.”

“Good. Give him to me.”

I handed the phone to Barclay who put it to his ear.

“Hello, Mr. Riley. Great pleasure. Uh-huh.” And he winked at me. I was stunned by that little wink. As if dark stormy clouds broke apart for a second and a ray of sunlight made it through. Then Barclay frowned again and began pacing. “I’m aware. Calvin explained it to me.” A pause. “He can stay in my guest room. If he goes to a hotel or the B&B in town, they can find him… Yes. Exactly… I understand. I do. I would be worried as well… No. Not at all… You have people working for you, right? Security and PR, assistants, and all that circus. How about I send you a copy of my ID, and you have someone run a background check?” I stared at Barclay with my mouth gaping. He would do that for me? “I understand. Yes. I’ll do that. Thank you, Mr. Riley. Have a nice day.”

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