Page 41 of Forever Mine

“That you know of,” Wes added, “You could have spoken to him at a number of different places and not even realized it.”

“Besides, he’s escalating, honey,” Shauna added, “He may not have been violent toward you or Jay yet, but he vandalized property and was very threatening. I think we’d all feel better if you had some trained professionals keeping an eye on you.”

“It’s not overkill. You’re doing it,” I snapped, a little more harshly than I meant. Dakota raised an eyebrow at me, and there’d be hell to pay later, but I didn’t care. “Sorry,” I added because I did sound like an asshole. “I ain’t tryin’ to control you or anything, but I don’t know what I will do if somethin’ happens to you, sweetheart. I need you. I need you to stay safe. Please.”

Everyone was watching us, but I only had eyes for Dakota. He softened.

“Okay fine. I wasn’t going to say no anyway. I was just asking.”

We moved on after that and the conversation turned to who it could be. “Have you noticed anyone that seemed suspicious?” Wes asked, “Anyone who was where you didn’t expect them to be? Or maybe paid a little too much attention to you? Even just gave you a weird vibe?”

Dakota shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I see all kinds of people at the hospital, but no one that stood out or felt like they’d be stalking me.”

Something about his words tickled at the back of my brain. I zoned out, trying to place why that was important.

“The hospital!” I blurted out.

Everyone got quiet and looked at me. “Huh?” Declan asked, chiming in for the first time.

“What about that guy at the hospital?” I asked Kota.

He tilted his head in confusion. “What guy?”

“When we stopped to get your wallet? You were talkin’ to some guy, and he was botherin’ you.”

It took Dakota a second to place who I was talking about, but then his eyes widened. “Oh yeah, the grocery store guy. There’s no way it was him though. I think he’s just lonely.” Which made him even a more likely suspect, but I stayed quiet. I was pretty sure Kota was still annoyed at me for snapping at him, I wasn’t gonna make it worse.

“What grocery store guy?” Patrick asked.

Kota waved his hand. “He’s a cashier at the store by you. Fuck, I can’t remember his name. It’s something really basic. Joe. Dave. No, John, I think? I don’t know. He was visiting his mom who had hip surgery and ran into me. It was no big deal.”

It seemed like Wes didn’t agree. “What else can you tell me about him? What does he look like? What’s the name of the store? Did he mention his mom’s name?”

Wes continued to grill Dakota, who didn’t have many answers. Even his parents couldn’t place the guy and theywere at the store a few times a week. Kota was sure we were being paranoid, but I didn’t agree. Kota was really fuckin’ uncomfortable. If that guy had still been there by the time I got in, I woulda confronted him. I didn’t fuckin’ like it.

Eventually, Wes left, and Beckett and Ri went with them, after much persuasion. They agreed to stay with Wes, and Declan offered for us to stay with him for a few days. I wasn’t happy with that idea, but everyone felt more comfortable. If he knew where I worked and Kota lived, it made sense he’d know where I lived too. Obviously, this couldn’t last forever, but I think Wes was lowkey hoping Luca came back and could get better security on us or figure out who this fucker was.

After they left, Patrick and Shauna agreed to drive us to get Dakota’s car and then to the police station. Dakota and I sat together in the back seat holding hands.

“I’m sorry for snappin’ earlier,” I whispered in his ear.

He just smiled softly. “It’s okay. I get it. I’d probably do the same if it was you questioning it.” Relieved he wasn’t still mad, I brought him to my chest. We stayed that way all the way to the hospital, and then even as he drove to the police station, with Shauna and Patrick following us, we kept physical contact. I couldn’t bring myself to be more than a few feet from Kota. I had no idea what I was gonna do when we had to work.

Did I mention how much I hated being in a police station? I fuckin’ hate it. Even when I wasn’t a suspect, they did an amazing job of making me feel like I’m one. It didn’t help that the officer who took my statement had arrested me a few times before. He recognized me immediately, which was fuckin’ ridiculous, honestly. I hadn’t gotten picked up in nearly fiveyears, and it was for petty shit. Didn’t Officer Dumbass have bigger and badder people to worry about than me? ’Course the last time I dealt with him I spit in his face, so maybe that was why. But the fucker put hands on Riley, who had nothing to do with anything. I wasn’t gonna let that slide.

Anyway, Officer Dumbass was not cooperative, and I almost lost my shit when the fucker suggested that I destroyed my own car to cover my tracks and I was the one stalking Dakota.

Luckily, I avoided trouble because Shauna was the one who lost her cool and went absolutely feral on the officer. To the point that Patrick had to escort her out so they didn’t arrest her. I was grinning ear to ear and feeling kind of special that she protected me like that.

The cops calmed down after that too. They even got a much more neutral officer, who didn’t look like he’d take personal enjoyment in seeing me behind bars, to finish our statements. I doubted they were taking it too seriously, but they let us file reports for both incidents, and I guess at that point, that was the most I could hope for. We didn’t even ask for protection, since Wes said he’d handle that. I was exhausted after we left though, and was ready for a fucking nap. But since we had no clothes or anything at Declan’s, we first had to go toDakota’s apartment to grab some stuff. I had enough there to last a few days and avoid a second trip. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did when Patrick and Shauna escorted us to Dakota’s place too. I wasn’t sure what they thought they could do to protect their son that I couldn’t, but I had to admit that Patrick could probably hold his own. He looked like he was a brawler back in the day. And Shauna was tough as nails. I’d be a little scared to meet her in a back alley. Okay, so maybe it was good they were coming.

I think we were all a little relieved when we got to Kota’s door and there were no surprises and it looked undisturbed. “If you see anything at all that looks off, make sure you take a picture ofit so we can add it to the report and tell Wes,” Shauna reminded us as Dakota pulled out the key.

I was probably bordering on too protective, but I couldn’t help myself when I grabbed the key out of his hand, opened the door, and entered first. I could practically hear Kota’s eye roll, but he didn’t stop me.

My hand was on my knife the whole fuckin’ time as we walked through the place. I stayed one step in front of Dakota and his family, and took in every detail. Were those shoes left under the coffee table or were they moved? Did we really forget to put the cereal box away? I questioned every little thing, but nothing was obviously different. Finally deciding that the psycho hadn’t broken in, especially since the cameras were all still active and not tampered with, we both quickly packed a bag, anxious to get outta there. Which fuckin’ sucked. Kota’s place was starting to feel like home. It was his safe place, and now it wasn’t. How could we feel safe knowing that asshole not only knew where he lived but was listening in? Wes said he’d check for recording devices, and I couldn’t wait till we got some answers. I didn’t like waiting.

We finally were done and made it back to Declan’s place. He had work, so once Shauna and Patrick left, we were alone.

---