Page 50 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

“Yeah, yeah, assholes,”Jackmuttered, making us laugh even harder. “Right.What’sthe latest with my sister and her asshole stalker?Yousaid something about a new plan.”

“There was an incident yesterday with a letter from him,”Iexplained. “It’sclear he’s getting angry and escalating, so we’re going to use that to our advantage and try to catch him so we can finish this.”

“Legally,”Archerinterjected. “Withcops and restraining orders and such,”Archerinterrupted.

I rolled my eyes, and so didVince.Clearly, we were open to other,non-legaloptions thatArchermay not be.Wefilled him in about the letter and how she was holding up, plus all the latest information we had on him, before we laid out the plan.

“We’re moving her car back to the parking lot tomorrow, with the tracker in the original spot, and position the car right in front of the pub so it’s visible,”Vincesaid. “Thehope isRupniktracks the car and takes notice, and we’ll be ready.”

“Tomorrow night?”Jackasked, seemingly shocked it was so soon. “Guys, can we hold off till the end of the week instead?”

“The pub is slowest onTuesdays, so we’ll be dealing with the fewest number of people nearby,”Iclarified.

“Look,I’mnot asking we wait weeks.I’djust like to actually be in my own apartment a few days and not be completely jet-lagged for this,”Jackargued.

“Jack,”Archercut in. “WhileI’mpretty sure the letter itself was delivered from a local homeless guy,Rupnik’sobviously in town and saw her to know she was working last night,”Archerexplained to him. “Wedon’t want to give him too much time to think or plan anything out.Igot a guyIknow on the force here.Heand his partner are gonna come have dinner in plain clothes at the pub tomorrow on us, so we also have a police presence in case he shows and makes a scene.”

“Ellie works at night, but after we get the new guys onboarded and finish up a client call tomorrow afternoon, we’ll go down there and eat dinner and hang out at the pub until she is off for the night to have a presence in case he comes early,”Archerdetailed.

“I’m also going to help out at the bar with her andTammyso she’s got protection close by,”Iconveyed toJacksinceIknew he was going to be concerned about that.

“When she’s done with her shift, we’ll get her back upstairs and put her inWade’sapartment for the night,”Vincesaid and looked at me with a bit of warning to let me knowJackwas not going to like this.

“Why the hell would she stay withWade?”Jackasked. “I’llbe back and likely able to meet you all for dinner or shortly thereafter unless traffic makesVinceandIlate.Shecan keep staying in my apartment, andI’llwatch her.”

Vince’s gaze shifted to me, andIknew it had more to do with the fact that he knewIwas sleeping withEllieand hadn’t toldJack, but beforeIcould say anything toJack,Archerbroke in.

“Jack, it’sArcher.Hearme out on this.”Archerleaned closer to the phone and started to explain. “I’mworking on getting it fixed, but right now, your apartment is registered in your full name.Itwon’t take this guy much effort at all if he searches, or pays someone to search for him, to find out you live above the building.It’sgoing to be safer for her to stay close to you, but not that close.”

I calmed a little, knowingArchermade a great point thatIhadn’t thought of becauseIwas just being selfish in my reasoning.Idid want her staying with me for her safety, butIalso wanted her with me tonight becauseIneeded to finally tell her thatIwanted to make her mine.

“Ugh.Alright,”Jackconceded, begrudgingly.

We wrapped up our conversation with some more info about the two new hires, andVincegotJack’sflight info so he could pick him up from the airport tomorrow.

Ellie was off today and was trying to clean upJack’sapartment before he got back.Itexted her to tell herIwas taking her out to dinner tonight.Ineeded to have a conversation with her about us, butIalso realized that ifIwanted her to believe thatIwas ready to actually try doing the relationship thing, thatIneeded to treat it like that.ThatmeantIneeded to take her out on real dates and woo and charm her like real boyfriends did.

I finished up my work and headed upstairs to get ready.I’dmade reservations on the early side becauseIwanted to be able to come back here and watch a movie with her at my place.Ithad become kind of our routine when neither of us worked late, andIfoundIenjoyed it.

I walked across the hall and knocked onJack’sdoor.Yeah,Ihad a key, but again,Iwas trying to be all chivalrous and stuff, soIdecided to knock instead.

She opened the door wearing a blue dress that wasn’t fancy, but it suited her and matched her eyes perfectly.Theneckline cut down in the front, just enough to show me a little tease of cleavage, butIknew what those perfect breasts of hers looked like, andIfound myself fighting getting hard just looking at her.

I needed to focus.Boyfriendmode.Whatwould a good boyfriend do?

“You look very nice,Ellie,”Itold her asIresisted the urge to pick her up and take her right there on the floor next to her kitchen.

“Thanks.”Shesmiled at me. “Youlook pretty nice yourself.”Shelooked me up and down, interest clearly written on her face, making it even harder for me to control my dick.

“You ready?”Iasked her, realizing it was better to leave the apartment soIwasn’t tempted.

She grabbed her purse, and we made our way down to my car.Knowingthat asshole could still be around,Imade sure to give my surroundings an extra glance just in case but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Conversation in the car and at the restaurant was light but good.Weenjoyed each other’s company, andIrealized that having a woman who was beautiful, kind, easy to talk to, and who you enjoyed spending time with was not an easy find.Womenlike that were not a dime a dozen, making me realize even more how luckyIwas to have found her.

“Not thatI’mcomplaining…”Elliepushed her empty plate away from her. “Butwhy did you want to go out to a nice restaurant tonight?” she asked me with genuine interest in her eyes.

I realizedIdidn’t really explain my motives in my text and might need to spell it out more.Imight as well just lay all my cards on the table so she didn’t think this was just about me getting laid.

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