Page 41 of Beautifully Used
Click.
My heart pounded in my chest. I didn’t know who would be calling me and saying those things. I thought of Jeff. I suppose it was possible, but how would he know where I was? My hands were shaking as I checked the number. It was blocked. My eyes welled up with tears and I was suddenly overcome with fear. Fear that it was Jeff or someone from my past. Could it be? After all these years? I shook my head. That was preposterous. Spying on me? Away from home? Whoever it was had to have followed me down here.
“Gabrielle?” Brodie’s voice sounded urgent, filled with concern. I turned to look at him, still clutching the phone in my hand. He walked over to me. His jeans hanging low on his waist, revealing the awesome v cut below his stomach. His chest as well as his feet were bare. Once again illuminating that Greek god appearance the way his hair fell over his forehead, damp with a slight curl. “What’s wrong? I called you four times and you didn’t answer me.”
He had? “I guess I didn’t hear you.” I glanced down at the cell phone.
“What happened?”
I handed him the phone. He took it, his eyebrows knitting closer together. “What?”
“Someone just called me.”
“Who?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Well, baby, what did they say?”
Darting my eyes to his at the “baby” comment, trying to refocus on the phone call, I shook my head. “They said… um… they called me a slut and said that I couldn’t hide from them. That they were always watching.”
“What? That’s crazy! Wait, do you think it was Jeff?”
“I thought that, but how would he know I was down here?”
“Did he say he saw you here?”
“Well, no. Not exactly. He said he was always watching though, and that I was a slut. I just wondered, why now? Why right after you and I … whoever it was must have seen us.”
Brodie came to me and took me in his arms. He pulled me close, stroking my head gently with his hand. “I doubt whoever that was, saw us. Even if he’d heard that we were coming down here for this gig, I seriously doubt the bastard would waste his time and money to follow us. Besides, we never told anybody where we were staying. Derrick knows, but he also knows not to give that information out to anybody. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he called after we’d kissed on the beach.”
The knock on the door startled me and I flinched in his embrace. “That’s just room service. I’ll get it.”
After the waiter wheeled in the cart and set up the table with the food, Brodie tipped him and let him out. The burgers looked yummy. Plump and juicy.
Brodie pulled out a chair for me to sit. “Don’t worry about it right now. Whoever it was can’t possibly find you. When we get home, I’ll check into it.”
I sat down, but didn’t move; only stared at the hamburger.
“Gabrielle, please don’t let this get to you. The guy’s a douchebag. I’ll make a call after we eat and let Jackson know. I’ll also call Doc and ask him to check to see if the jerk is still around up there. Will that help?”
I nodded, gave him a weak smile and smothered my hamburger and French fries with ketchup.
“Whoa, honey.” Brodie laughed.
“What?” I eyed him over the top of the hamburger I was taking a bite out of.
“Have a little hamburger with your ketchup, why don’t ya? For a girl who won’t eat green sauces, you sure make up for it with ketchup.”
“Oh. A hamburger’s not worth eating without ketchup, and as for the French fries, well, let’s just not go there.” I grinned.
“How about mustard?”
“I like mustard.”
“But it’s green.”
“Technically, regular mustard is yellow. It’s the other variations that have a greenish tint to them. I don’t eat those.”
