Page 174 of Bodyguard By Night

I gripped her hands.

“Oh, God. You’re not dying or something?”

I hoped not. “I have a cyber stalker that turned into something more real life.”

The brightness dimmed. “No. Not again.” Her big bluebell eyes filled. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I wish I understood it.”

“Does Clay know?”

I shook my head. “We were trying to handle it quietly. I thought it was just a creep. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten used to them by doing the influencer thing.”

“Aw, Wil. I could strangle you. Why didn’t you come to us?”

“I didn’t want to ruin the wedding.”

“Who cares about my wedding, you’re my sister.” She threw her arms around me and knocked me back against the window.

I hugged her back. “I know. I had this guy in the front. And some help from his friends.”

She shifted back to her side of the car as I explained about the trip to Manhattan and Aidan as well as Ransom’s idiotic plan to put himself in the target zone instead of me.

Rachel slapped Ransom in the shoulder. “Why didn’t you convince her that she could come to us?”

Ransom scrunched up his shoulders. “Hey, I agreed with her. You both finally deserved some happiness. And we thought it was just some random guy going over the line. It ended up being a hacker.”

“What? We have to turn around the car and talk to Clay about this.”

“We will.” I covered her hand. “I’m calling a family meeting tonight. There’s more.”

“How could you not tell me? I’m not some fragile flower, dammit. Not anymore.”

“Oh, honey. That wasn’t why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to tell anyone. It felt like Jason all over again, only so much worse because there was no face to go with the creep factor.”

I hadn’t actually voiced that before and Ransom’s gaze shot to the rearview mirror. A muscle throbbed visibly in his jaw and his hands were doing their grip-tear-off-the-wheel thing.

I leaned across the back of the seat and lightly drew my nails through his hair along the nape of his neck.

Rachel’s eyebrows shot up. “So, this is really a thing?” She looked over her shoulder. “I keep expecting a camera to appear because I’m on reality television or something.

I snorted as I relaxed into my seat. “Yeah, I love the idiot.”

“Thanks, babe.” His voice was wry.

“The one good thing that came out of this.”

“So, I guess you haven’t been sleeping in the attic?” Rachel crossed her arms.

“No, mom. I definitely haven’t been sleeping…in the attic.”

“Gross.” She punched me in the arm.

“Look who’s talking.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s catchy. But why do I think you’re still not telling me something?” She pushed some of her hair out of her face from the rolled down windows.

While I was in storytelling mode, I hadn’t noticed we’d driven into Crescent Cove proper. Ransom turned into the parking lot for Brewed Awakening because he was a very smart and intuitive guy.

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