Page 122 of Bodyguard By Night

The response to my smaller daily stories was outrageous. Along with getting tons of reshares, comments from people trying to figure out who Ransom was dominated my replies. People had even created edits to find the mystery man who made me laugh.

Had my impetuous move been a mistake?

You didn’t want to bring any of this home to your family, so instead you bring it all back to Ransom’s doorstep?

True, it had ultimately been his decision to protect me, but he’d been anonymous before. Not any longer, thanks to me.

My fingers shook as my gaze blurred on one of my direct messages. This one was fromwillowsheart611.

“What’s wrong?’

I turned. Ransom was in full-on work mode—his face impassive, his eyes flat gray and emotionless. “Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that shit, Chaos. Your shoulders are so tight I could see it from the stairs.”

I didn’t even bother reading the message. The damage was done, anyway.

I handed him my phone then went to the fridge for the pitcher of water he kept at the ready. My hand only shook slightly as I pulled down a glass.

“Fuck.” He pulled out his phone and typed something.

I heard the chimes from the chat program Poe had put on my phone. His fingers flew over my screen, his jaw tightening with every tap.

Slowly, I drank the water, hoping it would help my parched throat. Suddenly, Poe’s voice came through the speaker, filling the kitchen.

“I’ve got him. But the IP address is rerouted through a dozen servers. I’m pretty sure this fucker isn’t in Alaska or Germany. Dammit, I can’t follow him.”

“Isn’t he live right now?” Ransom’s voice was tight and harsh.

“He is, but he’s a smart fucker. I’m smarter.” Poe’s voice lit with excitement.

My fingers tightened on the glass as they played cat and mouse with someone. I didn’t even know if it was the same guy who was doing all of this. Maybe it was just one more person who thought it would be fun to get in my head.

It was working.

The glass rattled as I set it down. I fisted my hands and did the breathing trick Ransom had taught me when we were on the patio at Aidan’s.

Before I could do two repetitions, he was at my back, his strong arm looped around my middle to drag me against his warm body.

“Is it him?”

“I don’t know.”

I covered his arm with my hand. “I’m okay.”

“Glad one of us is. I want to rip his spine out through his nose.”

A shaky laugh bubbled out. The dark and rather graphic violence should have scared me, but it was good to know I wasn’t overreacting. Then again, Ransom was the king of the overkill mindset. “I know the internet is full of creeps. In my head, I know it.” My eyes stung as I swallowed down the lump trying to strangle me. “All I want to do is help people.” My voice was scarcely a whisper and I hated it.

Hated that I’d gone so quickly from playfulness to happy orgasm glow to worry to fear.

“Get angry, babe. Angry is better than scared.”

I swallowed again. “You’re right.” I pushed his arm away to stalk to the kitchen island where my phone was. I could still hear Poe tapping away through the speaker. “Poe?”

“Yeah?” Her voice seemed distracted.

“What could I do to draw him out?”

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