"Well, you know I'm a call or text away. Elliott and I will be in the next district over. I'll have one of the guys drive bytonight?"
"No, Parker, it's not necessary." I knew I was preaching to the choir. He would do whatever it took to make me feelsafe.
"I'll come by after I get off shift. We can go for breakfast in the morning." He gave me a final squeeze and headed to the frontdoor.
Taking my spare key from the drawer I placed it in his hand. "Just come in when you get off shift." I reached up and gave him a soft kiss. "See you in the morning." He walked to his truck, waving as he backed out of thedriveway.
As soon as Parker was gone, I walked back into my bedroom. A chill ran through my body just being in there alone. I kept feeling as if Dean was standing behind me. I wouldn't be able to sleep on these sheets or with these blankets until they wereclean.
Quickly, I stripped everything and separated the loads. After everything was in the wash, I filled a bucket with hot water and went in to mop the floors. Funny as it was, I could still smell Dean in the room even after everything had beencleaned.
I continued throughout the house, washing all the floors. Finally, the silence was getting to me, so I turned the radio on and filled the house with happy music. Once the loads of wash were switched, I headed to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. It was already four, and I was starving. Parker had started at two and was only two hours into his twelve-hour shift. Opening the fridge, I realized after I ate, a trip to the market would be inorder.
It was such a beautiful afternoon that I decided to walk to the market. The wind off the bay was cool and soothing after all the hard work I had done. Bags in hand, I turned the outside light on and locked the door. Taking a look around, I started off in the direction of the market. I noticed a black car parked on the opposite side of the road. It looked as if someone was sitting in the driver’s seat. I took a deep breath. I needed to stop being paranoid. He was injail.
Ten minutes later, I walked into the market’s parking lot. I headed inside and grabbed some groceries—not too much, just enough to be able to carry home and feed me until I could do a proper shop. I paid for my sale and headed home. Walking out of the market, I saw the same black car sitting across the parking lot. This time, there was definitely someone sitting in the frontseat.
I kept my eye on the car and could feel my heart start to race. Taking a deep breath, I focused on getting home. Why hadn't I driven? After walking a little way up the road, I checked back over my shoulder. The car was pulling out of the parking lot and headed in mydirection.
"It’s all in your head. The guy probably had to go to the store," I told myself. I reached into my pocket to text Parker and realized at that moment I had left my cell phone on my charger. "Shit.” I picked up mypace.
Breathless with anxiety, I walked up my driveway and looked back over my shoulder. There parked on the side of the road across the street was the very car with the same silhouette of a man sitting in the driver’sseat.
I started to shake and had a hard time getting the key into the lock. Once inside, I shut and locked the front door, dropped the groceries, and slid down the door. Pulling my knees into my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and started tocry.
As soon as I finally pulled myself together, I grabbed my phone and dialed Parker’s number. It went to voicemail, so I tried Elliott—same thing. They were both busy. I typed out a text to both of them and got up off the floor. When I checked across the street, the car wasgone.
"You’re being crazy. He is in jail," I said aloud tomyself.
I pulled the blind closed on the window over the sink anyway and put away the few things I had bought. I kept getting the feeling that someone was standing behind me and kept glancing over my shoulder. I was going to drive myself crazy. I had worked myself up so much. I put the kettle on and ordered a pizza for dinner before making my bed and closing all the curtains in the bedroom and livingroom.
I went to pour the hot water into my mug and jumped at the sound of a knock on the door, causing me to spill hot water all over thecounter.
I set the kettle down and checked through the peephole. It was only the pizza guy. Opening the door, I slipped him the money and took the pizza. Before shutting the door, I glanced up and down the road again. I wanted to see if that black car was still there, but it was gone. Locking up the door, I flipped the outside light on for Parker and took my tea and pizza into the living room. I quickly changed into my shorts and tank top and curled up under a blanket on the couch to watch amovie.
I checked my cell phone during the first commercial and saw a message fromParker.
PARKER:BEN DROVE BY YOUR PLACE, BEEN PATROLLING THE AREA ON AND OFF, NO SIGN OF BLACK CAR. WILL KEEP CHECKING. IF YOU NEED TO, GO TO MY PLACE. SEE YOU IN A BIT, PRETTY BUSYTONIGHT.
I put my phone down andchecked the time. It was almost ten. I turned to Elliott who took a sip of his coffee and punched a message into his phone. He was grinning like an idiot when another response pingedin.
"Jenagain?"
"Yeah. How’s Tatum doing?" he asked, putting the phonedown.
"I don’t know. I'm worried about her. I don't know if I should have left her there alone. Ben says there's no black car, and there hasn't been one all night. But she's insisting that she was followed to the market and home again tonight. I've had him patrolling the area allnight."
The thought of her freaking out by herself was almost too much for me to handle. I was still pissed I had missed her call, but we were in the middle of an arrest. I couldn't stop what was going on andanswer.
"I know; she sent me a text as well. She's so damn stubborn. You'd never have been able to talk her out of staying there. You know that. But I do agree with you, it may be too soon for her to stay alone, but I swear you'd never convince her, so don't beat yourself up overit."
He took a bite of his burger. It was the first chance we'd had to stop and have dinner allnight.
He was right, I had to stop. As much as I wanted to protect her, I couldn't do it if she wasn't willing to beprotected.
"I was thinking of taking her away this weekend, go down to my parents’ cottage. Would that be okay withyou?"
"Parker, man, you know I've always approved of you being with Tatum. You don't need my permission if you want to date my sister. I think taking her away is a good idea. She needs it, get herself back together." He chuckled and checked his phone, typing in anothermessage.