My phone continued to buzz, and I noticed I had a shit-ton of Instagram notifications.
I clicked on one that said I was tagged in a post [email protected]–whoever that was. Nothing loaded though. It was blank with an error like the photo had been deleted. I clicked on the mystery account–zero posts yet they had almost one thousand followers.
I noted the creepy bio line on the account as I checked the other notifications. I was mentioned in comments on a post [email protected] I didn't follow Ashtyn but I was a stalker who knew she hadn't posted anything in over a year. I clicked on the notification and was greeted by her smiling face. And her wicked middle finger. I read the caption and was thoroughly confused. What the fuck had happened since she left?
I dialed her number, needing to get to the bottom of what was going on.
"Hello?" She answered casually. As if I was calling to chat about the weather.
"What the fuck's going on? I was tagged by some account on Instagram but the photo's gone. And then I see your picture and the caption. I'm confused."
"Well, I'm sure there are about a hundred screenshots of what was posted. But to save you the suspense, someone saw us last night. And took a picture of us. And posted it," Ashtyn explained. She didn't sound freaked out, which was a good thing. Her anxiety sometimes took hold of her entire body.
"Who? What the fuck? Are you okay? Shit," I mumbled.
"I don't know and I don't really care. If someone wants to fuck with me, I'll flush their ass out and deal with them face to face."
"I agree, princess. But with everything else going on, it could be someone related to Remington's…situation."
"I'm not fucking hiding, West. They saw us last night and took pictures. Probably video too. What am I supposed to do, hide in my house until he gets bored and moves on? I'm not doing it. He can come and get me, and I'll slice his fucking throat with my knife."
Jesus, she was sexy when she got fired up. I was ready to be inside her again. "Where are you? You left without waking me up."
"I'm at the coffee shop on Main."
Coffee. Should’ve known.
"Sit tight. I'll be there in ten," I promised before hanging up.
Someone was following my girl and I wasn't going to put up with it. Whoever it was would have to go through me before ever laying a hand on her. The stalker could be someone related to her brother's business dealings, it could be someone from school, shit it could be related to her dad's line of work.
We were going to figure out who it was, but until then, I would keep a close eye on Ashtyn. She needed protection–whether she thought so or not. I could start by getting her in Brass Knuckles. I'd have to watch her at work. Being somewhere like Aces, working in a huge crowd of strangers, leaving late at night, and walking through the dark parking lot, made Ashtyn an easy target for this creep.
She wouldn't like it but she wouldn't have a choice. I was going to protect her from whoever was watching.
"Showmethispicture,"I said as I placed two cups of coffee and two sugar cookies down on Ashtyn's table.
She looked calm and collected, her nose buried in a calculus book. She wore black leggings and a loose blue tank top. Seeing her again made my cock ache thinking about last night. I wanted her thighs squeezing my face and my tongue in her pussy.
"Here," she shoved her phone at me. "And thanks," her eyes lit up as she took a bite of the cookie. "It's just a screenshot. The asshole deleted the post within a few minutes. Not before everyone in our entire school saw it."
I sat down across from her as I inspected the photo. It was taken from the balcony, which wrapped around the entire second floor of Axel's house. Someone probably saw us go upstairs, followed, went into a room nearby, and went out onto the balcony. I didn't even think of checking the shades.
"It was probably someone who was at the party, which could be anyone at school or the university..."
"I'm not concerned with it." Ashtyn took a sip from her latest cup of coffee. It looked like she was already on cup number three.
"You're not?"
"No," she said, a smile tugging at her lips. "Did you see what I posted in response? I'm not scared of whoever did this. And I have nothing to be ashamed of. Slut shaming isn’t cool."
"Well, you're right, you don't have anything to be ashamed of. But with everything that happened with Remington..."
"It's not the same person. Whoever sent that text from Remington's phone doesn't have time for cat and mouse games and petty high school bullshit. This is someone who wanted to embarrass me. And you too, considering they said you like to "slum it" and then tagged Kendra," Ashtyn rolled her eyes at her name.
"If you're not concerned with it, I'm not either. You know I don't give a fuck what people think about me. I was just worried about you."
"I'm good. I have bigger things to worry about, like this fucking calc test on Wednesday." She slammed the calculus book shut and tossed it in her bag on the floor.