Macca went still, she knew that meant he was listening to whoever was talking to him through the earpiece. He turned to her. “You know a Mike Lyle?”
“Yes, why?” She froze as understanding hit her. “It was him? Seriously?”
“Yep. That’s what Jed says. He’s going to call the sheriff, get him out here now that he’s got a few answers.”
She sat there. Stunned. “I can’t believe it was him. I went on a date with him.”
“A date?” Macca asked as she sat there, her hand on her rolling stomach. She wished she hadn’t drunk all that milk now.
“Yes. I met him on an online dating site. We went on one date. Jed interrupted it. I didn’t think he was even interested in me. And he didn’t seem the type to send me those notes, to hide up a tree and watch me. . .oh God, I’m gonna be ill.” She placed her hand over her mouth, her stomach heaving
Suddenly, she was in the air. She only had a few seconds to realize it was Bain holding her before he had her in the downstairs bathroom. He supported her as she lost all of the chocolate milk she’d just drunk. That really hadn’t been a good idea. When the spasms stopped and she was shaking like a leaf, he picked her back up, and carried her upstairs.
“W-where are we going?” she asked.
“Figure your toothbrush and stuff are in the upstairs bathroom,” he replied gruffly. He held her easily, not showing any strain at carrying her up the stairs. But then his biceps were bigger than her thighs.
He set her down in her much larger bathroom. Then he stood there, staring at her awkwardly. He didn’t strike her as the awkward type. He seemed like the kind of guy who was ultra-confident in everything he did. “You need help?”
“No. Thanks. I’m good now.” Not really. But she wasn’t bad enough to need the hulking man’s help.
“Yeah. Okay. Call out if you’re not.”
“Thanks, I mean that.” She reacted without thinking and reached out to squeeze his forearm.
He just nodded and left, shutting the door behind him. Daisy took a moment to try and calm herself. Unfortunately, her mind kept thinking about the fact that she’d gone on a date with that asshole. Who knew what might have happened had Jed not shown up that night? Or what might have happened if he hadn’t come back today. She quickly splashed her face with cold water then brushed her teeth.
By the time she was finished, her teeth were chattering and she was freezing. Then the door opened and Jed was there.
“Sugar.”
She didn’t think. She just threw herself at him. Thankfully, he caught her.
16
“It’s over now, sugar. We got him.”
He could feel her shaking in his arms. He was shaking himself. How could he have let a fucking stalker get close to her? Terrorize her? She’d been so terrified she’d been carrying around a damned baseball bat for days.
Then to top things off, he’d jumped to the wrong fucking conclusion and thought she was cheating on him.
Yeah, he had some stuff to sort out.
“He confessed to everything. Leaving the flowers and the notes. Following you. Calling you and hanging up.”
“That was him too?” she whispered.
He ran his hand through her hair. “Yeah, baby. It was all him.”
“Jed?” He glanced up, pulled out of his thoughts to see Macca in the bedroom.
“Yeah?”
“Sheriff is here. Wants to talk to you both.”
“Yeah. Right. Give us a minute, will you?”
“Yeah.” Macca’s eyes were soft as he stared at Daisy. Jed tightened his arms around her slightly.