Infatuated (13 page)

He gathered me close again, running his hands up and down my arms soothingly. “You can let go now.”

I shook my head. “Won’t help.”

“What will? Tell me and I’ll get it or do it.”

“
Is
there anything I can do?” I wondered out loud. Stalking was illegal. I knew it was. But it was also hard to prove. “He’s a regular at the bar and has been going there longer than I’ve worked there. He followed me in a grocery store. How can I prove anything?”

“I have a cop friend I’ll talk to tomorrow. He works the night shift, or I’d call him now. I’ll try to catch him in the morning. He might be able to help or tell us what we can do. We’ll figure something out. If I have to, I’ll make sure I’m here to walk you to and from work. I’ll talk to your teachers and make sure someone’s always around you. You won’t be alone, Ally.”

The not being alone sounded good. But the idea of possibly putting someone else in danger? That scared me more than anything. “I’m not risking you or anyone else.”

“Let me talk to my buddy tomorrow, and then we’ll come up with a plan, okay? There’s nothing else we can do right now and worrying about it isn’t going to help. We’ll just stay inside and watch a movie.” He smiled at me. “You can even pick a chick-flick if you want and I won’t complain. Much.”

My lips twitched. He was right. Worrying about it wasn’t going to help tonight.

I had plenty of time to worry about it tomorrow.

CHAPTER 10

K
ale talked to his cop buddy the day after the Earl incident. From what he gathered, there wasn’t much the cops could do. Everyone knew Earl and knew he spent a lot of time at the bar, so the fact that he’d started coming in more once I’d been hired could be considered a coincidence. And because it was one of only a few grocery stores in the area, there was no way to prove he’d been there to watch me, even if he had followed me around. Right now, I had nothing to prove my case.

The only thing I could do was start keeping a journal of the harassment by writing down everything that had to do with Earl. Where I saw him, the date and time, anything he did or said. I should have kept the napkin he’d left in the bar and saved any phone messages, but I hadn’t known any better.

I did now.

I kept a notebook on me at all times and wrote down every time I saw Earl. The following week, I only saw him a few more times, but then I started seeing him everywhere. Out shopping, at school, when I was with Maxine or Kale.

Kale’s friend suggested I talk to neighbors and friends too, to give them a heads up about the situation. I tried that, but half the neighbors knew Earl or someone in his family, so I wasn’t sure how much that would actually help. Most smiled at me in that politely-fake way and said ‘sure’ in the politely-fake tone people used when dealing with nuisances.

Dave’s talk must have helped a little, because I didn’t see Earl at the bar anymore that week. But then he started up again, gradually, like he had in the beginning. He was back every night. He didn’t stare quite as blatantly as before, and if someone else saw him staring, he’d look away really fast. But his eyes were still on me. I felt it, even if I didn’t see it.

I was creeped out all the time and saw his stupid blue truck everywhere I went. And worse now, Earl parked in the bar lot, even when I wasn’t working. A few days, I could look out my window and see his truck facing my apartment. It was too far away to see if he was actually inside watching, but Laura swore he’d never come in on those days.

I’d been putting off talking to Dave again, because I knew the conversation wouldn’t go well, but I had no choice. It was this or I’d have to quit. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves, reminded myself that I needed to have this conversation, and thought of Kale waiting for me outside.

Dave was checking supplies and looked up in surprise when I walked into the back. “What are you doing here? It’s your night off.”

“I know. But can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure.”

How did I tell him—again—that he needed to do something about Earl? This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have. I let out another breath. “Earl is harassing me,” I said, making sure to keep my tone calm. If I sounded adversarial, then he’d tense up. “I know he’s your friend, but I’m asking you, as another friend, to ask him to stop coming in when I’m working.”

“Ally, I talked to him already, after you asked me to—”

“And it didn’t help. This has been going on for months, Dave. Months. And it’s getting worse. He’s…stalking me.” I rushed the words out, afraid to stop or be interrupted. “You know it’s more than him just staring at me and giving me the creeps. He’s following me everywhere I go. And yes, I realize this is a small town with limited shops, but he’s following me places I’ve never seen him. Like to my friends’ house. To school. Here. I can’t go outside anymore without seeing him. He sits out in the parking lot, watching my apartment. That’s not…normal. I want him gone entirely, but it’s your bar and I wouldn’t ask you do that.” Even though I really, really did want to do just that. I didn’t want Earl anywhere near my apartment or me.

“What if—”

“What? Please, give me a better reason, because I’ve gone through them all over and over and there isn’t one. Do you think I want him following me? Staring at me? You don’t think I’ve tried thinking of a better reason for it?”

“He’s a family friend, Ally.”

My hands started to shake. “So am I!” I shouted it at him and then winced. “Sorry. This isn’t easy for me to ask you. This isn’t easy to deal with. He’s calling me now, too. He doesn’t say it’s him, but I know it is.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I refuse to think I have two cr—two guys harassing me.”

His eyes narrowed when I almost slipped and called Earl a ‘creep’. I saw it happen, and I saw that I’d lost the battle with that one slip up. “I’m sorry, Ally, but you just said you don’t know it’s actually him. I’m not losing one of my longest customers because…because.”

He couldn’t actually be this stubborn, could he be? “I’m asking you to keep him from coming in while I’m working—not every shift. Just when I’m here.”

“And you’re here four or five days a week.”

“Yes, I am, and before I started working for you, he only came in once or twice a week. Laura told me that, so don’t deny it.”

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“Dave—”

“No.”

Disappointment settled in my stomach. I’d always respected Dave, even after the first time I’d tried talking to him about Earl. He was a loyal friend. Any other time or situation, it would have been an admirable quality. Right now, it was a pain in my ass. “Have a good night, Dave.” I paused at the door. “I hope you and Denial are very happy together,” I said quietly, and then I walked away.

My fists shook as I walked out of the bar, ignoring Laura and the looks from some of the customers.

Kale eyed me as I got in the car. “Didn’t go well?”

I jerked the seatbelt across my lap. “He’s being stubborn and stupid and—”

“I think those cover it.” He started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

“Probably. I said something not-so-nice, but he can fire me if he wants to. My safety and sanity are more important than the job.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You think he will?”

“No. Not really. My dad would rain hell down on him if he did. I’m still debating calling him anyway and having him do just that.”

“So maybe you should.”

“If I didn’t think he’d fly here, I would.”

“Why is that a bad thing? The more people around you, the better.”

“Because my dad has a temper. A bad one. It’s why he and my mom split up.” I turned in my seat to look at him better. “All those things you want to do to Earl? My dad would do them, and more.” A lot more.

Kale squeezed my hand. “You don’t talk about your family much. Is that why? Was he…abusive?”

“No. He was great, amazing even. But he has mental health issues. The temper. Depression. He went to jail for a year for beating the shit out of a guy that got a little too…frisky with me.”

“A year?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. The kid ended up in a coma for three days and I ended up with a fractured arm when I tried to pull him off the guy. Mom left him after that.” It’d been an accident. We all knew it, but Mom had been too scared. When he got like that… He didn’t see anything else, only whatever he was pissed at. He snapped at little things sometimes, but when he really lost his temper, it was a scary sight.

“So you got your temper from him?”

“I’m somewhere between them. Mom has no temper, at all. I’ve only heard her raise her voice once. She’s got the highest level of patience I’ve seen in anyone. And dad, when he was in one of his moods, was the exact opposite.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You should.”

“Though, if you want to leave me in a sexual coma, I don’t think I’d mind. Just something to keep in mind.”

I grinned and glanced out the window. The coastline flew by. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“To the cliffs. There’s supposed to be a meteor shower or something. Google said the darker the better, so…cliffs.” He eyed me. “You mentioned it a while back, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe you remembered.” I hadn’t. With everything else that had been going on—things with Earl, things with Kale—I hadn’t thought twice about it.

He shrugged. “You talk, I listen.”

Leaning my head back, I stared at him, smiling like an idiot. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I get brownie points for that, right?”

Now I laughed. “God, do you honestly need more?” After everything he’d done—and the simple fact he was still around with all the drama going on—I wasn’t sure he needed the boost.

“You never know. I haven’t refused you sex yet, remember? A good stock of brownie points is always a good thing. It’s in the Men’s Handbook. Rule sixty-four, I think.”

“Fair enough. Brownie points are yours.”

Considering I’d only mentioned the meteor shower in passing and he remembered, even a month later, he deserved the points.

He got even more when he parked and opened the back of the SUV where he had blankets, pillows, a picnic basket, and even mosquito repellent.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t put any thought into this at all and come prepared. That would have been awkward,” I said, laughing.

“You know me, gotta half-ass it once in a while or you’ll expect it all the time.”

“Come on, Romeo,” I said, picking up the pillows and blankets, “we’ve got some stargazing to do.”

“You know I don’t know a thing about stars, right?”

“That’s okay.” I looked over my shoulder and smiled. “I’ll show you some things.”

“Had to use the teacher tone again, didn’t you? You leave no room for me to interpret that in a sexy way.”

“I’ve gotta half-ass it once in a while, too.”

“Well played, Ally Cat. Well played.”

Once everything was set out and we were laying down, Kale pulled my head to his chest. “So how does this work?”

“We gaze. At the stars. Thus, stargazing.”

He tickled my side. “Smartass. I mean, where do we look?”

“Everywhere, but keep your eyes east.”

“Where’s east?”

“Um.” I bit my lip as I searched the sky. I had a good idea, but without the stars moving some… “Give me an hour and I’ll tell you.”

I felt his head tip down, like he was trying to look at me. “Seriously? You can tell that? I thought that was just mountain men who could do that. Or maybe boy scouts.”

I chuckled. Obviously he’d never been a boy scout. “Yes. People can do it. And not just mountain men or boy scouts.”

“You’re really into this, huh? Stars?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” He pointed to a star above us. “Then what’s that?”

“The weird ‘M’ shape? Cassiopeia.”

He pointed to another constellation. “And that?”

“The Pegasus.”

“That doesn’t look like anything. You’re making this up, aren’t you?”

“No.” I laughed. “See the big box shape? Follow the top left star out to the side a little, and that makes up the face. And the bottom left star, follow those out to the legs. Picture a horse.”

He said nothing for a minute, then, “I’ll be damned. I see it.”

The awe in his tone made me smile. “Just wait until my man Orion comes out. I think you’ll like him—” I broke off as a flash of white trailed across the sky and grabbed Kale’s arm. “Did you see it?”

“Yeah.”

“If we were somewhere a little darker, we’d be able to see up to a hundred an hour.”

“This isn’t bad though, right?”

The uncertainty in his tone had me rolling to my side. I gave him a quick kiss. “This is wonderful, Kale, the perfect spot. Thank you.”