Go Away, Darling - Alexis Anne Page 0,64

were moving toward dating, but he was also a classic alpha. I wasn’t completely sure he’d be happy to see his former lover with another man. Officially.

So I was pretty surprised when he winked at Linc. “Told you it would work.”

Liv gasped.

I laughed. Hard. “You were both in on it?”

Beau shrugged. “My boy told me the problem and we brainstormed a solution. Clearly it worked.” They air fist-bumped through the video and did a variation on a Beau “The Bull” Rowland touchdown dance.

I pulled Liv to my side and kissed her cheek. Maybe it took a while, but we seemed to have done it right. We had Linc and Beau’s blessing.

Things felt right.

Things were very wrong. I was sick to my stomach and angrier than I’d ever been. We were good. Careful. Patient. And the universe was rewarding us with more problems?

Bullshit.

I call bullshit, Universe! I even shook my fist at the sky, for all the good it did.

“I...I don’t understand,” was all I managed to say.

Roman St. James, my agent, sighed wearily. “She’s clearly out to unsettle all three of you.”

We had a stalker. Well, my brothers and I did. I thought it was a one-off or a super fan of Ben or Scott. I genuinely didn’t think much would come of it. But here we were. A photograph of Ben, Scott, and me had been delivered to Roman’s office. This was not a one-off and it very much included me.

I looked around our house and felt a protectiveness surge through my veins. I wanted to board up every window, lock Liv and Linc inside with me forever. “What are the next steps?”

So far I’d mostly let Ben and Scott handle things. I knew security cameras had been installed and bodyguards hired, but I didn’t know anything specific. I kicked myself for not paying more attention.

“Let the security team do their job. I’ve worked with them before, Contention is the best. Your pitching schedule isn’t exactly top secret information, so assume whoever this person is knows exactly when and where you’ll be. I’ll contact the team to inform them of the situation. They’ll want to increase security at the field.”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “There’s more.”

“Oh?” Roman sounded curious. He was a good guy. A friend in more ways than helping me navigate the business side of baseball. His wife was the trainer who looked after my arm and kept me healthy, his best friend was my catcher. We weren’t super close, but we had a lot of strings that tied us together.

So it was easy to share my personal shit with him.

“I’m engaged.”

“Holy shit!” His happiness for me came through loud and clear. “Who? Olivia?”

“Yep. It just happened last night.” I raked my hand through my hair and sighed. “This is not good timing.”

Roman was painfully silent for a moment. “No, it’s not.” I heard his desk chair creak. “I have an idea you might not like.”

Fuck. “Say it.”

“Don’t tell anyone you’re engaged. Not yet. If this stalker is the jealous type, then you’re putting a bigger target on Olivia’s back than she already has. Regardless of the jealousy issue, it will be clear Olivia and Linc are important to you, and that…” he let the implications hang unsaid.

I didn’t want to hear them and Roman seemed to worry about putting them out into the universe. But to keep our engagement a secret after secretly dating? The universe was playing a cruel joke on me.

“I’ll talk about it with Liv.”

“I’ll send you an email with information. Keep me in the loop on everything and I’ll let you know what the Mantas say.”

“Thanks, Roman.”

“You’re not the first client of mine to have a stalker. These things happen with high profile athletes. We’ve got the best people on this.”

And yet it didn’t make me feel any better. The churning in my gut only got worse. “Okay.”

“Hey Chris?”

“Yeah?”

“Congratulations. I better get an invitation when you set a date.” He clicked off the call.

I wouldn’t be setting a date if Olivia ran away from me before we got started. I wouldn’t blame her if she took this news as a sign we were doomed, or that it was too dangerous to be with me.

“Making sandwiches?”

I spun at the sound of her voice. “Uh, yeah. I was hungry and figured we could both use some sustenance.”

She looked at me like I was talking in gibberish.

Maybe I was talking gibberish. “Is everything okay?” she asked slowly. Linc was in his room