weird. "What? No, no way. Of course I wouldn't... I wouldn't do that, Maddie. That's next level creepy. Who would even do that? What did the message say?"
I needed to swallow past a lump of dread and anxiety to answer him. "Forget it. We're about to drive through a tunnel, though, so the phone might cut out."
"Maddie, babe, tell me what's going on. I'm really worried about you..." Scott paused, then his voice hardened. "Did they accuse me of doing that? You can't seriously believe them! This is totally jealous, possessive behavior, babe. They can't handle you being friends with any straight guys, so they're eliminating the competition. Maddie, you know I—"
I ended the call, cutting his bullshit off mid-sentence.
Steele glanced at me as he slowed down and pulled over to the shoulder before stopping the car completely. We were way out of town on an open stretch of road with no one around for miles, and certainly no tunnels to interrupt reception.
Fuck it. Whatever.
"Are you okay?" Steele asked me in all seriousness.
I bit the inside of my lip, thinking. Was I okay? Scott hadn't exactly admitted to being involved with my stalker, but he sure as shit didn't sound innocent.
But part of me couldn't accept that he was actually a bad guy. It was the same part that didn't want to admit how bad my judgment had been in choosing a new friend.
"Yeah," I replied with a sigh. "Yeah, I guess I just didn't really want to believe he'd done anything... you know... creepy."
Steele grimaced. "Yeah, that boat sailed when he followed you to the shoot with Arch, then lied about using Bree's phone tracker."
I gave a bitter laugh. "Fair point. Can we just forget about Scott for tonight? We can deal with all of that when we get back tomorrow." I paused, giving him a suspicious look. "Although it sounds like someone already started dealing with it, hmm?"
Steele's eyes widened, and he held his hands up defensively. "Not me."
I squinted at him, not believing his innocent act for a second. Maybe he hadn’t physically dealt any blows to Scott for what he’d said to me, but Steele was fully aware that it'd happened.
With an easy grin, he shifted the car back into gear and we glided back out into the road. "But if it’d been me—not that it was—but if it had been, I'd be teaching him a lesson about grabbing my girl’s arm so hard she had bruises the next day. As well as teaching him some respect for women." He shot me a wink. "Hypothetically speaking."
Heaving another sigh, I turned my face to look out the window, letting my long, pink curls fall over my cheek. I shouldn't be encouraging that kind of Neanderthal behavior, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me all warm and fuzzy inside. The fact that they cared enough...
It was a new thing for me. But I loved it.
The crowd was in full party mode when Steele and I arrived at the event center. Tickets to see the fight were just shy of two hundred and fifty bucks a head, but the money was being donated to a prominent women's shelter in our area.
"Kind of on the nose to raise money for battered women by, you know, beating the shit out of another dude, isn't it?" I asked Steele quietly as we made our way through the well-heeled crowd. Tuxedos and cocktail dresses seemed to be the attire for the night, meaning we were woefully under dressed. Not that either of us really cared. We weren't guests; we were support crew.
Steele snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed me one. "Actually, Arch has been stepping up in his support of this charity lately, teaching people there is a huge difference between training in MMA to hone his skills in a highly disciplined sport... and spineless fucks who bash their women because they lack the balls to deal with their problems the right way." He tipped his glass up, drinking half of it in one sip. "Come on, let's go poke the angry bear and get him all worked up. I've got my money on a knockout in round one."
I grinned, taking a sip of my own champagne, and followed him through the crowd. "Nah, my bets are for a ground and pound TKO," I replied, already buzzing with excitement to see the fight. "Arch has a whole load of frustration to get out; a