Jake.”
“He what?” he growls.
“Yeah, and then when he was leaving, he said something about me being a temptress.” He looks at me in confusion until I remember that he wasn’t here to see the note.
“Words to that exact effect were in the note that came today. Do you think it could be him sending me these gifts?” I ask with trepidation.
“Reign, he’s the captain. He might be a dick, and a cocky asshole who thinks you should feel privileged to go on a date with him, but sending threatening letters doesn’t really seem his style.”
“Shouldn’t I say something, report him to someone?” I question, feeling helpless, which I fucking hate.
“Reign,” Owen says softly, reaching over the table to snag my hand. “He’s the captain. You can’t go around accusing him of shit without evidence to back it up. A feeling or something he said which you may or may not have taken out of context isn’t enough.”
“The words he said, though, were the same, the exact same, Owen. That’s too much of a coincidence. Even for me, the only civilian in the family.”
“Yeah, because it’s not a coincidence, but you said yourself that he picked up the letter and read it, right? So Garrett knew exactly what it said. You turned him down again, likely pissing him off, and now he’s being a dick about it. And that is not okay, Reign, there’s no excuse for him to say that shit to you. I can see how rattled you are so you can bet your ass he did too. The fucking prick,” he spits out, angry on my behalf.
“Who the fuck does that Owen? Who plays on someone’s fears and uses it against them like that just because I turned them down? He’s supposed to be held to a higher standard. He’s a captain on the police force, sworn to protect people, for fuck sake.” I throw my hands up in the air, frustrated and angry. This whole freaking situation is giving me a headache.
“Let me do some discreet digging. See what I can find out. In the meantime, keep your head down and stay away from the station for a while. If anything else happens, call me directly and I’ll take care of it,” he promises.
“But you believe me that something isn’t right with the guy, right? Because I’m telling you, Owen, every self-protective instinct I have goes haywire when he’s around, even if he isn’t my stalker.”
He stares at me for a moment before he clenches his jaw. “Yeah, Raindrop, I believe you. I’ll see what I can find out, but you have to keep your mouth shut until then, okay? That includes our brothers. They tend to react to shit loudly, then any chance of quietly digging into this will be gone. If Garrett is dirty, I don’t want to alert him in any way and give him a chance to cover his tracks.”
I stand, walk around the table, and plop myself down on his lap, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck in relief.
“Yeah, I get it.” Even though I don’t like the idea of keeping things from my brothers, I understand Owen’s point. I hold him for a second longer before pulling back and looking into his worried eyes that are the exact shade of mahogany brown as mine, and grin.
“You’re my favorite brother,” I whisper.
He rolls his eyes but chuckles. “I know, Reign, I know. Now grab the ice cream and a movie, and I’ll go make sure everything is locked up.”
“Deal.” I climb from his lap and snag the plates from the table, scraping them before dumping them in the sink. I’ll clean them up tomorrow.
Grabbing Owen’s favorite cookie dough ice cream and the chocolate fudge brownie flavor for myself, I head to the living room and cue up the movie I had picked out earlier. I deposit Owen’s ice cream and spoon on the glass coffee table and curl up onto the oversized gray loveseat, pulling the fleecy white blanket from the back over my legs just as Owen walks in.
“Everything’s good. So what are we watching?” he asks as he kicks off his shoes and takes his usual spot at the end of the large sectional beside me.
I don’t tell him, I just hit play and watch his face light up when Fast and Furious starts.
“I taught you well, young padawan,” he praises my choice, making me laugh before we both get lost in the action scenes and drool over the