to tell me what happened?” Officer Pedersen asked.
“I’d come home from dropping off a friend, and when I got out of the car in the garage, I heard something on the driveway or sidewalk. I wasn’t sure where it came from,” she said as she wrung her hands in her lap.
“What did you hear?”
“It sounded like footsteps, or the sound shoes make against pavement. I don’t know.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“Not clearly, but I saw a man off to the side, hiding in the shadows. I know it was Jeffrey.”
“Who’s Jeffrey?” the young cop asked.
“Elion—Jeffrey Elion. He’s after me because I sent him to prison. He got out a couple of months ago, and he’s been stalking me ever since. I testified against him at his trial in Denver over four years ago.”
“Does he live in town?”
“In Denver, but he could’ve moved up here. A lot of weird stuff has happened to me since I arrived in town. One of the tires on my car was slashed, eggs were smashed against my car, and I saw someone staring at me in the parking lot of where I work. I’ve also had the feeling of being followed, or someone watching me.” She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
“So you’ve seen”—Officer Pedersen looked down at his notebook—“Jeffrey Elion several times?”
“Not exactly. I mean, I haven’t seen him like I see you, but I know it’s him.”
Pedersen exchanged looks with the young cop, then nodded. “Okay. We’ll look into it and let you know. We can add you to the patrol for tonight if you’d like.”
“That’d be good.”
After double-checking the windows and doors, the two policemen left. Ashley set the alarm, dragged a chair from the kitchen, and propped it under the doorknob, and then did the same with the door leading to the garage. Then she made sure every blind, curtain, and shutter was closed.
When she finally sank down onto the couch with a glass of much-needed white wine, the urge to call Smokey gripped her, but she ignored it. Her life was complicated enough without tacking on another problem, yet she had the feeling that if Smokey knew about Jeffrey, he’d somehow make it all right. He’d keep me safe. In exchange, though, she feared she’d lose her heart, and he’d leave her broken. There was one thing she’d learned at an early age: men left, and women cried while picking up the pieces.
Stretching out, she grabbed the afghan and pulled it over her. She would sleep on the couch with the lights on, and tomorrow, she’d see what the cops had found out about the dirtbag terrorizing her.
Sighing, she got comfortable and closed her eyes.
14
For the rest of the week, Smokey stayed away from the office, having enough going on in his life without adding Ashley to the mix. Since she hadn’t reached out to him all week, even professionally, he’d decided to put her on the back burner until shit with the Rising Order and Ryan’s criminal mess were dealt with. The way the guys had been ribbing him at the clubhouse over the past few days only solidified his resolve not to see her even stronger. The last thing he needed, or wanted, was a steady woman in his life. It was fine for Rock, Throttle, and the others, but he was a confirmed bachelor. Growing up with two fucked-up parents taught him that love was a crock of shit.
The perfect example of that was his parents. His mother was pregnant at fifteen, married at sixteen, and had five boys before she turned twenty-five. When she married, her parents had disowned her because they couldn’t stand Dale Harty, so Smokey and his brothers never knew their maternal grandparents. As far as their paternal ones went, their dad never spoke of them or anyone in his family. As a matter of fact, Smokey didn’t know a damn thing about the old man’s past. All he knew was that the bastard was a mean, angry drunk, bitter over being stuck with five brats and a frigid wife. Because the old man had a sense of loyalty to his family, he would never leave, yet blamed his kids for screwing up his life and took his frustrations out on them. He believed that corporal punishment—and a lot of it—was essential to keeping them in line, but he never laid a finger on their mom. He only went as far as emotionally pushing her to the side unless he was drunk, which was