Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men #9)(102)

She was totally f*cking keeping something from me. “What happened at work?”

With a groan, her shoulders collapsed. Then she sent me a small rebellious scowl before reluctantly mumbling, “Shaun showed up.”

“Shaun?” My eyebrows lifted. I wasn’t expecting that answer. “Ex-husband, Shaun, with the violent temper?”

Julianna nodded. “Yes. He...” She glanced away, clearly uncomfortable. “Well, I guess he knows about us…” Her eyes slashed to me. “You and me. And he wasn’t very happy about it.”

There was more. I could tell from the look on her face. “What did he do?”

“Nothing,” she immediately answered. When I narrowed my eyes, she lifted her hands. “I swear. He grabbed my wrist and—”

“He grabbed your wrist?” I caught her arm and immediately slid her wrist into my palm so I could examine it.

“See,” she offered, holding out both of them and turning them for my full examination. “He didn’t even leave a mark. Brandt caught him getting handsy and ran him off. The whole thing lasted ten, fifteen seconds, tops. No big deal.”

“No big deal?” I demanded, my mouth falling open. “The guy is stalking you enough to know who you’re seeing. We haven’t exactly made a big production of our relationship, you know. He’s got to be keeping close tabs on you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Or he heard about it from Theo, Tyla’s boyfriend. I think they’re friends.”

“I don’t care how he learned. He had no right to approach you about it and put his hands on you. You two are f*cking over, and he’s not letting it go. He’s going to be a problem.”

When she started to sigh, I narrowed my eyes. “He’s going to be a serious problem, Julianna. Don’t brush this off as nothing. What he’s doing are beginning signs. It only gets worse from here. You need to report this.”

She squirmed on my lap, clearly uncomfortable. “Really, I don’t think it’s that bad. He wants us to get back together, not kill me. And he’s not too energetic about reconnecting with me either because he only comes around when he’s between women. I seriously think his attention will peter out completely over time.”

I only shook my head. “I don’t. He hasn’t stopped yet, so I doubt he’s going to. I’ve had you, I know how addictive you are.” Growling out my frustration, I gripped my hair. “Thank God you called me over. I don’t want you being home alone while he’s f*cking stalking you.”

“Oh my God, Colton. It’s not that bad. I swear to you.” But I remembered her face the first night I’d stayed on her couch and he’d come knocking. A strong independent woman like her who’d hated me at the time had allowed me to sleep over. She knew just as much as I did that Shaun’s behavior was wrong.

“You should’ve called me from work,” I told her, “I would’ve come and followed you home.” When she cringed over that, I studied her more intently. “What?”

She let out a breath before glancing away and mumbling, “Brandt followed me home.”

I couldn’t control the instinctive jealousy that ripped through me. My brother had been there for her when I hadn’t.

I hated that.

But I nodded like the big, mature boy I was supposed to be. “Well…good. He better have walked you to your door and checked out your apartment too.”

“He walked me to my door,” she confessed, “but I wouldn’t let him inside.” Her brown eyes were worried and watchful as she studied my face.

I nodded again and repeated, “Good.” Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, I glanced around the room and cleared my throat. “We should probably put some clothes on. I’m sure the police department frowns upon naked people showing up and trying to file reports with them.”

Her lips parted before she shook her head. “Wait. What? Why would we go to the police department? We’re not going to the police department.”

“Yes, we are.” I stood and reached for my pants. “We’re getting a restraining order against your f*cking ex.”

“What? No. No, we’re not. Why would we do that?”

I glanced at her before yanking up my sweats. “This is going to stop, baby doll. It’s going to stop today.”

She just stared at me. “Don’t you think that’s kind of drastic? And what would we even tell them? That he came and glared at me and told me he was very upset with my decisions lately? The police would laugh me out of their precinct.”

“He grabbed your arm,” I reminded her.

She was already shaking her head. “And it didn’t even leave a bruise. I don’t want to go to the police, Colton. Seriously. It seems so unnecessary.”

I paused after tugging on my shirt. Then I stepped to the edge of the bed and took her hands until she looked up into my eyes. “Your safety is more than necessary to me. Don’t ever say it’s not. Now, tell me why you really don’t want to do this. Are you afraid it’ll piss him off and he’ll come at you harder?”

“No.” Her eyes grew big with disbelief. “I think it’d freak him out and scare him off for good.”

I smiled. “Good. That’s exactly what we want. So let’s do it.” But the uncertainty in her eyes made me frown. “That is what we want, right?” I said slowly. “I mean, you want him to stop harassing you, don’t you? Don’t tell me you secretly like it and want to get back together with him.”