The Protector (Game of Chance, #1)(66)

“You think he’ll go after my mom or Susie?” Carlise asked, alarmed.

Shit. He hadn’t meant to scare her. “I wish I could say no, but I honestly don’t know what this guy’ll do.” Chappy didn’t want to bring up the fact that he suspected her stalker was watching her mom. Not when she was so worried already. “I swear we’ll figure it out. We’ll bring your best friend and your mom out here to Newton if we have to. I’ll hire bodyguards for them both. We’ll send them on a monthlong cruise. Whatever they want. But I’ll do what it takes to make sure they’re safe because it’s the right thing to do, and because I know you’ll worry and will blame yourself if anything happens to them.”

With a sigh, Carlise closed her eyes and leaned into him. “I’m so tired.”

“Then sleep,” he said immediately.

Her eyes opened, and she shook her head. “No, I mean, I’m just tired of all this. Of worrying. Stressing. Tired of wondering when and where he might show up. I’m not sorry I left Cleveland because it led me to you . . . but what next? Will he find me here, and I’ll have to leave again? Then what? Where will I go? Where will I be safe?”

“With me. You’ll be safe with me,” Chappy said firmly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“You can’t prevent it,” Carlise said sadly. “Eventually, he’ll find me. Will he hurt you for being with me? Or your friends? Or April? Or Baxter? I just . . . I can’t let anything happen to you, Riggs. I can’t. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you from being sucked into my drama.”

“You know what you can do?” he asked.

“What?”

“Fight. For me. For you. For us. You’re right that I can’t be by your side all the time. But I don’t want you to give up on us. Don’t run. Stay here in Maine. With me. Fight for what we have. It’s unique, Carlise. I’ve never felt this way before, and I don’t care how fast things happened. We were made for each other, and no stalker is going to take that away.”

“I can do that. Fight, I mean,” she said softly.

“Good. Now, do you want to see the messages from your mom and Susie?” he asked, needing to change the subject. Just thinking about Carlise having to fight off her stalker, to fight for her life, made him nauseous.

“Oh, I can see them? I thought since the Wi-Fi wasn’t working, I wouldn’t be able to,” she said excitedly.

“I downloaded the emails to your phone’s hard drive by opening them. I didn’t read them,” he said quickly.

“I wouldn’t mind if you did. I trust you, Riggs.”

Once again, this woman brought him to his proverbial knees with her words.

“I forwarded the emails from your stalker to myself, then put them in a folder called Yucky Stuff on your account—I know it’ll be tough, but I’d prefer if you didn’t read them. They’ll just upset you, and I’m going to deal with them—but I couldn’t do anything about the texts. So I’m also asking you to please not read those either. At least none from the unknown account. You can read the texts from your friend and mom, but it would make me feel a lot better if you left the others for now,” Chappy told her.

Carlise nodded. “I feel like I’m being a wuss because I’m relieved I don’t have to see what he wrote.”

“You aren’t,” he countered without hesitation.

“Thank you,” she said on a sigh. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been here.”

Chappy really didn’t want to think about that. Because if he hadn’t decided to come up to the cabin to get away from life for a while, she probably would’ve died out here in the wilderness. Her car would’ve been found without her in it. Her body might not have been discovered until the spring thaw. He shivered at the thought.

To hide his distress, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “But I was here, and you did find me,” he said firmly, his lips brushing against her skin with every word.

She nodded against him, then whispered, “Baxter got on the couch with me! He’s letting me touch him!”

Chappy smiled. “I see.”

“He’s scared, but he trusted me not to hurt him. That’s how I feel about you, Riggs. I’m a little nervous about how much I love you, how fast this is happening. But I trust you not to hurt me. To treat me well. And when I freak out in the future about stuff that seems small or stupid because it reminds me of something from my past, I’m trusting you to go with it. To know that it’s not you, it’s my memories that I’m fighting.”

Chappy stared into her eyes and nodded. “I couldn’t have said the words better myself, sweetheart. My captors took a part of me. They stole a slice of my soul. And sometimes I wondered if I’d ever get it back. But with you by my side, I have a feeling I will. Be patient with me, too, honey. If I do or say something that makes you rethink being with me, please give me a chance to make it right.”

“I will. And we’re going to make it,” she said firmly. “I know it.”

Chappy breathed out a sigh of relief. “I think so too. Stay put. You and Bax look too comfortable to move. I’ll grab your phone and let you read your emails and messages. There are a couple there from people who I’m assuming are clients. I’ll go outside and crank up the generator, see if the Wi-Fi is working, so you can respond if you need to.”