As Sean’s words lingered in the air between us, I knew he was expecting some kind of response, but I had nothing. The idea of Sean living with me was alarming.
“You said your boss wants a name by the morning—now you’ve got one. Let me pack a bag and we’ll get going.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, just like that.”
“You don’t have to tell anyone you’re going? Or what you’re doing?”
Sean looked around his empty living room. “You see anyone here?”
No. No, I did not. In fact, there was next to nothing here—people or possessions.
“I’d already put in for some leave at work, so that’s covered. Just give me a few to pack and I’ll be right out.”
I knew I should tell him no. That this was a horrible idea. But Sean was already brushing by me and heading down the hall. It seemed my fate was sealed. I’d come in search of someone to guard my body, and ended up with the last person I’d ever expected.
6
Sean
AROUND TWENTY MINUTES later, my duffel bag was packed, my house secured, and a less-than-enthusiastic Xander was pulling his sleek cobalt-blue Maserati convertible into my garage.
Since I’d be driving him to and from his destinations until we caught the lowlife who was threatening him, I figured it might be smart to take away one of the things his stalker friend would be familiar with.
Instead, we’d be utilizing my SUV. It was a deflection that wouldn’t last long if this psycho was truly watching Xander’s movements, but at least it would trip him up a little. The windows were tinted, it was in no way connected to Xander, and, as far as I was concerned, it was bigger, bulkier, and more likely to flatten someone than his fancy Italian sports car.
Xander grumbled as he climbed out and shut the door, engaging the car alarm. “You’re sure that your garage is secure?”
I crossed my arms and leaned against my SUV as Xander walked down the drive toward me. “No one’s stolen my car yet.”
Xander glanced past my shoulder, raised a brow, and then brought his eyes back to mine. “No offense, but an SUV is an SUV. This,” he said, turning to gesture to the car he’d all but kissed goodbye. “This baby has a Ferrari-built 4.7-liter V8 engine. It goes from zero to sixty in four point five seconds.”
“You’re a car snob. Who knew.”
“I’m not a snob. I just want to make sure it will still be here after all of this.”
I pushed off the back of my SUV and walked over to him. “I’m more concerned with you still being here after all of this. But as for your precious car in there, I have security cameras on my property, and a couple placed at the entry points. One happens to be in the garage. You can check on your baby every night. Now let’s go.”
I hit the garage door remote, and as the door rolled down and Xander took one final look at his pride and joy, I climbed inside my car.
Not a minute later, the passenger door opened and Xander pulled himself up into the seat. As the interior light faded, he said, “Do you really think this person wants to hurt me?”
I didn’t want to scare him, but I also didn’t want to lie. “I don’t know yet. But anytime someone gets this personal, when they become fixated on someone enough to send threats like this, you have to take it seriously.”
Xander nodded, but stayed uncharacteristically quiet as he stared out the windshield.
“Are you scared?”
Xander shifted in his seat so he was facing me. “I’m more angry, if that makes sense. I thought I was going to have a nice, quiet night, and instead I’ve had to turn my life—and yours—upside down because some lunatic has a thing for me. That pisses me off.”
“I get it. I’d be pissed too.”
I started the engine, and Xander reached for his seatbelt and clicked it in place. “I just don’t know how we’re going to pull this off.”
“Would you stop worrying about that? We’ll work it out.”
“And if we can’t? Then what?”
I pulled out of the drive. “If for some reason we can’t manage to fake it—”
“Which, you have to admit, seems likely to happen.”
So much faith. “If that happens, I’ll point you in someone else’s direction.”
Xander frowned. “I thought you said you were the best.”
“I am.”
“Then why would I want someone else?”
“My point exactly.” I smirked. “Just keep that mindset and we should be golden. If you can have me, why would you ever want anyone else?”
Xander shook his head.
“I’m heading downtown, I assume?”
“Yes. North Lake Shore Drive. How weird is it that we’ve never been to each other’s house until tonight?”
I shrugged and flicked on my indicator. “Never really had a reason before. We always have family dinners at Bailey’s, and other than that, you and I never really—”
“If you say ‘got along,’ I’m going to kill you, since your whole argument that we could pretend to date is that we know each other so well.”
I chuckled. “Calm down over there, Jesus. I was just going to say that you and I have never really had a reason to go to each other’s house.”
“I wish this wasn’t the first.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
We fell silent, taking a moment to think about the way the night had unfolded. If someone had told me I’d be driving downtown to move in with Alexander Thorne and play his pretend boyfriend, I would’ve told them they had lost their mind. But the more I thought about the threats, the angrier I became, and the idea of letting someone else take care of this just didn’t sit right.
For one, Xander was practically family, and us Baileys looked after one another. And two, if anything happened to the man sitting to my right, my brother would kill me. So the way I saw it, there was really no choice.
I knew Xander doubted my ability to pull this off, and if I thought about it too hard, I might agree. But if the alternative was him getting hurt—or worse—then I’d do everything in my power to make sure he was safe.
“Do you think we should call Bailey?”
I looked over to see Xander’s phone in his hand and shook my head.
“Not yet. The less people who know, the better, for now. But we’ll have to tell him eventually. Just in case a photo is leaked or—”
“A photo?”
“Well, you are famous, Xander. I’ve seen you on those entertainment shows, and I’m sure you’re in magazines occasionally. What if Bay sees a photo of us together?”
“So what if he does? Maybe we ran into each other downtown.”
“And just so happened to be holding hands?” Xander’s mouth fell open, and when no words came out, I added, “That is what you said would need to happen to make this believable, right?”
Xander cleared his throat. “Yes. That’s one of them.”
“So yeah, we definitely need to let Bay know at some point. I’d hate having to explain that to him. What a shitshow.”