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“You can’t fucking touch me! I’ll kill her if you try,” Craig shouts, and I pray no one in the store is near this.
“You won’t ever get near her. Try and I’ll put you down,” Jamison warns, filling my heart with joy at how strong and sure his tone is, but also absolute fear because I wouldn’t put anything past Craig now. Not if he’s still holding a gun when there are cops everywhere.
“Get over here, Natalie, unless you want him dead at your feet,” Craig demands, making my heart stutter.
“She’s not going anywhere with you. You can back off, right now. You know you’re not allowed within five hundred feet of her and right now, you’re less than ten away from me,” Jamison reminds him, and he lets out a shout that makes me shake.
“Then I’ll just kill you and take her!” he rages, and a cry slips from my throat when a gun goes off. It’s followed quickly by a second shot, but I can’t begin to look up as Jamison falters, falling backwards a bit, and a scream rips free from me.
My feet tangle up beneath me, and I start to go down. I don’t hit the ground as Drew’s hands catch me, and all my attention is on Jamison, my hands flying to his chest, tears streaming down my face as he groans.
“Shh, it’s okay, baby girl,” he says, his hands cupping my face and I look up finding his eyes on me. There’s a bit of pain in them, but nowhere close to what I’d expect after getting shot.
“You good there, Jamison?” a man asks. The voice the same one that told Craig to put down the gun earlier, warned him that if he shot, he’d be shot in return.
“I’m okay, good’s another story,” Jamison says, and my eyes fly up to his, my hands still pressed against his chest. There’s only that hint of pain still and it hits me that his chest feels different.
“Get her out of here and you need to be checked out by a medic. Vests might stop the bullet, but they can still do some damage,” the other man states and the air leaves my chest realizing why Jamison’s chest didn’t feel right now.
“Come on, baby girl, let’s go,” Jamison says, and we follow Detective Taylor out of the space, towards a waiting ambulance.
“Is she okay?” a woman asks, and my head spins a bit as Jamison’s hands guide me down to sit.
“Shock most likely,” Detective Taylor answers, as buzzing fills my ears.
Nothing really makes sense until we’re at Jamison’s, the smells familiar, and I finally stop shaking as he wraps me up in a tight hold. Tears fall hard and fast, and I wrap myself around him, never wanting to lose this, lose him.
“Shh, I’m sorry, baby,” Jamison says sometime later, his fingers brushing the tears away from my eyes, and I see so much more knowledge in his eyes than I have, and it worries me.
“What happened?” I ask, groaning when his phone goes off, followed by mine.
His is his parents and he assures them we’re fine, while I debate the sanity of answering my brother right now. It seems the shooting was on the news, and I let out a sigh, certain Nick’s put the name together with my boyfriend of the same name, even if he never saw Craig from what I’m aware of.
Jamison gets off the phone with his parents, then answers Jasmine’s call, assuring her we’re both safe as well, while Nick tries calling me again. He drops a kiss on my lips, then calls Nick, suggesting he come by for some burgers he's grilling, and my stomach tightens with worry hearing him say yes.
“Stop worrying baby girl. I’ll handle this,” he promises, before getting things ready for the grill.
I feel gross after everything that happened, and go upstairs, taking a long shower. I wish Jamison had joined me but when I get downstairs to find him calming my brother down, I understand why he didn’t.
“Natalie!” Nick shouts, coming over to me with a tight hug. “What the hell happened? It’s one thing not telling me that you hooked up with my friend, it’s another to not tell me your ex-boyfriend was stalking you!”
“I told him how we met, baby,” Jamison says, pulling a strangled sound from Nick’s throat and it makes me smile. It grows further when Jamison wraps me up in his arms, holding me tightly as the front door opens.
“Let me have some,” Annie says, giving me a hug after she gives Jamison one that brings tears to my eyes.
“I’m glad you’re okay, but what were you thinking?” Jasmine demands of her brother. “You could have been killed.”
“Which is why I was wearing the vest,” Jamison says, pulling me onto his lap as we settle in, Jamison introducing Nick to the others as he continues to stare at us.
“I don’t understand why you did it either,” I tell him, shaking my head his way. “If you knew he was there, if Doug’s guys knew, why risk the confrontation and not just have us come home?” I question, pulling another sound from my brother at calling Jamison’s place home.
“Last night, Doug’s message was more than that he was outside watching,” Jamison says, shocking me that he held something back.
He glances at Adam, motioning to Cleo with a shake of his head, and my heart races with worry. Adam suggests that Cleo take Daisy to get the cup of water she asked for, and when she’s out of earshot, Jamison adds, “Doug had his men watching Craig. He bought what they could only describe as a kidnapping kit, including chloroform. Add in that they discovered the body of another girl he’d dated that went missing…”
“What?!” Nick shouts as my breath stalls.
“In their tracking of him, they discovered a spot that he went quite regularly. Digging into his background they learnt one of his ex-girlfriends had gone missing. She’d filed a restraining order against him in her hometown, so the police there thought he was behind the disappearance. Detective Taylor found the remains out there yesterday afternoon, they confirmed it was her with dental records this morning. He and his father were going to be brought in for questioning about it, but we were worried that he’d do something reckless before the judge would approve the warrant. Because of his father’s position with the department, they felt it best to get the DA to sign off on everything and get the arrest warrant for Craig, so his father couldn’t step in and help, muddy the water by planting new evidence, or messing with the evidence they already had. He’d be put on leave until he was either cleared or charged after Craig’s arrest.
