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“I know we keep telling you this, but we really won’t let anything happen to you. Lincoln is right, though. We should have brought the team with us.”
“To protect against a faulty railing?” I mumbled, casting him a sidelong look.
“I just think that having Jamie here would have made you feel better. You don’t want to do anything. You pace around the villa like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time.”
“Maybe because every time I get too comfortable, the other shoedoesdrop,” I reminded him.
Paxton frowned. “Do you really think that?”
I pulled my hand back and encircled it around the tiny espresso cup, turning my eyes toward the gate surrounding the villa. Every small movement in the trees, every gust of wind, made me think Richard was going to come out of the shadows with a new horror. A small shudder made its way through my body, and Paxton noticed.
“Mylee, what’s wrong?”
I can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to anyone.
Abruptly, I stood up, avoiding his eyes. “I think Kai’s right,” I muttered, picking up my cup and turning for the sliding glass doors.
“About what?” Paxton asked in surprise.
“I think we should probably go home.”
* * *
When we got back to Chicago, I threw myself into work, more so than before. I made cold calls for the Celestial Vista and spent evenings at the Silverpiece offices, sending the guys home when they came to collect me.
“Please come home,” Kai begged me one night, a week after we got back from Italy. “You’re putting too many hours in here. It’s not healthy, Mylee.”
The night before, Paxton had attempted to camp out in front of my office until I had snapped at him, complaining that he was acting like a possessive boyfriend. The insult had hit him hard, and he hadn’t texted me all day, adding to my guilt. But it was better like this.
“Mylee, please come home,” Kai said again when I didn’t reply.
“Fewer distractions here,” I answered primly, without raising my head from my computer.
“Are we distracting you?” he asked, sounding hurt, but I didn’t answer him, my heart panging as I realized I was hurting him as much as my distance was hurting me.
“Lincoln doesn’t like leaving you alone here at night,” Kai insisted. “What’s going on, Mylee?”
“I’m not alone, though,” I reminded him flatly. “Jamie’s just outside. I’ve got the security team.”
“It’s safer for you at the condo.”
“Kai, I have work to do,” I mumbled.
His face fell, and I wanted to apologize, but I reminded myself that this was for his own good. The more distance I put between us, the safer they would be.
“What time are you coming home?”
“I’m not sure,” I answered evasively.
“Fine.” Kai finally turned away from the doorway and left, but the hole in my gut only grew.
This wasn’t the way I wanted things, not after everything they had done for me. It wasn’t fair to treat them this way, but dragging them into my problems also wasn’t fair.
But how much longer could I keep this up? I couldn’t keep them at bay forever.
Maybe the threat of Richard would disappear, eventually. Maybe he’d get tired of chasing me…
Was he really that humiliated that he would hunt me down after Teatotler’s and try to kill me? Multiple times?
