Hers (Snowy Mountain Wolves) (2 page)

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4
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Kate

“Welcome back, Miss Anderson. I’m afraid I don’t have good news about your car.” The grease covered, well-preserved, middle-aged man gave me an apologetic look.

My heart sunk. Fear curled low in my stomach as he invited me up to the counter. I took a deep, shaky breath. I didn’t
withdraw enough cash to cover much more than the basics. Any expensive repairs would force me to call my brother and explain everything I didn’t want to.

Andy laid a clipboard on the counter and turned it to face me. With a pen, he pointed to the lines. “Your transmission is shot, honey. Here are the quotes I got for a new one versus a used one. Regardless of which one you choose,
the shipping is pricey and I’m afraid it’ll be a week before I can get your car back to you in runnin’ condition.”

My eyes widened at the numbers on the page. The lowest was
well over a thousand dollars with parts, delivery and labor, far more than I had.

My heart picked up its pace. Sweat dotted my brow as anxiety coursed through me. I had budgeted for a few hiccups, but nothing to this degree.

Noting my reaction, Andy removed the paper from the clipboard. “Why don’t you think about it tonight and let me know tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Friday, as long as I get the order in by five, it’ll ship out Monday and get here by Thursday. I’ll bump ya to the head of the list and try to get it back to ya by Friday at closing, okay?”

I bit my bottom lip, nodding my head in agreement. I took the paper from him, handling the edges anxiously.
“Um, do you have a phone I can use?”

“Afraid it’s out in the shop. Can’t get to it in time in here if I’m
workin’ on a car.” He locked the computer and stepped out from behind the counter. “Follow me.”

In the back corner of the three-
car-garage shop was an old-fashioned corded phone mounted partway up the wall. “Thanks.” My voice was weak.

I watched Andy move to the car in the first bay. It was an older model Buick of some sort that took up a lot of space. It made my ancient
Toyota seem much smaller than I perceived it to be.

I took a deep breath as I focused on the phone. It was far from clean. I knew my hands would reek of oil after handling it.

I was procrastinating. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining to my over-protective older brother why I hadn’t told him about my problems before now, and why I’d left the area without telling him.

No use delaying it any longer.
I dialed the Miami number I knew by heart.

“
Yeah?” His brusque answer told me he was on his way to a meeting or doing something important.

“Hey, Billy. It’s me.”

He paused. “Kat?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s me.”

I heard the phone rustle before he came back. His voice was a rushed, hushed growl. “Where the hell are you?”

My heart hammered in my chest. “I’m in upstate South Carolina.”

“Why?” he demanded.

I sighed. I knew he was going to press for answers. It was risky even calling him. “I have a stalker, Billy. About a year ago, I went out on a blind date with this guy. He seemed nice at first, but he got intense really quick. When I
turned him down for a second date, he, uh…well, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I felt my cheeks heat.

“Did he hurt you?” I’d never heard menace in my brother’s voice before.
Goose pimples freckled my skin.

“Um, no. He…” How did you explain this to your ultra fit brother without praying for lightning to strike you dead?

“He what, Kat? How can I help you if you don’t talk to me?”

“He…” I glanced around the shop, making sure no one was paying attention to my conversation. Regardless, paranoia had me lowering my voice. “He likes fat women, okay? Apparently I w
as his perfect cup of tea.” I felt heat engulf my face.

Silence met me on the other end of the line
; I knew I’d stunned my brother for the first time ever.

“He started sending me sweets, cakes, cupcakes, stuff like that regularly. I would just throw it out, thinking eventually he would get the hint when I didn’t call him. But he just became more aggressive with it. He began leaving notes with the desserts on my doorstep.
”

“On your fucking doorstep? He knows where you live and you didn’t think to tell me about this, Kat?” Fury coated every word he said. I knew him well enough to know he had a death grip on his cell and his other hand was probably fisted at his side, ready to slam into the closest desk.

Moments later, I heard the telltale thud of his fist to wood. “What kind of notes are we talking about, Kat?”

“Um, well, t
hey range from degrading to out right threatening. But before you yell at me for that, I took them to the police and requested a restraining order, but the judge denied it.”

“What the fuck?” he snarled.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead with the back of my hand. This is what I’d been afraid of. I didn’t want to upset him. I didn’t want to worry him; he already had so much on his plate running his own company in Miami. “Turns out this guy works for the police. He’s an IT specialist with the MDPD. Within a day of me filing for a restraining order, he hacked into my e-mail and social media stuff. I was going to go to you at that point, but then Jason contacted me on the down low. He’s a cop at the department; he said, Donovan Andrews, that’s the guy, always gave him the creeps, but apparently Donovan is related to the governor and has a lot of pull. I don’t stand a chance against him, Billy.”

“Do you still have those notes?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ll hire a private investigator here. I’ll uncover so much dirt on the asshole no governor could save his ass from a media slay without costing himself the next election.”

“Billy, he’s different. He knows the system inside and out and he’s really tech savvy. He’s not going to leave a computer trail. Worse, he…well, he’s smart. Just, promise me you’ll be careful. Jason said Donovan requested a week of vacation. He thought maybe he was planning something, so he suggested I get out of town for the week if I could. That’s why I’m here, but, I’m sort of stuck.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s a computer genius. I had to leave my cell phone and all of my cards at home. He has access to my bank account and cards if he wants. I can’t use them without him finding me, Billy. I…” My chest constricted; fear sent tears into my eyes, stinging my tired orbs. “My transmission went out in my car. I didn’t take out enough cash to cover it and have money for food and a hotel, and I can’t get anymore. I know he’s watching my accounts, Billy, and, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was watching yours too.” A sob choked from me. I turned away from the cars, trying to stifle the noise. “God, I wish I never went out with him, Billy. I’m…I’m so sorry.”

“This is not your fault, sweetie. We’ll figure it out, okay? Give me some time and I’ll get something together. Where are you right now?”

“I’m using the mechanic’s phone. I’m at Andy’s Auto in Snowy Mountain, South Carolina.”

“Chin up, sweetie. Everything’s going to be okay, alright?” His conviction soothed me momentarily.

“God, I hope so.” I did my best to slow my tears, knowing they wouldn’t change anything. They only showcased how weak I actually was.

“Can I call this number back in a little bit?”

“Um…” I glanced around the shop. It didn’t look like Andy was going to stop working on the car anytime soon. “Yeah. I’ll wait here.”

“Ok
ay, sweetie. I’ll call you back in a few minutes, promise.” I knew from the word ‘promise’ that he wouldn’t forget. Occasionally, Billy got sidetracked and didn’t call me back for hours or until the next day. He was busy. I understood that and didn’t push. When he made a promise though, he always kept it, ever since I was young.

When I was sixteen and Billy was twenty, our parents died in a car accident. Billy dropped out of college and immediately took up the responsibility of raising me. I knew what he was sacrificing to keep me out of the system and tried not to bother him. He worked fifty hours a week at a crappy restaurant job serving tables into the wee hours of the morning. He always woke up to make me breakfast and send me off to school though, even if that meant only an hour of sleep for him. After I left, some days he would take a nap, but most, he worked on his business plan. Billy spent two years writing that plan, waiting until I graduated before submitting the plan to the bank; he said starting a business was too risky when you had someone relying solely on you for food and shelter. Eight years later, Billy ran one of the most successful
commercial development firms in the entire Southeastern United States. He lived, ate and breathed the weather, real estate, construction and the ever-changing government regulations surrounding it. It’s how he was a step ahead of his competition: he knew the delays he would face and was upfront with his customers about all of them. He’d never been a day late or a dollar over his original estimate with any client. He prided himself on his research, and the businesses he signed with appreciated his approach. It garnered him far more referrals that he could handle in the beginning, prompting his company to expand much quicker than he’d planned.

I was always in awe of him. I didn’t know how he did it, but he did, and he always came through.

“Please hurry, Billy.”

“Stay by the phone, Kitty Kat.”

My heart skipped a beat at the childhood nickname. It’d been years since he’d used the endearment.

Hearing it now only made me more aware of the stakes, of his concealed fear for me.

I bit my bottom lip hard as I slid the phone back on the receiver, more than a little shaken.

You never think it’s going to happen to you. As a plus sized girl especially, I never expected a man to become fixated on me. There was nothing special about me. I was just average. I lived a modest life.

I worked five days a week as a research contributor for a popular web-magazine. On weekends, I volunteered at the soup kitchen down the street, often striking up conversations with the homeless on my research topic for that week. A few even came to ask me directly what I was studying that week. The people there were my second family; some of the most brilliant men and women I’d come across were homeless. Homeless did not equal helpless, witless or futureless.

“Everything alright, Miss Anderson?”

I startled at how close Andy’s voice was.

I quickly swiped away any stray tears on my cheeks and turned to face him. “Um, yeah. I’m just waiting on someone to call me back.” Realizing I was being assumptive that he wouldn’t mind, I continued. “If that
’s okay. I hope that’s okay.” I frowned, understanding a little more what it was like to be at the mercy of strangers for necessities.

“No problem. You can wait inside if you’d like. I can go get you when they call.” He
cleaned his hands with a dirty rag. Truthfully, though, I didn’t know if he was taking off the grease or putting more on.

“Oh, I don’t want
to interrupt your work. I’ve already bothered you enough today. I…” I shrugged. “I can just wait here. I don’t mind.”

He watched me for a bit. I knew when his eyes narrowed on my cheeks that I hadn’t hidden the fact that I’d been crying.

I offered him a small smile, hoping he wouldn’t pry.

To my relief, he nodded his head and turned face.

I expelled a breath I didn’t know I was holding as he resumed working on the Buick.

A few minutes later, the phone rang. My heart took off. Impatiently, anxiously,
I snatched up the phone on the first ring. Catching myself at the last minute, noting that it could be a customer, I decided to answer the phone accordingly. “Andy’s Auto. How may I help you?”

“It’s me, Kitty Kat.”

“Hey.”

“
Do you have enough money for a hotel and food tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” His voice wasn’t as tight when he spoke this time. “Jared’s going out on the first available flight tomorrow morning. He’ll land in Columbia and drive up to you. I’m sending him with money for you; I don’t want to hear any fuss from you on this. I’ve filled him in on what’s going on and he’s sticking by your side. Consider him your personal bodyguard until the asshole is behind bars.”

“But that could be months or even years, Billy.
Heck, that may not happen at all even.”

“I don’t care. I can’t lose you, Kat.”
Tension crushed his voice, lining his tone with condemnation, as if I was irresponsible, incapable of comprehending his reasons. “I just can’t, okay?”

I softened. “I don’t want to lose you either, Billy, but assigning one of your best guys to me is a disservice to him. Just because Jared has muscles doesn’t mean he’s the best man to play bodyguard. And just because you give me a bodyguard doesn’t mean Donovan won’t still get to me.
” I shook my head negatively, even though he couldn’t see me through the phone. “I won’t accept him, Billy. I can stay hidden much easier without a handsome handler drawing attention to us.”

“Handsome? Don’t tell me you have a thing for him.”
He practically snarled.