Page 75 of Justified Fear

“I did just meet her.”

“Yeah, but sometimes, you can be with someone for years and they don’t know you at all.Or you meet someone one weekend and it all clicks.”

“You have personal experience then?”

She snorted.“No.Thank God.My parents.They met one weekend when they were both stationed at Quantico.They got married three weeks later.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.Forty years and four kids later, they still can’t keep their hands off each other.It’s rather gross.But you…you have that same feeling, don’t you?And just so you know, I love daisies.”

He blinked.“What?”

“For thanking me.”

“For what?”

“I made sure that your lady isn’t still into her ex.”

He shook his head and looked out at the traffic below.“I knew she wasn’t.”

“And how did you know that?”

“Well, she wouldn’t have moved halfway around the world.”

Emily stepped closer and leaned against the railing.“Not technically halfway, and you would be surprised what a woman would do when her love is ignored or abused.”

“Your own experience.”

“No comment.Anyway, I wanted to talk with you about this guy.I mean, I was going to let you stand out here and pout like most men do.”

“I wasn’t pouting.”

She rolled her eyes.“Whatever.”

“I was brooding.”

“Brooding, pouting.Same thing.Believe me, I have three older brothers, and they all pout when they don’t get their way.”

“Even Mad Dog?”

“Especially Mad Dog.Dude tends to think he’s some kind of superstar.”

“He was one of the top MMA fighters in the world.”

“Well, I saw him cry when he was ten and broke his arm.”She waved her hand in front of her face.“Either way, we thought this Chad—what a name, am I right?—had no history of violence, but then, I did more research.He had some arrests before he was eighteen.”

“And how did you find that out?”

She shrugged.“I have my ways.I’ll say that his uncle was the sheriff where he grew up.I found at least two arrests when he was stalking an ex.”

“And you think he could be doing that right now?Doesn’t make sense.If he stalked, he would want to be closer.He wouldn’t explode all of a sudden.”

She sighed.“You know, Eden’s brother works for Dillon.”

“Good to know.”

“And he’s in Texas right now visiting the folks.He’s supposed to move out of here.She’s not that happy about it, but that is another story altogether.Anyway, he did some digging around for me.Chad didn’t start stalking his exes right away.See, Chad can’t keep it in his pants.He was always cheating on his girlfriend.And it always seems like the guy gets dumped soon after he is caught with the skank by the skank.That’s when he goes off.He tries to get back with the girl he cheated on, but they turn him down, and he loses it.”