Page 12 of Protected By the Bikers Next Door (Never Just One #4)
Harper
I wake feeling happy and fulfilled, and I linger in the comfort of Wolf’s solid body next to mine.
I admire his naked back as he lies sleeping, his handsome face slack and peaceful.
I don’t remember the last time I slept that well, or the last time I had an orgasm like that.
Who am I kidding? I’ve never had an orgasm like that.
At that moment, the peace is shattered by the sound of Jenny rushing into the room. “Mommy!”
I have just enough time to fling the blankets over us both to cover Wolf’s semi-nudity from her eyes, but I can’t hide him. If she’s surprised to find Wolf in my bed, she doesn’t mention it, simply taking it in stride the way only a child can. “Morning, Wolf!” she says as she jumps onto the bed.
He looks confused and disheveled for a moment as he registers what’s happening, and I can’t help but laugh at the uncommon sight of Wolf not being in control. He looks at me and grins sheepishly, looking uncharacteristically boyish.
“You have been sleeping sooo long, it’s time to get up!” Jenny declares matter-of-factly.
I glance at my phone and realize she’s right; it’s almost nine thirty, an unheard-of lie-in for me.
Jenny must have been awake for hours. I dread to think of the chaos she must have left in her wake downstairs.
Though I’m surprised she’s only waking me up now, usually, the moment she’s up, she comes into my room, and there’s no way she’s been asleep until now.
“Yes, naughty Mommy. Why didn’t you come wake me sooner?” I ask, pulling her into a cuddle and making her squeal with delight as I tickle her.
“Bear and Hawk said not to. They told me to let you and Wolf rest. They made waffles for breakfast,” she adds with glee, having been given a breakfast that’s usually a treat.
I glance at Wolf, who seems unbothered by the fact that Hawk and Bear are here and clearly know what we’ve been up to. “Well, we’re up now. Why don’t you go to your room and get dressed while Mommy gets ready, too?”
Jenny nods and happily races off to her room. I slide out of the bed, not looking at Wolf. “I can get you a spare towel if you want to shower.”
“Is that an offer to join you?” he purrs.
My cheeks flush scarlet at the thought. “As tempting as that is, we can’t exactly have a steamy shower session with Jenny in the room next door and the guys downstairs.”
Wolf shrugs as if he wouldn’t have an issue doing just that.
“Suit yourself,” he says with a wink, throwing on last night’s clothes.
“I’ll shower in a bit at home.” He walks over to kiss me, taking my breath away, even from a small peck.
“I’ll see you downstairs, beautiful,” he says, playfully tapping me on the ass before leaving the room.
As I enter the kitchen, I can feel my face burning with embarrassment as the guys look at me knowingly. My eyes go to the kitchen counter where Wolf fucked me last night.
I’ll never be able to look at my kitchen the same again.
Not that it’s an unpleasant memory, far from it, but I’m still a little bit mortified by how much I threw caution to the wind last night. I expect there to be teasing from the guys, but instead, they all seem grim-faced, even Wolf.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, fearful of the answer.
Have I quite literally screwed everything up by screwing Wolf?
Bear holds up a blank envelope, identical to the others, and I know before he speaks what it means.
“Another note.”
Written using newspaper clippings like a ransom note in a movie are the words:
You let him FUCK you. WHORE. You’re MINE.
I feel sick at the implication. My stalker was watching us last night. He saw everything. I feel violated at the thought of someone watching me.
I hope that there is at least some small silver lining to this situation, and now we’ll have caught him on my new security system. “The cameras? Did we capture his face?”
Hawk frowns and shakes his head. “He’s on it, but he’s wearing dark clothing and a hood, and he deliberately turned away from the camera to obscure his face.”
“So he knows about the security.”
“It would appear so.”
We discuss new security protocols, and the men suggest getting new blackout blinds installed throughout the house to make it impossible to see in when they’re closed.
“There’s more,” Bear says, his voice serious. “While we were looking at the footage, we decided to review the past nights when you didn’t receive a note.” He turns the laptop they’ve been looking at to show me the footage.
The time and date stamp on the footage shows it is two a.m. the previous night. I watch in horror as a hooded figure approaches the back door.
“Is that what I think?” I ask in horror.
Bear nods. “He has a key. Luckily, we changed the locks. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear him. I could have caught the bastard, but it was raining hard, and I must have fallen asleep,” he says guiltily.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. How does he have a key?” I ask, feeling sick at the thought that he could have let himself into my home without me knowing.
“We’re not sure. Did you ever hide one under a mat in case of emergency or something when you first moved in?”
Tears spring to my eyes, and I nod, unable to speak. I feel so stupid and ashamed. I may as well have left the front door wide open for him.
“You’re staying at ours again tonight,” Wolf insists, pulling me into a hug. I don’t argue with him.
I wonder if this is the first time this sicko has tried to enter my house, or if he has done it before without me noticing. My skin crawls as I think of him prowling my house without me knowing. I decide then that I have to come clean about something.
“There’s something I haven’t told you all yet… I’m not sure that this all started when I moved here. I mean, the notes did,” I explain hurriedly, bracing myself to admit the rest, “But I had the weird feeling of being watched even before we moved here, back in our old home.”
“So this stalker could have followed you here?”
“I think so. What does he want from me?” I ask, knowing that they don’t hold the answer and praying that the only one I can think of can’t be true.
The guys don’t answer, but I know that from the looks they share, they’re thinking it’s nothing good. I should tell them the truth, tell them everything, but the words won’t come out. They deserve to know that there’s someone who wants me dead. Someone who would kill anyone who stood in their way.