Page 67 of Rum & Coke

“I already told you they won’t ever be on my TV. Plus, the Giants are playing the Diamondbacks.”

“So, you’re telling me I need to bring over my own TV?”

Tessa laughed. “Yeah, if you want to watch your team. Otherwise, Colt and I will be watching the Giants.”

“You’re killing me,” I teased.

“Speaking of killing …” my brows furrowed at her change of subject. “I followed up with Metro, and they gave me the report. Apparently, the guy who followed me home is a regular at the club.”

“Really?”

Tessa nodded and took a bite of her fish. “He’s actually been coming to the club for as long as I’ve worked there. Not sure if this was the first time he had followed me or not though.”

I dropped my fork and turned my body to face her. “What did the cops say?”

“When I saw the name, I realized who it was, and they said to get a restraining order if I wanted.”

“A restraining order’s not going to do shit. You better tell Galen and all the other bouncers. Fuck, we’re changing your locks too.”

“Change my locks?” she asked. “You really think that’s necessary?”

“You think I want to take a chance on something happening to you? I bet you could ask every single one of these people who work at S&R if they’ve had a stalker, and they would all answer yes. I’m not going to take this lightly.”

“Okay,” she replied.

“Sorry, to interrupt,” Spencer cut in. “Did you say you have a stalker?”

Tessa nodded. “Yeah. I work at a strip club, and this guy tried to follow me home one night.”

Spencer looked at Brandon briefly and then back to Tessa. “You probably don’t know my story, but Brandon’s ex tried to kill me, and his college classmate kidnapped me. If something seems off, you need to take every precaution there is.”

“Oh my god,” Tessa gasped. “You almost diedandsomeone kidnapped you?”

My gaze flicked to Brandon’s, and he gave me a tight smile with a nod. As I listened to Spencer tell Tessa her story, it solidified the fact that the world we lived in was dangerous and you never knew what lay beneath the exterior of a person.

“… so, move if you need to,” Spencer finished.

Tessa turned her head back to me. “I don’t want to move. Sophia is there for Colt whenever I need her, and Melony lives a few doors down. I’m happy there.”

I kissed the side of her head. “We’ll figure this out. Even if I need to get Seth to pay the guy a visit.”

Seth wasn’t Metro, and as far as I knew he was moving back to D.C. when the case he and Joss were working on ended. But, if I needed to scare the guy stalking Tessa, I would. Hell, if I needed to spend every night at her place, I would. I already followed her home each night she worked. Last night, I wasn’t able to, but I got Seth to do it, which she didn’t know about.

Which also meant she wasn’t good at making sure someone wasn’t following her.

I introduced Tessa to everyone I knew. She loved Leah and Nina, who both wanted to recruit Tessa to join S&R. That, in turn, made me tell them I was taking a break.

“You too?” Leah asked.

I shrugged and brought Tessa to my side, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “We’re gonna see what happens.”

Leah turned to Nina. “We should make a bet on who’s next.”

Nina’s eyes became wide. “Yes!”

“I’ve got Bradley,” Leah stated.

Nina thought for a moment as she looked over at the guys doing shots. “Okay, I’ll take Nick, but it’s going to need to be a strong woman to take that boy down.”