Page 50 of Stormswept Colorado (Hart County #3)

FORTY-TWO

Ayla

I wanted to call Teller to find out how Piper was doing. He’d been so stressed out when he left. Not that I could blame him.

But he’d seemed angry with me. Did he regret that I was here?

Stay inside , he’d ordered. As if I would’ve done anything else. I usually like his protectiveness, but I didn’t appreciate him speaking to me like I was exasperating him.

Like I was a burden.

After I made sure the alarm was set and every door was locked, I tried lying down in Teller’s bedroom. But I couldn’t stay still. So I got up and paced the carpet.

Ugh, it was awful that someone had broken into Piper’s home. I wished there was something I could do. But I also suspected that Teller’s guilt about taking care of his sister and Ollie had reared its ugly head. He didn’t want my help. Didn’t want me to cause trouble .

You’re more trouble than it’s worth .

“Stop,” I said into the silence.

Teller was upset, with good reason, but he loved me. We loved each other. Nothing would change that. Not even our first real fight as a couple.

My phone rang, and my heart leaped, hoping it was Teller. But it was someone else. Someone who made my head pound just looking at his name.

You’re kidding me .

Paul Ruxton was calling. What on earth could he have to say to me?

Well…maybe it would be useful to talk to the man. Just so I could ask where he’d gotten the old photo of me, because that still nagged at my mind. And the thing with the red daisies.

Better yet, I could record this call. I had an app for that on my phone, considering the calls I sometimes received from reporters.

There were laws about recording people in California.

Something Cheryl had mentioned to me. But I wasn’t in California right now, so I wasn’t going to worry about that.

I opened the app, then hit the record button before answering. “Paul?”

“ Ayla . Thank you for picking up.” He sounded out of breath.

“You’re lucky I didn’t block your number.” I paced across Teller’s bedroom carpet again, stopping to look at the trees through the window. “I should have, after what you’ve done.”

“Please. I need to talk to you. In person.”

“No, you need to answer my questions. First of all, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I screwed up. I realize that.”

I almost laughed. “You stalked me.”

“No! It wasn’t real. You know that, right? I wasn’t stalking you.”

“You sent me those emails. You said you were watching me.”

“But I swear Ayla, the whole time I was trying to help.”

He was even more despicable and clueless than I’d thought. The man cared about no one but himself. “Which part was helping me? Where you invented a stalker to mess with my head? Or where you planned to use that to get me to sleep with you?”

“If you would let me explain. Do you realize how badly this is fucking over my career? Cheryl called my father. He fired me from Ruxton Records. His own son. ”

“Good. That’s what you deserve.” Actually, I was impressed. Not enough to stay with the label. But maybe I wouldn’t trash Ruxton Records in the media.

“Look, I get that you’re pissed off. But you’d be smart to sit down with me and hear me out. You don’t even know what’s really going on.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, I thought I could do this, but I was wrong. You can talk to my lawyers.”

“Just give me a chan?—”

I hung up, feeling sick to my stomach. That asshole. I hadn’t even gotten to my real questions, but what was the point? Why should I believe anything Paul said?

Just talking to him made me feel gross.

I went out to the kitchen. Poured a glass of water. Then I heard a knock at the front door. A shadow crossed the windows.

“Ayla!”

Oh, no. No way.

Paul was outside. Here .

My heart rate skyrocketed. Dashing out of the kitchen, I made sure he couldn’t see me from the front windows or the door.

I didn’t know what to do. My first instinct was to call Teller.

But he was already busy taking care of Piper.

He would completely crash out if he learned Paul was here.

Piper needed her brother right now. I wasn’t the only person who mattered in Teller’s life.

My phone rang. Paul again.

“ Think ,” I said to myself.

Should I call Ashford or Callum? Was that even necessary? The alarm was set, and the doors were locked. Paul wasn’t the type to break a window or kick his way inside. He was a record producer, nowhere near the size or strength of someone like Teller or Bryan.

And why should I call a man to come save me, anyway? Last time, I’d gotten away from Paul with a well-placed knee to his groin. I could handle him myself.

When Paul’s number rang on my phone again, I answered, pressing my back to one side of the hallway. “What are you doing?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“I told you I want to talk in person. That’s why I’m here. I know you’re inside Landry’s house.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I bribed one of the security guards who works at your house in Malibu. Cost me ten thousand dollars.”

My eyes closed. Please tell me it wasn’t Bryan .

“The guy said you and your boyfriend had both left LA, and it wasn’t that hard to guess you’d run off with him to Colorado. That’s what you do, Ayla. When shit gets bad, you run to that small town. Not that hard to figure out.”

Perhaps he had a point there.

“I flew in last night.” Paul was talking loudly enough I could hear the drone of his voice both through the phone and out on the porch.

“You’re not the only one with access to a private jet.

Which won’t last long with my father threatening to cut me off completely.

I drove here in a rental and waited down the road.

I was about to try calling you. Then I saw Landry drive off in his police car with the lights on. ”

“I’m not at his house. I’m with my brother-in-law.”

“Liar. I saw you through the window when you ran out of his kitchen. You’re hiding.”

I cursed under my breath.

“I just want to talk, okay? Please. I’m begging here. I came all this way. Just let me explain some things, and you’ll see…”

“What. What will I see?”

“That I made a mistake, but I’m not that bad of a guy.” He knocked on the front door again. “I have information that you’ll want.”

I scoffed. “And you think you can trade something for it, is that it?”

“Pretty much. Open the door, and I’ll tell you. You’ll definitely want to know this. It’s important.”

Temptation whispered at the back of my mind. What if he really knew something? Was it about the old photo of me?

But there was absolutely no way I’d give Paul what he wanted. I wished I could march outside and knee him in the balls again. Then break his nose. He was stronger than me, though. I didn’t have a gun or the training to use one.

There was only one real choice. “I’m going to call the police.” Maybe another officer would respond, and Teller could stay with his sister.

“ No ! No, no, no, just let me speak, okay? I’ll tell you. You have a real stalker, Ayla, but it wasn’t me. I never sent the flowers in Toronto! Do you hear me? I never sent those.”

I froze, my finger hovering over the End Call button. Between the phone speaker and his voice on the porch, I could still hear Paul clearly.

“Cheryl told me about the flowers and what the card said. Yes, I sent the emails calling myself Biggest Fan,” he went on. “But I just borrowed the name.”

I lifted the phone to my ear again. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“To stop you from making another stupid decision. You went off the rails a couple years ago, and then your last album flopped. I was supposed to mastermind your big comeback. The return of Ayla Maxwell to the top of the charts. You’d gotten those creepy flowers before, so I decided to capitalize on that. ”

“But why send the email when I was in Silver Ridge for the wedding?”

“Because Cheryl and I were both worried you wouldn’t come back from Colorado.

That place has some kind of hold on you.

That’s why Cheryl and I both came there to get you.

I just took it a step further. I thought…

I guess I thought if you were afraid of a stalker, you’d be more willing to do what we asked. ”

“More willing to fall into your arms, you mean.” My stomach twisted. I wanted to retch. “Then you sent more flowers. And that disgusting photo yesterday with Teller’s eyes blacked out. You’re pathetic.”

“I didn’t send any of the flowers. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. None of them. I only sent the two emails. And the second one was only because I panicked at the event the other night.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“I fucking swear, Ayla. On my grave and, like, my bank account.”

Wow. Under different circumstances, I would’ve laughed. Paul was truly a shining example of the worst LA had to offer. He’d sent the emails from Biggest Fan to swoop in and play my hero, just like Teller had thought. As if Paul could be a hero to anyone except in his own mind.

But if he was telling the truth, if Paul hadn’t sent those flowers, then…

Who ?

“Shit,” Paul said. “You really called the cops on me? Is that your boyfriend, here to attack me again just for trying to tell you the truth?”

What was he talking about?

I emerged from the hallway and looked through one of the front windows. A police SUV had just driven up the driveway. But that wasn’t Teller behind the wheel.

The vehicle’s brakes squealed as it stopped. The driver’s door flew open.

An officer I’d never seen before jumped out, a hand on his gun holster. He was young, early twenties, with messy light-brown hair. A Silver Ridge PD uniform. He approached the porch. “Sir, can you identify yourself?”

Paul shifted from foot to foot. “I was just trying to talk to her!”

“Were you harassing Miss Maxwell?”

Had Teller sent this officer here to watch over me? I wasn’t surprised .

Annoyance rose briefly inside me. I’d told Teller I didn’t need a babysitter.

But…okay, I did need help getting rid of Paul. I’d been about to call the police anyway.

Quickly, I disabled the home security system and opened the front door, stepping outside onto the porch in my bare feet. “Paul was just leaving, Officer…”

I looked at his name badge. Officer Duncan .

“I’ve met an Officer Duncan before. Are you related to him?” But this guy looked nothing like the officer I’d met on my last trip to Silver Ridge. The same day Teller had arrested me. That man had wire-rimmed glasses. Seth, I remembered. Officer Seth Duncan.

The officer suddenly drew his gun and pointed it at Paul. Paul lifted his hands, shouting.

A gunshot rang out.

I stared in utter shock as Paul collapsed. Blood spread beneath his head. It had all happened so fast. My brain couldn’t catch up.

Then the officer pointed the gun at me, and his hard expression faltered.

“Ayla Hopkins. I’ve been waiting a long, long time for this.”