Page 50 of Watch Me

“Well”—he grinned—“between you and me, you seem much nicer than Jessica.”

I chuckled slightly. “Oh yeah? How so?”

“Jessica is one of those women who thrive on drama. She’s always up to something at the school the kids go to, and she reminds me of Christina Applegate’s character inBad Moms.”

I laughed. “Totally know what you mean.”

Ididknow what he meant, and that made me sad because not only did Jessica want dirt on me, but I also knew it was because of Ethan’s sons. I just hoped it wasn’t going to come down to them orme.

There was a knock on the front door, and my gaze locked with Braeden. He slid off the barstool, reaching for his gun. “Get in the hall,” heordered.

I didn’t think killers knocked before entering, but I obeyed Braeden just in case. I couldn’t see the door from the hall, but I could heareverything.

“Sheriff?” Braeden questioned in greeting.

Sheriff?

“Sergeant Valor told me Reagan McCormick is here.”

“She is. What do you need with Reagan?” Braeden asked. The sheriff didn’t reply, or at least I didn’t hear anything. “You can come out, Reagan.”

I did, moving around the corner and coming intoview.

The sheriff stepped over to me. “Reagan McCormick, you’ve been served with an emergency protective order. You’re to stay at least five hundred feet away from the parties listed until the hearing.”

“An emergency protective order?” I questioned as I took the papers. I glanced at them to see that Jessica was the petitioner. “Of course.”

“Make sure you show up to the hearing,” the sheriff stated. “And you’ll need to surrender all of your firearms.”

I snorted and gave a tight smile. “I don’t have any guns, but I understand. Thank you, sheriff.”

He turned and left. Braeden closed the door behind him.

“Seems Jessica didn’t want to wait for the dirt you were going to tell her,” I stated, waving the papers in front ofme.

He grunted. “I guess not.”

After Braeden left at three, April, another officer I’d met after class, arrived to take over the task of keeping me safe. We watched a few episodes of a true crime documentary on Netflix, and before I knew it, Ethan was walking in through the frontdoor.

“Hey,” I greeted with asmile.

He looked tired, with dark circles under bloodshot eyes, and I was certain it wasn’t only because he didn’t sleep the night before. Even though we were both worried about a killer, I couldn’t imagine the added stress Ethan was under because of me: keeping me safe, fighting with Jessica because a killer was after me, and working to solve the case before another murder happened.

Possibly mymurder.

“Hey.” He threw his keys and cell phone onto the table near the door. He loosened his tie as he walked toward where I sat on the couch. “Thank you, April.”

“Not a problem.” She stood. “Now, I need to go home and find out what happens in the next episode. See ya tomorrow, Reagan.”

“Bye. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

Ethan gave me a quick kiss on the lips before he walked April to the door. “See you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Night,” she called back and left. Ethan shut the door and locked all of thelocks.

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked as I stood to go to thekitchen.