Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 126

Briar

Lana was waiting for me when I got home, she had more bags of takeout, I’d have to go to the grocery store soon and ban this practice, it would be depleting Mazzie’s pockets. 

“Your girlfriend is going to regret your spending,” I pointed out as she took out four large sandwiches. Lana shrugged.

“I’m her princess, she will be fine,” Lana drawled.

“I had pizza earlier,” I tried to insist.

Lana shook her head.

“How much did you actually eat Briar?” I found I couldn’t lie as I sunk into the couch unceremoniously.

“Two agonizing bites,” I admitted. 

“Try the sandwiches,” she instructed as she plopped down next to me shoulder to shoulder. She made me taste each one but the only one I could stomach was the cheese steak, why I just shook my head and ate a few bites and Lana’s lips curled into a soft smile.

“What?” I asked.

“I told Carter’s mom these were for Carter and I didn’t know what he wanted. You picked his favorite. I put the sandwich down instantly as I chewed the bite in my mouth. Lana handed it back to me and I shook my head.

“Well, the conditions are this…as long as you are safe Carter dosen’t need to know anything…however, you stop eating or put yourself in any danger and I’m going to have to tell Mazzie, who will tell Carter…So, it's in your best interest to eat now or you’ll have caveman Carter up your ass.”

I scrubbed my face with my hand and groaned before I picked the sandwich back up.

After I ate Lana helped me survey the kitchen and I made a list for the store and stuck it on the fridge with a magnet. I walked out the front door and Lana followed me to the garage. When I pushed open the doors and flicked on the light. The large punching bag greeted me as it hung from the rafters. 

“Oh goody more training,” Lana said sarcastically as she pulled a lawn chair down from the nail it hung on the wall and dusted it off before sitting in it.

“I’m going to supervise,” she said leaning back with a grin. Of course after this morning she was sitting this one out.

I saluted her and pressed play on my playlist as blaring music filled the air. I took a moment to stretch and wrap my hands. Then I went all in on the bag. My anger and frustration honed in with precision and focus, the bloom in my chest spread out to my limbs as my feet and fists connected with the bag. The time and the world fell away and it was just me and my prey. The exertion felt good as I laid into the bag with more force then I had ever used before.

I had just landed a roundhouse kick and was spinning around to lay into the bag with my fists when it swung around when Lana’s voice cut through my trance.

“Brair!”

I caught the bag and steddied myself as I turned to look at her.

“You’ve been at it for over an hour and your hands,” she warned. I let go of the bag and looked at my hands. Blood was seeping through the wrappings. I hadn’t even felt it. I blinked stunned as Lana walked over and looked over them shaking her head.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” she insisted as she pulled me out of the garage and closed the doors. “I have to say, I’ve never seen anyone look like that when they fought. You were amazing! But I can’t condone self sabotage so no more blood ok?”

I just nodded like a scolded child. She giggled. “My best friend is a badass!” I shook my head as we walked back into the house.

Lana helped me unwrap my hands and sent me into the shower. The water stung my hands but I ignored it as I washed my hair and body. Thoughts of the first time Carter and I had shared this shower flitted through my memory I rinsed off and turned the water off. When I came out I found Lana sprawled on my bed with a bottle of peroxide and some gauze next to her. I pulled my towel out of my hair and sat beside her laying the towel over my lap. She sat up and grabbed the bottle and I braced for the sting. I hissed anyway as the abrasions bubbled up and fizzed. She blotted my hands with the towel and spread some ointment on them before wrapping them up in gauze.

When she finished she looked at me. “Are you going to be ok tonight? Do you want me to stay?”

As nice as it would be to have her here I shook my head no. “Thank you but I'll be ok, I have Ole Betty and Beck’s knife.

“If anything goes down, I know you don’t want to hear this but call Carter, he's closest to you,” Lana instructed.

“I’m not sure that I’m even on his radar anymore,” I said as I shook my head. Everything that Clyde had said rushed back to me.

Lana glanced at Ole Betty. “If he gave you that—she said pointing at the shotgun—he still cares, that was the gun his grandfather kept in the house for his grandmother, for protection, he wouldn’t part with it lightly.” She filled me in and  I sighed.

I didn’t know what to make of that. My chest ached with the sentiment of it. I glanced at Lana who just opened her arms to hug me. The slighter woman wrapped me in a hug.

“I understand why you feel the way you feel, just know Mazzie and I are here for you.” She said, squeezing me tightly. I nodded. “Now how early do I need to be here to keep you from running in the woods alone?” she groaned.

I chuckled. “Seven, I’m working from home 6 days a week now as long as the new hire can pull his weight. I just have to stop in tomorrow and get him in the system.”

“Thank fuck!” Lana exclaimed. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive getting up at 4 am to be here on time.”

“I told you that you didn’t have too.”

She shook her head. “I would have suffered if it meant knowing you were safe. You're the only person here that I feel is my friend, not because of anyone else. Yeah you came around with Carter, but I can be myself with you and you don’t give a rats ass how weird I am. You don’t look down on me because of what I went through. You take my crazy in stride.”

“I love your crazy,” I admitted and Lana beamed back at me.

“I love your crazy too,” she added before she let me go. So what’s on the agenda tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “Run, groceries and going through Jake’s stuff. I need to figure out the secrets Clyde hinted at. Knowledge is power and I’m not letting that piece of shit male get the better of me again.”

“I’ll be back at 7 then,” Lana let me know before kissing my cheek and slipping out the door. I followed and waved in just my towel before going inside to get dressed.