Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 89

Briar

The next day we woke and went for a run. Then we showered exchanging very few words. They weren’t needed. It was as if he understood me. I had resolved my stance on the matter, but the emotions still coursed through me in unwanted echos. We went to work like any other day where I toiled over invoices and completed a few services. 

Around one in the afternoon, he pulled his bike up to the office and I gathered what I needed and we went to lunch. He dropped me off at his place and I worked on my emails for the Lords and Sons, among others. Carter had locked the pet door when he had the appointment at the tattoo parlor and hadn’t opened it yet. So Rosie and Tucker were there and happy to see me. 

Carter had insisted as Misty had, that I don’t go anywhere alone for now. While I loved his attention to my safety, I also hated that my freedom had been taken away by Creedon. I understood the sense of it. The idea of being alone in Jake’s house even after we mounted the cameras later tonight; sent an ever-roiling pit of anxiety coursing through my stomach. Misty had been on speaker after we jogged over to my place to affix them to the places she required them. There were four left over.

“Three are for Carter’s place, one at the front and one at the back and since there is an exit to the basement make sure you put one down there. Save the last one for your office at the shop. You spend enough time there, I want to be sure you are safe. She had us downloading apps to our phones to monitor them. Anytime a sensor went off, our phones would notify us. We jogged back home and settled down on the couch.

The highlight of my night, though, was getting to talk to Cricket. I missed the heck out of that little sassy girl. I was aware of Carter’s eyes watching me with interest as I asked her about her first day of school. I ignored him as he watched my interactions curiously. This little girl could light up my dark, depressing, world with her smile alone.

“When are you coming home?” she asked. I closed my eyes. How did you tell a six-year-old you couldn’t?’

Carter plopped down beside me, “Cricket, I'm Carter, a new friend of Adelaide’s.” He said saving me from the words I couldn’t explain to six year old. “Adelaide has to stay with me for a while,” Cricket’s brown eyes lit up at the proslpect of a new friend.

“Why?”

Carter took my phone and leaned away from me, hijacking my conversation.

“Well, we are just getting to know each other and that takes time. Can I tell you a secret?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Cricket’s voice was soft as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear her secret with her new friend. 

“I really like Adelaide. But I don’t know if she likes me just yet. How do I get her to like me too? He winked at me, why was I blushing? Holy shit this was too much.

Cricket’s voice came out in a whisper as if it were a secret. “She likes books and bikes and the countryside. She took me on a hike once, she seemed so happy walking through the woods. Oh and she likes hot guys with muscles.”

My jaw dropped mortified, how had a little girl picked up on that tid bit of information. I’d blame Misty for this.

“Well, we go on a run through the woods every day, and we go for a ride on my bike at lunch time.” He flexed his bicep showing Cricket a muscle. “I have some muscles.” She giggled. “Do you think she will like me?” Cricket nodded enthusiastically as I bit my lip and suppressed the laughter that threatened to bubble up. “What kind of books does she like?”

“I don’t know. The ones I’m not allowed to read. She says they are for adults only.” He eyed me out of the corner of his eye with a smirk as I went tomato red. She was unwittingly exposing all my secrets.

“Good to know, thanks, can we keep this a secret?” Cricket nodded unaware I was sitting just out of the camera’s view.

“Auntie Ads needs a good friend, Mommy says shes lonely and misses her, but I know she misses us more.”

“I’ll keep her company, I promise.” Carter told Cricket.

“You better or Beck will beat your ass.” Briar’s eyes went wide.

“Cricket! Language!” she reminded the child her manners as she took back the phone giving her a disapproving look.

“Sorry, but Beck said he would, I just didn’t want him to beat up Carter, because I like him.”

“I like him too sweet pea, but you are too little to be talking like a biker.”

“Sorry,”

“No sorries,”

“Just do better,” the little girl finished for her.

“Atta girl, I love you Cricket,”

“Love you too Auntie Ads,” I hung up after blowing her a kiss. Damn I missed that kid.

“Soo, what kind of books do you like?” Carter asked with a smirk.

“Shut up!” I snapped. He chuckled in response.

Tonight, Carter took me on a short run to warm up and took me back to the basement and motioned me to the mats. 

“You're going to have to get over whatever hold he has on you, Briar, or if the time comes, you're going to hesitate.” He pointed out. I suppose he had a point.

“I don’t know what you have been taught, so we are starting with the basics.” 

I just grinned at him, little did he know I had enough bullies to practice what Jake preached when it came to defending myself. So I listened to his instructions and didn’t tell him I had gotten the same speech from Jake since I started school. The thing was when you were an outcast in a small town you needed those lessons more then Jake wanted to know. By highschool they had just left me alone. I was more bother then worth it to them.

He explained force and the points of weakness on the body and walked me through the motions. When he set me up for a scenario I simply went past his teachings and laid him out on the floor simply because he wasn’t expecting it. He just grinned at me before moving on to the next stage and the next until he started finding flaws in my form. Jakes teachings were all about quickly shaming my agressors ego and putting distance between me and them. Carter on the other hand tried to explain all the options in a scenario and how to execute each one. He was talking death blows and disabling a person to keep them down. This wasn’t the playground anymore…it was life or death. I was intrigued as I cataloged it all to memory. Training might just save my life.