“What the hell did you just say?” I demanded of my brother.
“The stalker isn’t after Brian. Or at least it doesn’t look like it. I did some checking. The threats, the letters, all of it. They only come when Leighanne is home or when he goes to her. They always threaten Brian if he marries Leighanne. But there is never a threat against Leighanne. Doesn’t that sound backwards to you?” he asked.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, turning to look at Brian where he watched me from the table.
“Whoever this is, my guess is they are obsessed with her and feel threatened by him. He’s not being stalked. She is.”
“Thanks, Mike. Call me if you find out anything else.”
“Sure thing,” he said before we ended the call.
“What’s wrong?” Brian asked.
“I’m not too sure yet. Just some things that aren’t matching up,” I answered. He didn’t need to know yet, not till we knew for sure that Brian wasn’t the one being stalked.
“Are you sure?” he pressed, his eyes watching me. If I didn’t know better I would think he could tell I wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“Yeah. Can I ask you a few questions, Brian?” I asked, sitting down across from him.
“Like what?”
“The threats, have you always received them when Leighanne’s home or do any show up when she’s away?”
He was silent for a minute, staring into his cereal bowl as he thought about my question.
“I’ve only gotten them when she’s around,” he finally answered.
“Have they all said the same thing as the last one? Threats against you if you marry her?”
Again silence as he thought about it then he nodded his head. “Yeah. What’s this about?” he asked.
I didn’t want to scare him, to make him worry about Leighanne, but I couldn’t lie to him.
“The stalker, he might not be stalking you. It looks like he’s threatening you because he’s stalking Leighanne,” I finally answered, watching his reaction.
He stood up and slowly walked across the kitchen, putting his bowl in the sink. Then he turned to me.
“So I’m only in danger when Leigh’s with me? Whoever this is just wants me to stay away from her, right?” he asked.
“It looks like that’s the case, but we can’t be absolutely sure yet, Brian,” I pointed out.
“This is all a joke, right?” he said, laughing bitterly.
“Excuse me?” I returned, confused.
“This whole situation. I’m being stalked and threatened but then I’m not being stalked. I’m only being threatened because my girlfriend is really the one being stalked. But is she really being stalked or am I still the one being stalked? Hell, have I just lost my mind and made this whole damn thing up?” he yelled.
“Brian, calm down,” I warned. His losing it wasn’t going to help any of this.
“How the hell am I suppose to be calm when someone is screwing with my life, Ryder?”
“By taking a deep breath and not yelling at me,” I shot back, my own voice rising in response to his.
“Don’t yell at me,” he argued.
“Don’t yell at you? Don’t yell at you? Who the fuck do you think that you are talking to? I’m not some groupie fan you can order around, buddy.”
“That’s right. If I say the wrong thing you’ll attack me like a rabid dog because you have intimacy issues,” he sneered.
“That was really low, Brian,” I answered, trying to breathe around the pain in my chest.
“But honest, Ryder.”
“About as honest as you trying to cheat on the woman you love. Seems to me that you’re the one with issues, Mr. Littrell. Fear of intimacy maybe?” I bite back.
“Oh, you seduce me, you paw me and I’m the one cheating. You are one screwed up chick, Ryder Taggert.”
“I might be screwed up, but at least I’m not screwing around,” I answered, glaring at him.
“Bitch,” he muttered.
“Oh fuck off, Brian. I have had enough of your shit. You whine and complain and expect the world to bend to your rules. Well, excuse me but it doesn’t work that way and you knew that when you signed up for this jig. So here’s some advice. Suck it up and act like a man instead of some sissy boy who is hiding behind what’s just not fair in the world. That’s life,” I yelled and, spinning on my heel, I walked out of the room.
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