Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
He sighed loudly. “Cat, I know you don’t want to tell me, but please just get it out.”
“Okay, fine. Paul came up to us while we were walking around the campus.”
“What the fuck? Paul? How did he know you were there?”
“Well, that’s the problem, I don’t know why he would know we were there. I’ve been thinking about it since it happened, and the only way I could figure is either it was just random, or he was watching Anna’s apartment waiting for me to come and see her. I feel like that one’s more likely, because I don’t know why he’d just be wandering around campus like that.”
“I agree,” Elio said tersely. “So what did he do?”
“He told me that he wanted to talk to me, but Anna wouldn’t let him.”
“Smart woman,” he said approvingly.
“Yeah, anyway, he started acting kind of crazy and yelling about how I would regret it. It was creepy. He got so out of hand that some random guys came up and told him to leave us alone.”
“I’m glad they were there at least. But I’ll be honest, Cat, that really pisses me off. I wish I had been there.”
“I know. I wish you had been, too.”
“Well, I think you’re right. Something weird is going on with that asshole. I’ll look into him.”
I drove the rest of the way to the safehouse thinking about how grateful I was for Elio. The fact that I knew I could go to him with any problem and he would help me solve it made me feel a thousand times safer, even with the worst kind of men after me.
I was so lucky to have Elio in my life.
*Elio*
The second my call ended with Cat, my stomach felt like it instantly filled with lead. A vicious, mind-bending anger speared through the back of my head and nearly caused me to see fucking red.
Paul—motherfucking—Bryant.
‘Why was this guy continuously trying to get at Caterina?’ I asked myself bitterly.
I rubbed a rough hand over my face and tried to stay focused on the issue at hand. But the horrible, broken sound of hearing Cat’s trembling voice still echoed through my head. There was nothing I hated more than feeling her distress through a speaker when I couldn’t do a single thing in that very moment to comfort her.
She sounded terrified. I wanted to make her feel safe. The issue with Paul needed to end just as much as the ongoing problem with Antonio. Hell, I thought for sure that the guy would’ve disappeared for good after our personal confrontation with one another during the holidays, but it was clear that I’d misjudged his IQ.
Big mistake for him.
I knew that the moment Alessandro placed that gun in my hands that everything had ultimately changed. It had permanently placed me in a different frame of mind, one that set me apart from the average man. Granted, I wasn’t about to jump in my car and hunt Paul down like some rabid dog. No.
I’d decided a long time ago that if I was going to ever have someone’s blood on my hands, it was going to be Antonio’s. But in the meantime, Paul still needed to be dealt with.
I wasn’t going to know peace as long as the man had open access to Cat whenever it caught his interest. What the hell possessed the asshole to show up on her new campus? Would Cat become afraid to start her new classes all because the guy couldn’t take a damn hint and leave her alone?
Campus security would only do so much to help. And to go about the issue in a legal way seemed useless and too time-consuming.
What we needed was a different kind of approach.
I quickly took my phone back out and pulled up Alessandro’s number. After two rings, I heard the man’s voice come through.
“Elio? What is it?”
“I need you to come to the safe house,” I told him.
“Has something happened?”
I took a deep breath in and struggled to keep my calm composure. “Yes. Cat was out with her friend today, checking out her new campus. They were approached by a guy who’s been harassing her for weeks.”
“Is she there with you now?” Alessandro asked.
“Not yet, but she told me that she’s on her way back here as we speak.”
“Alright, good. I want to talk to her about this situation in further depth,” he said. “You said this has been going on for weeks?”
“At least for as long as Cat’s been back here. Ever since before the holidays, he’s shown up and wrecked fucking havoc on her life. She’s told me that the two of them used to date back at her old school. She’s tried breaking things off with him and now he won’t leave her alone.”
“I see,” he said. “I’ll be there in five.”
The call ended. I was thankful that Alessandro was taking the situation as seriously as I was. Something about Paul consistently showing up, always needing to speak to Cat, was getting to be far too suspicious to be ignored.
I was fairly certain that after the altercation at Christmas, the guy would have called it quits. But Paul just kept sticking around.
‘Far too longer than expected, that’s for sure,’ I thought.
“Elio!” a female voice called out and I knew the familiar tone who it belonged to.
I quickly got up from my chair in the den and rushed toward the front entrance where I saw Cat. The second she saw me, she took off like a rocket and slew into my arms and squeezed me tightly.
She looked exhausted and utterly drained. I could tell her emotions had gotten the better of her as her makeup appeared slightly smeared from possible tears.
But Christ, none of that mattered to me. Even at her worst, this woman looked absolutely perfect to me. All that truly mattered was that she was physically safe and back home where nothing could get to her.
I loved the way her body melted into mine as I wrapped my arms around her back. Her head rested perfectly right under the curve of my chin. There was a slight tremor to her hands that I felt through my shirt. My chest ached, knowing I didn’t have enough time to properly calm her down and ease her nerves.
Nonetheless, I was glad she was letting me support her like this.
Unfortunately, our moment came to an abrupt halt when we heard the front door open once more. Cat went stiff in my arms as she tried to angle her head to see who it was.
“I called Alessandro over here so that we might assist with your situation,” I told her.
Cat took a step back and quickly wiped her face of any remaining tears. Alessandro eyed her softly.
“It’s alright, Cat. I’m glad Elio reached out to me about this,” he said. “Sounds like you’ve been dealing with a bit of a stalking issue.”
She nodded her head and brought her arms up to cross over her chest. I draped an arm over her shoulders, guiding us all into the living room.
Once we were all seated, I turned to face Cat and instructed her to tell Alessandro everything.
“Tell him everything about your relationship with Paul before you came back home for the holidays.”
She slowly nodded her head and let out a long breath. “Okay. It started back in my other school. Paul and I were seeing each other. At first, everything seemed normal. I mean we did what normal college students did. We’d study together, hang out with our friends, and occasionally go to a party on the weekends.”
Alessandro nodded his head. “But?”