“Ms. Armstrong, there are some things you need to sign before you leave.”

Piper looked up to see Libby standing in her doorway with some files under her arm. After Anson had dropped her off, she was able to focus on her work. There was only a brief moment when her breath caught. Libby brought in a stack of mail and she was almost afraid to accept it. Thankfully there was nothing but correspondence and the usual recycling bin fodder. Nothing that would make her stay awake at night. Nothing to cause her to sweat or shake while trying to maintain a show of being fine. Anson told her not to open anything suspicious. Piper had to wonder if it was worse knowing or not. What kind of sadistic shit could she think up if she allowed her imagination to run wild?

“Thanks, Libby.”

Libby seemed to hesitate.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, but people are wondering about… him.”

Piper wished she could pretend she didn’t know who her assistant was talking about. She’d known that Anson’s display the previous day would create a buzz that would trickle through the office and couldn’t be ignored. Her own manager had walked by her office window and paused overly long to look in at her. She didn’t have any idea what that look was supposed to mean. It still wasn’t normal. Nothing was normal anymore.

She didn’t blame them. Anson drew people’s attention. At least if you were of the persuasion to find tall, sexy Kindred attractive. Humans couldn’t ignore the animal side of themselves either. Maybe nature had made it that way on purpose. The pull towards the Kindred that humans experienced kept the Kindred species alive. A human mate made more Kindred babies.

Piper shouldn’t be thinking about Anson and babies. There was some woman out there meant for him. He was probably going to be one of those dashing older men with salt and pepper hair that magically one day had a beautiful woman on his arm that was half his age. It wasn’t something that was uncommon. Besides, Piper actually liked him too much for that. He was a good guy. True, he was a little harsh when he spoke to her sometimes, but oddly she didn’t mind it. He was bossy because he was taking care of things. Things she would normally have had to handle on her own. He gave her a break, even if it was a brief one.

“His name is Anson. He’ll be driving me to and from work along with some of his colleagues. Any mail that doesn’t have a return address or looks… out of place? I want you to leave it. The men that are helping will check any mail I’m not sure about.”

“Piper, is there something going on? Are you in trouble?”

Libby was an amazing assistant that kept her running at full throttle. She couldn’t afford to lose her, but she couldn’t afford to lie to her either. Maybe a bit of both.

“I’ve had some trouble in the past. It seems that it’s gotten a little more… intrusive lately. I’ve hired a security company to help ensure there aren’t any further issues.”

“Is it one of your exes?” Libby whispered.

Piper grimaced. “No, they wouldn’t be this sneaky. I’m not sure who it is. Needless to say, they don’t like me, or if you believe Anson, they like me a little too much.”

“I saw an episode of Crimes in the City the other night that was just like that. A stalker that killed this woman’s cat.”

Libby seemed really into discussing this and Piper made a face. “Good thing I don’t have a cat then.”

“It was really gross. Is that why you got upset last week?”

“Yes... but nothing like a dead cat. Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want the office to know. They’ll just make it bigger than it is.”

“It sounds pretty serious.”

Piper sighed. “It is. I just don’t want people looking at me or feeling sorry for me. I have it handled.”

“With that good-looking man watching your body, I’d say so.”

“You know how the Kindred are. Especially ex-military or police. They’re all business.”

Libby smiled wickedly, “I’ll be his business if he asks.”

“I’ll let him know.” Piper didn’t think that was a conversation she’d be having with Anson anytime soon. Besides, when he dropped her off, he gave her no idea when she’d be seeing him next. He just reminded her that she’d be receiving texts from one of the numbers he’d loaded into her phone. If a name and number didn’t come up, she wasn’t supposed to leave her office and to call KSI immediately.

Piper finished up her work and a minute to six she got a text. The caller ID said Luca – KSI with the message: “downstairs.”

Packing up, she said goodbye to Libby and was grateful that today she didn’t have to deal with the added embarrassment of a personal escort. If Anson had caused a stir, Luca would have people fainting.

Making her way to the elevator, she felt a presence come up behind her. Before she could look, she heard a voice that grated on her nerves.

“Barely six o’clock and you’re bolting. Got a hot date with the Steroid Stud?”

Piper wasn’t even going to look at Colleen. She knew that would bother her so she kept her eyes forward.

“I get my work done during working hours. I even took lunch at my desk today. I’m sorry you weren’t able to complete your tasks. It must be tough working all those extra hours while you’re on salary. Must cut into your social life.”

Sure, she was being snippy, but Colleen had started it.

“You know, rumor around the office is that he was a paid escort. One of the ones from the Kindred site. I hear they’re pretty high-end... How much did he cost?”

The elevator door opened and Piper stepped in, turning on her heel to face Colleen. “Oh, I’m keeping him on a retainer.”

The elevator closed with Colleen glaring daggers at her. Piper held her smile until the doors fully closed. She shouldn’t goad the other woman; it wouldn’t help their already strained relationship. Colleen had been fake in her friendship when they held the same position. Always asking her to lunch, suggesting they go to the movies together. Piper had been dating and then engaged so it was easy to make up excuses not to go. The glee that Colleen had barely disguised as news of both of her failed weddings came out made Piper not really care about being civil to her anymore.

Most people offered her condolences like someone had died. The rest had pretended it hadn’t happened, which she had truly appreciated.

When she’d come back from Greece quiet and drawn, the rumor mill spun and the story finally came out. This time she didn’t get sad faces and regrets. Once was a tragedy, but twice? There had to be something wrong with her.

Piper was starting to agree with them. No way did this happen to the same person twice. Nobody could be that unlucky.

The elevator opened and there stood Luca, his arms behind his back, his legs spread at ease. Everyone in the lobby was giving him a very wide berth.

His eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses that she was sure was so he could scan the area with more subtlety. Except that there was nothing subtle about him.

She stopped when she reached him, and he tilted his head down to look at her.

“You’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

“By standing here?”

“Yes, you know you are.”

“Good, they won’t forget me.”

“Uh, hi, Piper? I was just coming to see if you’d like to grab a coffee with me?”

Piper stumbled as she saw Jerry standing there, his thin frame garbed in a pair of black jeans and a black shirt. Luca immediately got between them and let out a growl. Jerry took a nervous step back.

“I’m sorry, Jerry. I was just on my way out. Some other time?”

“Sure, yeah, no problem. Have a good evening.”

Piper couldn’t see him walking away because the wall that was Luca blocked her view. A moment passed, as Luca made sure that Jerry was really leaving then he turned and looked her up and down quickly before stepping forward. He waited for her to step up to him. One hand on her back and the other ready to knock someone out of the way or open the door, whichever came first.

Yesterday that same gesture from Anson felt different. Like there was a connection between them. At least she’d felt that way. His heat, his scent, it seemed to envelop her. There was a very good chance she’d made it all up. The rescue fantasy of him being so close to her for a few days must have addled her mind. Having someone else pick her up might keep her mind from wandering from the real reason she hired KSI.

Love wasn’t in the cards for her, nor was a big strapping Kindred. She needed to keep her head down, focus on her career, and hopefully not end up a statistic. She could just imagine the local news interviews. “She seemed so nice, sad this happened to her.”

Piper was going to have to speak to her parents. It was on her list. Her sister knew and even though she had told her to not say anything that didn’t mean her parents wouldn’t pick up on the subtle hints. Her sister wasn’t a liar so she’d look like she was hiding something.

The weekly BBQ the past weekend was the usual round of ‘how’s your love life,’ and ‘how’s work treating you’ small talk. Every question was well-meaning and came from longtime friends of the family. She could easily laugh it all off and pretend that everything was fine.

Being at her parents’ place felt safe. She didn’t feel the need to watch her back. Her parents had bought their house overlooking Mutiny Bay when she was a young girl. It was a large compound that they had made feel private by expertly planning and planting trees and orchards. Their view was the water and beautiful sunsets.

Her mind was on her family when Luca pulled up to her house. He helped her out, had her wait at the door as he swept the interior then the exterior. He gave her a short goodnight, let her know that he’d pick her up in the morning and they’d run by Donuts or Die to meet Van, who would be her afternoon pick-up and left.

The rest of the week played out with Piper meeting the rest of the KSI staff that would be assisting her. Hudson was sweet, he was a little quiet, but still she felt safe with him. Zion made her laugh, he told her stories about his trips to the Middle East. Van talked about his new mate. He was head over heels in love. She even found out that if the guys didn’t bring Nadia back an old-fashioned donut with sprinkles there would be hell to pay. But over the next few days Anson was nowhere to be seen.

Piper tried to not let it bother her. He was obviously doing another job. Just because he got assigned to her didn’t mean that he was supposed to be with her twenty-four seven. Her phone was full of bears to call at a moment’s notice. That should have made her feel safer, but there was something missing.

On a Friday night she was getting a ride home from Luca. Conversation was kept to a minimum.

“Luca, I’m going to my parents’ place this weekend. Do you think it’s okay if I just go by myself? Their place is safe.”

The car jerked to the side of the road and Luca threw it into park. Piper was shocked and looked behind her to see if they were being pulled over.

Luca turned in his seat and for the first time, Piper didn’t feel like she was up to the showdown challenge with Luca.

“Do you think your stalker only works on weekdays?” he growled. “That you won’t be an easy target on your own? He knows that you’re covered. You think he isn’t looking for any opportunity where we aren’t there? He knows his window to get to you has shrunk. The next time it won’t be a card or a heart. It will be you.”

Piper didn’t want to hear that. The past few mornings she’d woken on the couch hoping it had all been a dream. That she could drive herself to work and not worry about someone taking pictures of her. Having Luca look at her so fiercely scared her. It was like he was taking her safety personally and she wasn’t taking it seriously enough. It made her feel bad that she wasn’t making their job easier.

Admitting that someone would rather see her dead than alive hadn’t quite sunk in. It was too horrifying, too much to even absorb that things could get that bad.

“I really want this over.”

“We can’t make promises. We can only do our job day to day. Don’t make it harder for us by willfully putting yourself in danger.”

Luca turned back around in his seat and put the car back in gear.

Properly chastised, Piper settled back into her seat and stared out the window. When they got to her place and Luca did her sweep, she stopped him at the door.

“Could you please arrange for someone to pick me up at eleven tomorrow?”

“Text the address to Anson and he’ll arrange a driver.”

Once she was home, Luca said goodnight and waited for her to shut and lock her door. Piper knew that there wasn’t going to be a way to explain away whoever was delivering her to her parents’ house. She could try to lie and say it was a new boyfriend, but that would bring even more questions than just telling the truth. Knowing this was something she wanted to get out of the way, she planned on getting there earlier than the rest of the guests. It was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of a group.

She changed out of her work clothes quickly, pulling on a tank top and a pair of short cotton shorts that she didn’t care if they got a little paint splattered. With a diet soda and bag of tortilla chips she’d grabbed from to kitchen tucked under her arm, she went to her studio. Pulling up her favorite playlist on her phone, she turned on the Bluetooth so the speakers in her ceiling would play the music and surround her with sound then she pulled out a new canvas. It wasn’t the largest she’d ever worked on, but it was one that actually fit on an easel.

Grabbing her brush, she started painting. Her hands moving over the canvas as What Makes a Good Man? by The Heavy played in the background. She wasn’t thinking, her mind overwhelmed with her life, so she just got lost in the color. Normally she wouldn’t finish a painting in a night. Most pieces would take her days to complete. Hours of revisiting her work to decide on where the picture was going. Tonight it was the only thing that was making her feel like she wasn’t drowning. Hours passed as she kept applying paint, her colors getting darker and darker.

Finally stepping back, she felt out of breath and a little shaky. Grabbing her phone, she checked the time. It was after two in the morning. She still had plenty of time to get some sleep. Taking a deep breath she looked at her painting. The sweeping path of each color, indigo, violet, and silvers moved over the canvas, connecting together in a continuous line of movement.

In the top corner was a dark black shape, it was rounded and hunched like it was fighting the vortex moving towards it.

Piper didn’t feel like it was her, there was no connection to the shape. But it felt like it was someone she should know. Her painting didn’t feel angry, or scared. It felt calming. If she could crawl into it, she’d be safe and protected from the outside world.

Looking around to her other paintings she could point out the feelings she’d had while she was working on them. The orange and red was when she was angry. The green and white when she was sad. A painting that was shades of red with the smallest white space left blank was after her last breakup. She was alone again. That painting was exactly how she felt. Small, alone, and surrounded by fire.

Now she felt like she was underwater. Overwhelmed and reaching for something to anchor her. Anything to help her climb above the waves.

Dropping to the floor, she sat looking up at the wet paint glistening in the light. Beneath Your Beautiful played over the speakers, the lyrics slicing through her like knives. Holding herself together for so long had been hard, she’d never given herself the chance to feel it. If she felt it, she had to acknowledge it.

Tomorrow with her family, she wasn’t sure how brave she could be. They would be disappointed that she hadn’t shared. Scared for her life. Sad that she felt she had to keep it to herself.

It wasn’t just her emotions she was going to have to deal with. It was their emotions too. The weight of it hit her and Piper let the tears fall. She folded her body over, pulling her knees to her chest and cried as all of that emotion she’d been hiding from came crashing down around her. The fear her stalker had made so common in her daily life. Sadness and hurt from being left at the altar, not once, but twice. The embarrassment of facing those she had invited to the ceremonies. The gentle pats on the shoulders, the tsking, and gossiping that went on behind her back. Returning to work without a ring on her finger. Human resources reminding her to change her name, not knowing that the marriages didn’t happen. All of it was a horror show of shit.

Piper gasped through her sobs, it was all too much. Falling over, Piper curled into a ball and let the sobs rack her body. The music was drowned out by her wails.