Dad watched my face as Matt spoke. “Why?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, but Matt cut me off.
“He refused to take no for an answer when he hit on Madi the other night. After I made it clear I was her date, he hovered around while we had dinner.”
“I’m right here.”
Their eyes shifted to me, but they didn’t stop their conversation.
Dad ground his teeth. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”
“Dad, Paul isn’t the first guy to think I’m playing hard-to-get when I say no. I handled it.”
“It sounds like Robinson handled it.”
I scoffed. “He helped, but I could’ve handled it if he hadn’t shown up.”
“Does Paul think you two are dating?”
“Yes,” we answered together.
“Did you reinforce that belief today?”
“Yes, non-verbally,” Matt answered.
Dad nodded slowly. It was a look I remembered from childhood. It was his ‘thinking’ look. I saw it often growing up, as he contemplated the next course of action, usually when one of us kids had to be punished.
“Since you’ve established the lie, I’m assigning you to Madi-”
“DAD!” I stomped my foot like a petulant six-year-old.
“Madi, don’t.” Dad turned to Matt. “Robinson, as I was saying, I want you guarding Madi.”
“Dad, we don’t know this is about me.”
“First the fire on the clinic lawn and now your Jeep? I don’t believe in coincidences, Madi.” Matt said, taking my father’s side.
“Neither do I.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard. I live with Jack, remember?”
“Madeleine Anne Sheppard, stop arguing.”
My jaw dropped at the use of the middle name I shared with my mother.
“I’ll tell Jack to be on alert. Anytime you leave the house, Robinson will be with you.”
“Yes, sir,” Matt answered. “Do you want me to keep up the pretense?”
“Yes, I’d like to force this bastard to make a mistake. If he’s fixated on Madi, seeing her with another guy may cause him to escalate.”
No way did I just hear him correctly. “You want to use me as bait? Put me in more danger?”
“I won’t let him hurt you.” The conviction in Matt’s voice was absolute, but he wasn’t infallible.
“He won’t be the only one watching out for you.”
Fuck my life. Never in a million years would I have guessed my life would be more dangerous after leaving the Navy.
