"Derek, I checked everything, I'm good. But, okay, you can move in."
"See you later, sexy. Be careful. Call Dad and let him know." I hang up and know that my life is changing, and not for the better. My stalker has finally gone to the next level.
I dial Greg's number and hope he can keep this secret too.
"Hello, I saw you on the news. Excellent shot. What’s up, sweetheart?" he says, and I know he is going to go all protective on me now.
"I had a delivery waiting at my door. There's a ribbon tied around them this time."
"Did you bag them without touching them?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Is Derek heading that way?"
"He'll be here shortly. Can we keep this quiet?"
"Not for much longer, sweetheart. I'll be over in the morning. Get some rest. Love you, kiddo."
"Thank you." I hang up and head for the fridge.
I pull out the stuff to make a sandwich when my cell phone starts ringing. I see the caller ID, hear the ringtone, and cringe.
"Hello." Indifferent is how I'll pull this off.
"What the fuck do you mean friends? Are you cracking up, Maya? Have you lost your bloody mind? Because I'm not giving up on us. That girl was trying to make her boyfriend jealous and paid the paparazzi to take a picture. I swear on everything holy if you were here, I'd spank your arse for even thinking those words."
"Girl? That was no girl. That was a full-fledged wet dream. The picture clearly shows you with your arms around her. She's looking at you like you hung the fucking moon! I've had a horrible day and I just want to eat a sandwich, run on the treadmill, and try to go to bed," I yell back at him.
"No, you're not getting out of this. I've been trying to call you all day. I'm not going to let you run. I was shot at and took one in the vest. I also saw my girlfriend on CNN in a hostage situation."
"What?" I scream into the phone, my legs give out as I fall to the floor and start breathing slowly. He can't die; he can't leave me too. One minute I want him out of my life and the next I can't live without him.
"Maya! Baby, calm down! I'm okay. The vest took it. The boyfriend thought he was going to get rid of his competition. What happened to you today? The news only said a female sniper stopped the situation." He sounds calmer than I feel. I feel like the bottom fell out of my world.
"I had to shoot the perp today in front of his kids," I murmur. I don't want to tell him about my stalker. "Duncan, are you really okay?" My voice sounds shaky and whiney to my ears.
"Baby, I swear I'm okay. Tell me more about what happened to you today, and then I'll explain what happened to me." His voice sounds so calm and soothing. This is what I needed, to tell someone about my day. To talk through how I feel.
"I shot a father in front of his toddler after he pointed the gun at the little guy. This is after the father killed the mother. I almost left both of those children without parents, hair to the right or lower and he'd be dead. I'm becoming the monster I fight." I sigh loudly.
"Maya, baby, you're not a monster. It sounds like a justified shot. Explain to me why you think you're a monster."
"I was called to the scene after the mother was murdered and he barricaded himself in the home. Little did we know he wanted to die too. The perp had his toddler boy in his arms and a baby girl sleeping in a crib. At first, I didn't understand how he saw me, but later we found out he had a radio tuned to our frequency, so he knew when I got on scene. Of course, he wasn't waiting personally for me, he just wanted to die. Suicide by cop. He wanted me to kill him. He put the little boy down, stepped back, took aim, and waited for me to shoot him. I ended up shooting him just to the right, between his second and third ribs, and fracturing his shoulder blade. The bullet did ricochet and puncture his lung, but he'll live. He dropped the gun. During the post-briefing, he called from the hospital demanding to talk to me. He refused surgery until I'd speak to him. He was going to die without it, soI spoke to him."
"What did he want?" Duncan asks quietly.
"He wanted to know why I didn't kill him. He said he deserved to die and I was supposed to be his executioner. He said if I'd been a man, he'd be dead." I feel raw telling him this, but at least I don't feel like I can't breathe anymore.
"Baby, you made the right call. What did you tell him?"
"I told him that it wasn't my job to be judge and jury. Even though he's probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison, his children would have at least one parent alive. I said as a person who lost her parents to violence, he's lucky it was me looking through that scope at him and not a man. His children would be able to ask him why the hell he did it, and they could maybe learn about their mother from someone who at some point must have loved her. I told him I wasn't going to leave his children orphaned, that's his choice. Then I told him to grow the fuck up, put on his big girl panties, have surgery, and rehabilitate himself."
"Maya, it was a justified and clean shot. By leaving him alive, he'll face what he did."
"Duncan, what happened with that model? I don't share and I don't want to be in a relationship based on lies."
"I swear nothing happened. I go to bed at night thinking of only one woman…you. I think of you all the time. I can't wait until I see you. I'm gutted that this spoiled girl has hurt you. She threw herself into my arms. When I looked down and saw the look in her eyes, I stepped back and told her I have a girlfriend. She laughed and said probably not after this, then pointed to the photographer. I got so angry I had Ian take over the close protection while I took the background. I wanted to call you before the pictures came out, but she demanded we fly to Milan. While we were there, we took her shopping, and ran into her boyfriend. He pulled a gun and shot me in the vest. I broke his hand. The whole time she's telling him how proud she is of him for sticking up and fighting for her. I hate games."
