Page 31 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

A shiver went up my spine. I was sure of that, too. “Yeah, well, I’m doing what I can.”

“I know you are.” We rounded the corner and both stopped, surprised to see uniforms already hanging on our lockers. Jelly looked at hers. “Huh. Do you think he already knew what size we are, or do you think Carmen told him?”

“I don’t think Carmen keeps track of our sizes. She probably has a list somewhere, though. Maybe she gave it to Ardley?”

Jelly shrugged. “Maybe. Did you see the way that poor girl looked at Leo?”

I cringed. “Yeah. That’s not going to end well for her.”

“Nope,” Jelly blew an enormous bubble and let it pop loudly. “Another victim of Leo’s hotness. Although,” she gave me a look, “I don’t think he’s going to be sleeping with her. He might break her heart, but if he does it will be from indifference, not fucking and ditching her.”

I nodded in agreement as I checked out my uniform. It looked to be the right size, too, which was a minor miracle. A lot of my uniforms had to be altered. I was one size in the bust and hips, and three sizes smaller in the waist. As I picked it up by the hanger to inspect it, something fell to the floor.

“What’s that?” Jelly asked, bending to pick it up before I could do it. She stared at it for a minute, before showing it to me. I sighed and had to stop myself from beating my head against the locker. It was another note.

“Do you care if I open it?”

“Go ahead,” I said, miserably.

She opened it, scanned it, and frowned. “This guy’s a real sick son of a bitch, you know that?”

“I’m aware. What does it say?”

She flipped it around so I could read it.

Pretty Girl,

Why are you still working here? I asked you to stop.

You ignored me. You know I’ll have to hurt you because of that.

I’ll enjoy it, but you won’t.

Get ready. I know I am.

I love you.

I wanted to roll my eyes and blow it off, but it scared the crap out of me. Especially after what happened to Candace Keys. She’d been a stripper here I hadn’t known very well. She was murdered last December, but police insisted they didn’t think it was the work of a serial killer. They hadn’t beenable to connect her murder to the death of other young women in the area over the past several years. Thank goodness. I still wondered if they were right, though.

But still…he wouldenjoy hurting me? What the hell? Who was this psycho?

And I sure didn’t like that he’d gotten past bouncers, somehow getting back to the employee lockers.

Jelly grabbed my hand. “Hey, don’t let him get to you. Let’s go to our murder board and see if we can figure out who it is.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “God, Jelly. Do you think we could quit calling it a ‘murder board’?”

“No. ‘Cause we both know what we’re talking about and ‘stalker board’ just doesn’t sound right. C’mon.” She grabbed our uniforms, and we headed to Jelly’s little used Honda she’d bought after working here a few months.

I was thankful. I didn’t want to ride my bike home knowing my stalker was probably watching me.

We rode the short distance from Sugar in downtown West Bay to the Estates at South, and before long I was stretched out on my bed, staring at Jelly.

She stood before a cork board that we’d hidden in my closet. I had push pins on it with all the notes I’d received and the names of the guys we’d suspected at some point over the past several months.

She had a look of deep concentration on her face. “Okay, let’s go over them one more time.”

I rolled on my back and stared at the ceiling. “Ugh. Can we just admit we’re clueless and move on? Besides, it’s time to get ready for work.”