“Ryn.”

She smiled but it quickly faded. “Hey, is everything okay. You look—”

“Everything’s fine.” He grinned, hoping she wouldn’t see through it. “Come in.”

“Thanks, I can’t stay long I have an appointment in forty-five minutes. Oh …” She stopped. “Sorry, I thought your first lesson was at ten.”

“Crazy time change.” Mrs. Baker offered her hand. “Meredith.”

Ryn nodded, shaking her hand. “Ryn.”

“Student? Friend?” Mrs. Baker questioned.

Jackson grabbed Ryn’s arms and pushed her toward the bedroom. “She’s nobody. Have a seat, Mrs. Baker. I’ll be right out.”

Ryn jerked out of his grasp the moment he shut his bedroom door behind them. “Nobody?”

“Shh …” He reached for her but she stepped back.

“Are you screwing her?” She gritted her teeth.

“What? No, God no.” Jackson tried to keep his voice low but still get his point across. “Would you just listen?”

Ryn folded her arms over her chest.

“I don’t trust Mrs. Baker.”

“Mrs. Baker?”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Meredith.”

“I’m not following.”

“Just … it’s complicated. But if there’s any chance that she’s …” he circled his finger in the cuckoo sign “…then I don’t want her anywhere near you or knowing anything about you.”

“You think she’s stalking you?”

More like spying, he thought. The incredulity in her voice and expression held plenty of merit. It did sound crazy. But crazy was his life.

“At very least she’s been lying to me, and until I figure out why, I can’t trust her.”

“Lying to you about what?”

Jackson sighed. He couldn’t have that conversation with her, but the way she kept a safe distance from him led him to think he couldn’t not have that conversation with her either.

“A couple weeks ago she told me about this great restaurant her husband took her to.”

“So …”

“So, today she told me her husband died two years ago.”

Ryn shrugged. “He probably took her there while he was still alive.”

Jackson rested his hands on his hips and leaned forward. “It was the Mexican restaurant we ate at last week.”

“So … oh shit.”

Jackson nodded.

“That restaurant opened like … two months ago.”

“Exactly.” He gave her a see-I’m-not-paranoid look.

She pursed her lips, brow drawn tight.

“I have to take a quick shower.” He kissed her forehead. “Don’t stress. I’ll handle it.”

Jackson hurried through his shower, mind reeling with the mystery of Mrs. Baker. What he didn’t share with Ryn was Mrs. Baker’s knowledge of Jillian … specifically her name. It’s not that it was a secret, he just instinctually felt protective of her so when students asked about her he simply referred to her as his sister—never Jillian.

“Aren’t you worried about her being out there unsupervised, snooping through your personal stuff?”

Jackson dropped the towel from his waist. Ryn’s gaze slipped straight to his cock then it made a lazy ascent back to his face. She blushed a little at the realization that he’d been watching her ogle him. He loved it.

“Done, hot pants?”

“Shut up.” She moved to the window, finding a sudden fascination in the dirty pond out back. “Did you hear what I said about her going through your stuff?”

He pulled on his briefs and his jeans. “I did. She’s not going to find anything.” His phone and computer were in the bedroom. The Knights didn’t exist beyond their address and a few online utility bills. There was nothing for Mrs. Baker to find, which made her presence in his life that much more disturbing.

“I’m always happy to see you, but if you didn’t stop by to look at my cock, then to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure.”

Ryn turned as he pulled on his T-shirt. “I talked to Maddie last night. I told her about Preston and the abuse.”

“Good for you. How did she take it?”

Ryn frowned. “She didn’t believe me. Preston beat me to it. Apparently two years ago he told her I went through a ‘mentally’ unstable time when she was younger. He even told her I tried to commit suicide by over-dosing on anti-depressants and when he tried to help me, I accused him of abusing me. He told her it was best to never mention it unless I brought it up to her.”

Jackson pulled her into his arms.

“It gets worse. Now that she doesn’t have to ‘worry about my reaction’ she’s given me this ridiculous ultimatum that I know her father is behind.”

“Which is?”

“She’s refusing to see me or talk to me again until I drop the restraining order against Preston.”

He held her back at arms’ length. “But you’re not going to, right?”

She shrugged. “She’s my daughter, my only child. I can’t just sever all ties with her.”

“She thinks you’re lying about her father. He has her so fucking brainwashed it won’t matter what you do, she’ll never believe you. But giving into this is going to put you in danger and it will be like admitting you were lying or overreacting about the whole situation in the first place.”

“It’s ten o’clock.” Mrs. Baker knocked at the bedroom door.

Ryn pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. “I’m running late.”

Jackson cradled her face. “Being an example of a strong woman is the best way to love your daughter.”

She nodded, ever so slightly.

He kissed her until her body went limp in his grasp. “See you later, hot pants. Training, dinner, fucking.” He smacked her ass.

She rubbed her hand over it like it stung, and he hoped it did. He wanted her thinking of him the rest of the day.

“Fucking?”

“Sorry. Sexual intercourse? Coitus? The union and rhythm of our genitals?”

“I-I’ve got to get out of here.”

He loved pushing all her buttons, playing her with the ease of Black Beauty. Ryn reacted with her whole body and Jackson couldn’t get enough.

*

Gunner greeted Ryn with a few sloppy kisses after her long day of crawling around on her knees cleaning other people’s homes while hers collected a nice layer of dust. She packed her bag, what she assumed would need to be an overnight bag, then loaded her dog and his food in the back of her RAV4.

“Haven’t seen you around much.”

Ryn turned, an instant smile graced her face. “Drew. How have you been?”

He smiled that crooked smile that eased the stress from her asshole of an ex-husband and her young, naive daughter.

“I’m good, thank you.” His expression sobered. “I know we don’t have an official neighborhood watch, but I’ve noticed someone snooping around your place on more than one occasion. It’s always been when you’re not home and he never got that close to the house thanks to Gunner. I said something to him when he went through your mail the other day.”

She fought to keep her panic hidden. “And?”

“He said he was your brother. When I told him your brother died, he told me to mind my own fucking business, got in his black Escalade, and I haven’t seen him around since.”

“Thank you.” She gripped her keys.

“Do you know who it could have been?”

“Preston,” she whispered.

“Your ex with a restraining order against him?”

“Copper blond hair mixed with a little gray, always in an expensive suit, gold Rolex?”

Drew nodded. “What’s he want?”

“Me always on edge, looking over my shoulder, shunned by my own daughter, and completely miserable.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

She took a deep breath. “I’m going to practice some self-defense, have dinner, and then …” With a shrug she bit her lips together. Drew didn’t need to know about the “fucking.”

“Be safe. I’ll keep an eye out and call the police if I see him again.”

Ryn nodded. “Thanks, Drew.”

Somehow her car made it to Jackson’s, even if she couldn’t remember a single turn or stoplight. The question was whether or not to say anything to Jackson about the information Drew shared. Their first meeting ended in Preston going to the hospital via an ambulance. She could only imagine what Jackson might try to do if he knew Preston had been snooping around her place. He had his own issues with his peculiar and suspect piano student.