Riveted

“You’ve been over at my apartment with just Wheeler there?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. She avoided strangers and strange men in particular like they all had the plague.

“Just for a minute here and there. I wanted to get Dolly’s rawhide and her dog bed that I knew were in your room. She doesn’t like my bed. I was there when your sister showed up. It didn’t go well.”

She bit down on her lower lip and ducked her head so that her face was partially obscured.

“Don’t worry about Kallie. She can be a bitch, but she’s not all bad. Things are really complicated with her and Wheeler right now and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s pretty worried about you after the confrontation.” I didn’t tell her that I thought his priorities were kind of screwed up in that because it wasn’t my place or my problem.

“He’s very nice.” He was. He was also freshly heartbroken and cut loose. He’d been set adrift after a long time spent with the same person and a little too raw to be thinking about the quiet, damaged girl next door. But again not my zoo and not my monkeys.

“He is a great guy. I’m glad things are going okay with him there while I’m gone.” I was going to ask how her very pregnant sister was doing when my phone dinged with an alert I didn’t recognize. I told Poppy how much I appreciated her looking after my girl and assured her things were going well on my end as well. A slight exaggeration but I figured she didn’t know that.

When I pulled my phone away from my ear I froze in shock when the dating app where all my disastrous dates had sprung from pinged with a match. This particular app was set up to narrow down possible prospects within a twenty-mile radius of wherever your phone was. The service was letting me know there were men using the app in Lowry that met all the requirements I’d filled out when I initially set up the app. It also meant that anyone using the app would be able to find me and my profile if my phone was in that same area.

Staring at it in shock as realization dawned I got up and practically ran through the house towards the door that led from the utility room to the garage. The space had been converted into a home gym that rivaled the setup at the twenty-four-hour fitness center I kept a membership to but never used. It was full of serious machines and heavy weights that indicated the men in this family were dedicated to taking care of themselves. The door slammed shut behind me, which had Church looking at me through arms that were bulging and straining as he hefted a bench-press bar loaded down with what looked like more weight than I had on my body straight up.

“I think I know how whoever has been tailing us has known where we’ve been since we left Denver.” I watched in awe as he pushed the bar back up and lowered it a few more times before setting it on the cradle with a loud clink. I knew he was strong but watching all those muscles move and work was mouthwatering and mesmerizing.

I held my phone out to him as he leaned his head back on the bench to look up at me. “The dating app where I met all those guys has a location finder. I think it’s used for people looking for a quick hookup more than anything, but it notifies you when someone you’re interested in or that matches your preferences is within twenty miles of your phone. You can open the alert and it gives you a real-time map that shows you exactly where your match is at. If it’s one of the guys that I went on a date with then all they would have to do is be within twenty miles of my phone at all times to know where I am.”

He reached for a towel that was lying on the ground next to a half-empty bottle of water and motioned me over with a crooked finger. He was sweaty and shiny, his veins standing out under the glossy sheen of his skin.

“So if you look at the guys you answered the alert on will the map show you where they are currently?”

I stopped by the bar and put a shaking hand on the smooth metal. “If they have the location service enabled.” I tapped the screen of my phone and opened the app. He watched me as I poked through the different saved profiles and conversations I’d saved to find the guys I’d agreed to go out with. First up was the thief. He was still in Denver and I wanted to kick myself for not thinking to use the app to locate him after he took off with my wallet. Next was the swinger. He appeared to be somewhere south of Denver towards Colorado Springs but still nowhere near Lowry. Lastly was momma’s boy. I scrolled and scrolled but couldn’t find any traces of him in the app. His profile was gone and with it any record of the interactions we’d had while he was signed up.

“The first two are still in Colorado, well, their phones are at least. The last guy, the one who brought his mom on the date, is gone. I can’t tell where his phone is at and I can’t retrieve any of our conversations. It’s like he disappeared, which is no big surprise considering it was his mom using the app all along.”

“What was his name?” Church took the phone from me and pressed a bunch of stuff on the screen as he messed with the apps and settings.

“His first name was Joseph and his last name was something common.” I furrowed my brows together as I tried to remember how he’d introduced himself, or rather how his mother had introduced them. “The last name was Erikson. Joseph and Marie Erikson.”

Church handed me the phone and I slid it into my back pocket as he looked at me out of soulful and serious eyes. “Either of them could have made a new profile, clicked on you, and tracked you here. It would make sense. All the things that have been happening seem geared towards scaring you, probably so you’ll leave and go back to Denver. The beat down that Dalen caught was meant for me. They want me out of the way so you are on your own and scared.”