Chapter 8

“Angie, what’s wrong?”

“He’s back.”

“Who’s back?”

“This guy I went out with a few times. I’m afraid he’s going to hurt me.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at my sister’s. It’s about an hour away.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I came home and noticed his car parked in front of my house. I just took off. My phone died and I couldn’t charge it because the charger was at my house. Your number is in my phone, so I couldn’t get at it to call you. I went to my sister’s house. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Ok, I’m going to come and get you. Everything is going to be alright. Just give me your sister’s address and I’ll leave right away. I’ll be there in about an hour and a half. I’ll protect you. Don’t worry about a thing.

“I’ll try,” Angie replied. “I thought he was out of my life. Now he’s back. What can I do?”

“I’ll take care of you. You need to trust me. Can you do that?”

“I’ll try. Please hurry!”

We said our goodbyes and then I called work to inform them that I had an emergency. I grabbed my pistol and put it in my holster. I have a permit to carry. I doubted I would need it, but I had no idea what this guy was capable of. I grabbed a few snacks and then headed to my vehicle.

My mind was racing as I drove along. What was the guy like? Why did he have Angie so scared? What could I do to help her? Could I protect her at all times? Why wouldn’t the guy leave her alone?

For me, dealing with rejection from women has always been an easy thing to do. If a girl didn’t show any interest in me, then I had no interest in her. She could be the most beautiful woman in the world and it wouldn’t matter. If she thought she was too good for me, then any appeal she had was gone. The last thing I needed was a woman who was wrapped up in her own self. I wanted a woman that enjoyed being with me or no woman at all. Why a guy would pursue a woman who didn’t want him was beyond me.

You should know that I’m usually the most gentle of beings. But there are certain circumstances that bring out a side of me that’s not very pretty. It usually happens when someone I love is helpless and under the power of another person. I go into a state of perpetual motion in which I cannot stop until I find some way to make the problem go away. In those situations, all caution is thrown to the wind. I become a type of person that I don’t even like.

There was an instance in which my sister informed me that a guy at the drug store, where she worked, had tried to corner her in a back room. Despite her pleas to not interfere, I had immediately gone over to the store to confront him. I called him out, right there on the floor, with all the customers standing around. Frantic, he had asked me to go in the back room with him, which I did. Once there, I had informed him of what actions I would take if he ever bothered my sister again. It was very evident by his demeanor that my message had gotten though. From what I had heard, after that, he had avoided my sister at all costs.

As I was pulling up the driveway of the sister’s house, I saw the door open and Angie came running toward me. I put the vehicle in park and hurried out. Angie wrapped her arms around my neck and held me tight. I could feel her body quivering. I could smell the beautiful scent of her essence. I placed my arms around her and pulled her tight.

“I’m here now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Angie didn’t say anything at first. She just held me tight.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I missed you,” she finally said.

“I didn’t know what to do. This guy scares me.”

“Well, he doesn’t scare me. He will need to go through me to get to you.”

I eventually met her sister, once we entered the house to talk. I learned that the guy had been very nice at first. In fact, he seemed to have a way of convincing everyone that he was one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. But after a few dates, he had become very possessive. He would fly into a rage if anyone ever looked at her.

On one occasion, he had even gone so far as to knock her to the ground. He had said he would kill her if she ever looked at one of her co-workers again. It was after that instance that she had packed up and moved to my town to get away from him. Now, it looked like he had somehow tracked her down.

I convinced Angie to come and stay at my house until we could get the situation under control. I told her that I would try to keep an eye on her while she was at work, just in case he caused any problems there. I convinced her that I would be there for her and be her protector. We had something to eat and then she said goodbye to her sister. Her sister took me aside and begged me to not let anything happen to her.

On the drive home, I finally calmed her down to the point where we could talk about the previous week. I learned that her week had passed without much of interest to talk about. I told her about the lynx and bear, which really piqued her interest. She said I must be really brave to be out in the woods with all those wild creatures running loose. I just laughed.

I told her that I planned to bring her on my next BWCA trip.

“I would really like that,” she had replied.

When we arrived home, I drove into the garage and shut the door. I wanted to make sure that no one saw Angie get out of my Wrangler. Once we were inside the house, I made her some coffee. Then we sat at the kitchen table and talked.

“Would you like some of my chocolate chip cookies?” I asked.

“Sure,” Angie replied.

It was a Martha Stewart recipe. Some of my friends had told me that they were really good. I showed her where the guest room was. It was actually nicer than my own room. I had hung some spare clothes in the closest for guests to use. I had also hung a few of my out-of-season clothes in the closet for storage.

Angie wanted to take a shower, so I got her setup with the necessary supplies. While she was doing that, I went to the living room and got a fire started. The temperature outside was beginning to get cooler, and the heat felt good. Imagine my surprise when Angie walked into the room, all fresh and clean, and wearing nothing but one of my button-up shirts.

I can’t think of anything more beautiful than a woman’s beautiful legs and thighs on display under a man’s dress shirt. It’s a view that I will never grow tired off. I recalled one lady on my paper route. I was in my early teens and I would go to the door to collect for the paper. She would usually come to the door wearing only a dress shirt. For the rest of that day, and into the night, I could not get that amazing vision out of my mind.

Angie came and curled up by me on the couch. I put my arm around her and pulled her tight. We sat there in silence for quite some time. Finally, Angie spoke:

“Why are you so different?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Why are you so different from other guys? Why are you so kind?”

I couldn’t really relate to her question. I just expected that every guy stood in awe of a woman and treated them with nothing but the utmost of respect. I could never think of an instance where I would want to slap or punch a woman. Of course, there had been times when a woman had gotten me so frustrated that I had needed to leave the area and calm down, but I would never cross that line and hurt a woman.

I remembered one instance, in my younger days, when I had come upon an older boy getting ready to punch a girl. I had stepped in between them and had told the guy he would need to fight me first. Well he did. He eventually got on top of me, right there in the middle of our street. He had been bigger than me and I could not get him off. A neighbor had finally come out to stop the fight. As a result of that encounter, I had ended up with a black eye. Of course, all the girls thought I had been so brave. For me, it had just been the right thing to do. Then and there, my desire to protect women had grown even stronger.

“I thought I was just doing what any guy would do. I don’t want any harm to come to you. I would never hurt you. In fact, if you ever tell me to leave, you will never see me again.”

“That day will never come, Chase. I’ve grown very fond of you.”

It wasn’t the homecoming I had planned, but it would do. We cuddled, talked, and I learned a little more about the guy that was stalking her. It seemed that he had drifted from place to place, picking up construction jobs here and there. She told me that he was in good physical shape and had told her about a few fights he had been in.