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safety pinned them closed because a few of the pictures were shot
between the gap where the two panels didn t quite meet. Though they do
go toward making him look like the perverted stalker he is so we can use
that in the protection order hearing.
I feel guilty, he seemed so nice.
Don t feel bad, Liv. How could you have known? He was a nice guy
for a while.
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Giving Chase
So tell me about the fracas with Janie last night. Liv s eyes lit up as
she drank her tea.
Maggie spilled the entire story to Liv.
After first being shocked, Liv started laughing at Kyle s response. I
knew that boy was a keeper! Has hurricane Cece been here?
Of course. She starts in on how she s been trying to get a hold of me
and how nice girls don t stay out all night. Kyle comes in and tells her
I ve been vandalized. She actually flirted with him and then he tells her
he s my boyfriend and she laughed like it was a joke. Liv, she told me
that my word couldn t be trusted over Janie s and that I was jealous
because she was superior to me. That sliced into her gut.
Liv looked like she saw a pile of steaming dog doo. Your mother is
awful. She s a crime in thirty states.
I stood my ground, Liv. For once in my life I defended myself and it
felt great. Kyle defended me, too, which was very sweet. Poor ol Cece ran
for the door looking like she needed some more botox. I hope she and
Janie get five new wrinkles from this.
Unashamedly listening from his ladder outside, Kyle nearly burst out
laughing.
You know, Liv, the Chase family showed me more love and concern
in half an hour than my mother has my whole life. You should have seen
them all here last night. Every single last one of them helped me. Matt
and Marc boarded my windows and then finished scrubbing my door off.
Polly showed up and ordered me to stay with them. At their house she
made me hot chocolate and Edward appointed himself my attorney.
Today he came to court with me. Shane took my report personally and
has kept me updated on everything and Kyle has been with me the whole
time. He took on my insane evil mother and sister.
She stopped for a moment, tears choking her voice. It s just that I ve
been alone for a long time. I ve had you and Dee and all but if my knee
got scraped I got a lecture about being clumsy. Polly Chase is the kind of
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Lauren Dane
woman who would ve cleaned it off and blown on the skin while she put
hydrogen peroxide on it. They re all so wonderful and I m horribly
frightened that Kyle s feelings for me will wear off and I ll be alone again.
Only after having been a part of their world, it ll be really lonely. Her
voice had gone to nothing more than a whisper at the last admission.
Liv held back her own tears and hugged Maggie tight. Girl, you
always, always have me and Dee. And I think you should give Kyle a
chance. By your description of his actions, he s in it for the long haul
the good, the bad and the ugly. Anyway, why quit now? You ve already
been in their world, it s not like you can erase it.
Oh, Liv, last night it was so clear that I m in way over my head. At
The Oak Room everyone knew him. It was filled with people who never
spoke a single word to me in high school. Everywhere we go women stare
at him blatantly. Lyndsay Cole came onto him right in front of me! Even
after he told her he was with me. How can I compete with that?
Maggie, you have got to stop this. You re nearly twenty-seven years
old. How long are you going to let your mother and sister do a number on
you? You don t need to compete with the Lyndsays of the world. You re
better than they are anyway! Take a real look at yourself, please. You
underestimate yourself so much! That s why you dated men like Sam for
so long. You made a comment a while back about lowering your
standards sugar, raise them. You deserve it. Let yourself be happy. Let
yourself be with Kyle Chase. You won t die if it doesn t work out. But
imagine if it does.
Kyle leaned against the wall of the house, under the window, trying to
process all he d heard. He had to launch Operation Make Margaret Wright
Know What A Goddess She Was, and he had to do it right away.
Listening to her talk about her mother and sister, about how she felt last
night among people he d moved with for years, he felt bad. He needed to
look at his own life a bit. He saw how shallow Jane Marie and Lyndsay
were and wondered how many others in his circle were like that?
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Giving Chase
He pushed himself to standing and finished the last bit of installation
for the lights and tested them. He was walking around the front of the
house when Shane pulled up.
Hey, Shane. He walked over to meet his brother s approach.
Hey. Listen to this, Alex Parsons has four prior no contact orders on
file. Seems that he had quite the way with the ladies back in college. I
also talked with Dad s investigator who spoke with two women here in
Petal who ve had such bad experiences with Alex they were afraid to file
police reports.
Well, well, well. What a bastard. What does this mean then, for his
case?
I passed it all on to the Prosecutor s Office. They contacted Alex s
attorney. He s going to plead out.
At least she won t have to testify or face him in court, Kyle said.
Let s go and tell her.
Shane nodded and they went in. Liv gave Shane a dirty look but
smiled at Kyle.
What s happening with the case? Maggie asked, handing each of
them a mug of hot tea and pointing their attention to the platter of
scones.
He has a criminal history of stalking women, Maggie. He s got four
protection orders taken out by women at the UGA. He also apparently
has a bad history here in town. He made a plea deal today. He ll officially
sign it in court next Wednesday if the judge agrees, which he will. He s
agreed to a permanent no contact order he has to stay five hundred feet
away from you at all times, can t contact you, and he s promised to not
take any pictures of you. He ll have to pay for your windows and take
anger management classes and have counseling.
And how much time will he have to serve?
He won t be serving any time at all.
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Lauren Dane
She froze, blinking quickly. What? The man broke into my house
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