Chapter 83: Stalking

Amanda's POV

"Amanda!"

"Who's calling?" I ask as I sense someone swimming up behind me. I turn around to see Randy swimming his way over beside me, which I thought was pretty unnecessary since the water was only waist deep from where I'm standing. "Oh . . . it's only you Randy. You do know you could have just walked over here from the beach instead of swimming your way over right?"

"Oh I know . . . I just wanted to get one last swim in before we leave," he tells me as he rights himself on his own two feet. "And what have you been thinking about all the way out here? You've been standing in the middle of the water like this for the past half hour now."

"I was just watching the sun go down, that's all," I say as I point to the setting sun just disappearing over the horizon. "I wasn't really thinking about much to begin with."

"Oh . . . I see," Randy says with a smirk on his face. "C'mon babe, it's time for us to go and the rest of us are waiting on you."

"Alright, alright . . ." I say as I turn around and head for the beach, but before I can take two steps, Randy's hands grab my shoulders and pull me down, dunking me right into the seawater. As soon as he lets me go, I quickly breach the surface and start coughing up the seawater I accidently took in. "Randy, why the hell would you dunk me into the water?"

"Nate was planning to, but I beat him to it," he tells me with a smirk as I shoot him a blunt look. "Well, actually, Nate asked me to dunk you in the water to make up for what you did to him earlier when you dragged him out of the house while he was picking out sunglasses to wear today."

"And you actually complied with your younger brother's request?" I ask as I look at him in slight shock. "Like . . . really?"

"Well yeah . . ." he tells me with a chuckle. "I figured why not. It would be a pretty funny thing to do, so I just did it."

"Uh huh . . . well then, the best thing to do right now is to remedy the situation," I say before quickly clotheslining him right into the water. I manage to keep him down under for a good ten seconds before he finally breaks free from my hold and come up for air. "And now we're even, Mr. Viper."

"Well played Ms. Anaconda. Well played . . ." Randy tells me while spitting out some water. "I really should have seen that one coming."

"You should have, but you didn't," I say with a chuckle as I take his hand in my own. "C'mon, let's get back to the others."

"Alright . . ." says the Viper as I notice his eyes zero in on the engagement ring on my ring finger. I watch him place a quick kiss on the ring before looking up to see that I was looking at him, his face getting all sheepish as I smirked at him. "What? It's not like I haven't done this before."

"I know . . . It's just nice when you do it," I say for an answer as I pull him forward. He lets out a small chuckle in response to my response, and instead of allowing me to pull him along to the beach; he picks me up bridal style and carries me out of the water and over to the others. "Is carrying me bridal style really necessary Randal Keith Orton?"

"I think so. I figured it would be good practice when I have to carry you over the threshold, and is it really necessary to address me by my full name as I carry you out of the waters Amanda Genevieve Evans?" he asks me back with a smirk on his face as he finally sets me down once we reach the blanket. "I could have called you Amanda Genevieve Orton, but our wedding is still a few months off and I figured I shouldn't push my luck with you."

"Good choice of wording then . . ." I say with a smirk as I hand him his towel before picking up mine. "Alanna, did you manage to get some good photos of us today?"

"Yep . . ." the little girl tells us with a cheeky smile as she holds up her camera victoriously. "I even got photos of you two dunking each other into the water just now."

"I think Alanna here has a knack for photography," Nate says with a smirk on his face as he held Dani right on his shoulder. "She managed to catch photos of you two looking so ridiculous when you were dunking each other. They're funny beyond belief."

"Let me so those . . ." I say in a huff as I finish drying off my legs. Alanna hands me her camera and I quickly peruse through the last couple of photos in the gallery. I had to admit; even I have to hold back in a laugh when I see the shots before me. "Oh gosh . . . We do look ridiculous Randy."

"Let me see those," Randy instantly says as he holds his hand out for the camera. I hand it to him before putting on my slippers, and before long, Randy is holding his stomach, his face wincing as if to hold back a laugh. "Aw man . . . We really look like crazy fools in these photos. Anyone would be stupid not to laugh at these."

"I know right? I can't wait to show these to everyone back home," Alanna says with a girlish giggle as I pick up my tote bag and put it over my shoulder before picking up the sleeping Gabi from off the blanket. "Who wants to fold up the blanket? I'm no good at folding."

"Randy's hands are still empty. Let him do it." I say with a smirk as I nod my head over to the Viper.

"Might as well . . ." said the Viper as he quickly picked the blanket up. He turned away from us to fan off the sand before folding it up and holding it under his left arm. "Everyone can carry their own towel. Alanna put your camera back in your bag. You can handle carrying Dani while Nate carries the cooler."

Once everyone got their proper assignments, we make our way down the beach and exit out into the parking lot. After we get everything back into the trunk and fastened Dani and Gabi into their car seats, the rest of us piled into the SUV smelling like sand and seawater.

"I think it's safe to say that we all are going to need a shower to wash off the sea smell that's clinging on to us," I say with a sad shake of my head as Randy quickly puts the key into the ignition and turns on the engine. As soon as that was done, he rolled all the windows halfway down so that the smell would pass through. "I can't go to bed tonight smelling like seaweed."

"Speaking of seaweed, there's still a fairly large piece of it in your hair 'Manda," Alanna points out to me as she plucks the five inch long piece of plant right out of my hair. She then immediately flings it out the window. "There, no more seaweed."

"Thanks Alanna . . ." I say as I shook my head. "I probably wouldn't have noticed it until we got home."

"I actually noticed it while we were still on the beach babe," Randy shares with us as he pulls the car out of the parking space. "I just held my tongue because I wanted to see how long it would take for you to notice it . . . But then Alanna ruined my plans."

"What can I say? Sometimes I can be bad and sneaky, and other times I'll be a perfect goody two shoes," she tells him with a sneaky smile on her face. "It all depends on my mood that day."

"Sounds like someone else we know," says Nate as he turns to look at his brother. When Randy shot him his signature glare, Nate continued with this. "C'mon big bro, your whole career has seen you go from face to heel to in-between. There's years' worth of video evidence to prove it."

"Nate's got you there on that one honey," I say to back up Nate. "You basically have no argument on this one."

"You and your good points . . ." the Viper mumbles in defeat as we pull out of the lot and turn onto the road that would lead us home. "Anyway, what do you guys want for dinner? I don't really want to cook tonight. Were you planning to cook tonight 'Manda?"

"Nope . . . It never crossed my mind," I sincerely say as I place Dani's pacifier into her mouth. "Were you planning to cook tonight Nate?"

"As if . . ." Nate says with a shake of his head. "I'll admit. Between myself and my two siblings, I probably have the worst cooking skills."

"It's not you probably have the worst cooking skills Nate," Randy says with a shake of his head as we spot a Wendy's just up the road. "It's you do have the worst cooking skills. I've tasted the food you made, and it was downright horrible and inedible."

"Hurtful . . ." Nate says with a bit of a whine involved as Randy pulls into the parking lot and quickly parks in the nearest space. "Why must you hurt my feelings like this?"

"I'm telling you the truth, and the truth hurts," Randy tells him simply with a shake of his head. "Okay then . . . Who wants to make the food run?"

"I'll do it. I know what everyone likes anyway . . ." says Nate as he quickly gets out of the car. "Come Alanna. You're joining me on this one."

"Fine . . ." the little girl says without a fight as she gets out the car, leaving the door open ones she completely got out. "Besides, I guess Daddy and 'Manda would like a little time to themselves."

"Yeah . . . They may get all kissy-kissy with each other while we're gone." Nate further adds as he shoots a kissy face our way. Randy only scowls at him in return as he watched his brother and his daughter walk across the lot to Wendy's. "Remember you two, there are kids in the car with you guys, so don't go overboard!"

"Did he really have to say that out loud for the whole parking lot to hear it?" Randy grumbles with a scowl on his face as he gets out of the car and stretches his legs.

"That's your brother for ya . . ." I say with a shrug as I move up to the middle row. "He's always broadcasting people's business without their permission."

"Its comments like those that make me wonder why we brought him along in the first place," Randy tells me with a sigh as he leans against the car. "And then I remember that it was your reasoning skills that led me to agree to let him come along."

"Oh yeah . . . Pin the blame on me why don't you," I say sarcastically as I let my feet hang out the open door. "What else do you want to blame me for while you're at it?"

"Not much really . . ." he tells me with a shrug. "Not much comes to mind when it comes to blaming you for something."

"Which means that all the troubles that have happened in your life have either been brought on by you yourself or other people who are not me," I say victoriously as I pluck my shorts from out my bag. "How's that for a realization?"

"Huh, you are actually kinda right on that one . . ." Randy reluctantly admits as I step out the car and quickly put on my shorts. ". . . I never noticed that you never had your shorts on till now."

"I bet you were noticing my butt while we were walking back to the car at least," I say with a knowing look on my face as his eyes widen in mock disbelief. "C'mon, you didn't think I would notice you checking out my booty from the corner of my eye. I saw you lick your lips at least once while you were checking me out."

"Dang it . . . I got to be more discreet when I do such a thing around you," Randy mumbles as he looks away. "My stealth skills were a lot better than this . . . Then again; I am dealing with you after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask with a smirk on my face as I cross my arms over my chest.

"Well, you were always known as the observant one between the two of us as we were growing up," he tells me with a shrug. "Plus, with your psychic powers, nothing can get by you when you really put your mind to it."

"Well, I can't deny that logic." I say with a chuckle as I quickly check on the girls to see that both of them were now fast asleep.

"And speaking of your psychic powers, I need you to do something for me," Randy immediately tells me as his eyes start to scan the area. "Scan the area for Rochelle. I have a pretty good feeling that when she left the beach earlier today, she didn't go very far."

"Alright . . ." I say as I gently pluck Dani's pacifier out of her mouth before wiping it off and dropping it into my bag, being careful not to wake her as I did. I close my eyes and spread my power all around us, stretching it until I felt the familiar thoughts of Rochelle's mind finally come within my range, but they were quickly getting further and further away with each passing second.

"I found her," I say as I pop my eyes back open. "She was about three and a half miles away when I felt her thoughts, but they are moving further and further away, as if she wants to get out of my range."

"I figured as much . . ." Randy grumbles in response to my assessment. "I should have known Rochelle wasn't going to go far after she saw us on the beach."

"At least we know Rochelle has some stalker-like tendencies," I say sarcastically as Nate and Alanna finally come out the building. "You guys finally got the food."

"Yes we did," Nate says with a smirk as he held up the large bag of food. "So, did you two get it on while we were away?"

"We only got as far as talking about my butt," I say as I retreat back into the backseat of the car. Nate continues to shoot me a disappointed frown until Randy slapped the back of his head, mumbling something about minding people's business as he got back into the driver's seat. "Like really Nate . . . Did you really expect Randy and I to go all out on each other in the middle of the parking lot?"

"A guy can dream, can't he?" Nate says with a shrug as he got into his seat.

"You are weird Uncle Nate," Alanna say with a quick shake of her head as she placed the tray of sodas right on her lap. "Even I can understand that whatever you were implying is something that's meant to be done in private, and knowing my dad, he doesn't really talk about things he does in private and you should be considerate of that."

"Thank you Alanna," Randy says with a grin on his face as he started up the car. "At least someone in this family understands the need to keep private details just that, private."

"Fine . . . Gang up on me like the slithering serpents you are," the middle Orton sibling grumbles as Randy drives us back onto the road. "Just remember . . . I'm the one holding dinner tonight, so you better be nice to me or else you'll go hungry tonight."

"Nate, pass me the bag of food!" I say in a serious tone of voice as I held my hand out to him. He quickly and obediently hands it to me; his expression now all trance-like as he turned back around. "Thank you Nate!"

"Wait a minute?!" Nate exclaims as I let him out of my trance; his sudden outburst gaining him a loud laugh from his older brother. "What the fuck just happened here?"

"'Manda put you in a psychic trance before telling you to hand her over dinner, which you promptly did afterward," Randy tells him with a smirk. ". . . So much for you holding dinner."

"Uncle Nate, you cursed, so you owe me a quarter for my swear jar." Alanna says rather proudly after she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fine . . ." he says with a shrug before I put him in a trance-like state once again. I then mentally command him to slap himself in the face, which he also promptly did. I then set him free from my control, his hand instantly going to his reddening cheek as he cringed in pain. "What just happened to me?"

"My fiancée used her psychic powers to put you in a trance-like state again and then made you slap yourself in the face," Randy tells him with a knowing smirk as I shake my head in agreement. "I'm guessing this is her way of getting back at you for cursing around the girls here."

"But the twins are sleeping!" Nate argues as he points my way.

"Hey! I'm still awake!" says Alanna as she waves her hands in the air to get our attention. "I'm not that forgettable!"

"Oh sorry Alanna . . . I thought the no cursing rule applied to only Dani and Gabi," Nate sarcastically says as he shook his head. All he got was a slap to the back of the head from his eldest niece for his troubles. "Okay . . . So maybe I did deserve that."

Normal POV

"Ah . . . We're finally on the road home!" Nate exclaimed with a smile on his face as Randy turned the car onto the road that led back to the house. "I can finally rinse off all of the leftover sand that's still on me. When they say sand gets everywhere, it gets everywhere . . ."

"You're telling me . . ." Randy said with a nod of his head as he brushed a hand through his short hair, grimacing when he saw that a few grains of sand were sticking onto his skin. "I still got sand in my hair and places I didn't even know I had places."

"You may still have sand in your hair, but I bet it doesn't compare to the amount of sand that's still stuck in 'Manda's bushy head of hair," said Nate as he jutted his thumb toward the very backseat. "I bet if you asked her to shake her hair out, sand will just start pouring right out of it."

"'Pour' isn't really the right word for it Nate," said Amanda as she shook her head. "It's more like 'falling freely like snowflakes'."

"As long as you don't get the sand in the food, I'm fine," said Randy as he drove them through the dark environment. "I never realized how spooky this route gets when it's nighttime."

"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if a group of zombies started popping out of the bushes," grumbled Nate as he crossed his arms. "It's just that creepy looking out there."

"Zombies?" a sleepy-eyed Alanna asked as she finally woke up from her short nap. "Where? Where are the zombies?"

"There are no zombies Alanna," Randy reassured his daughter as he spotted the outline of the house in the near distance. "Nate only mentioned zombies to prove a point."

"Oh . . . okay," Alanna said unsurely as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Are we home yet?"

"We're here," said the Viper as he brought the car at a stop in front of the garage door. "Everyone can get out now."

"Fine then . . ." said Amanda as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Alanna, you and I will bring the food inside. The boys can carry in your sisters."

"And she puts us on baby handling duty, just like that . . ." mumbles Nate as he watched as his brother took the key out of the ignition.

"In my case, I'm always on baby handling duty." Randy said with a sheepish smirk on his face. "I am their father after all . . . Now come on bro, we have babies to handle."

As the Orton brothers got started on getting the twins from out the SUV, Amanda and Alanna walked up the front steps and quickly entered the house once Amanda got the door unlocked. They eventually made their way to the kitchen, where they set the food down on the kitchen table before heading back to the front door, just in time to see Randy and Nate walk in with Dani and Gabi's car seats.

"We got the girls, but can you two handle the stuff that's still in the trunk?" asked Randy as he pointed behind him to the open door.

"Sure thing," Amanda told him with a smirk as she gave him a quick kiss to the cheek before walking out the door. The two females walked over to the open trunk of the SUV, where Amanda handed the blanket off to Alanna before picking up the cooler, but before she could close the trunk, the Anaconda stopped with her hand right on the trunk handle. "Oh great . . ."

"What's the matter?" Alanna asked her curiously as she noticed the disgruntled look coming across her face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Not really . . ." mumbled Amanda in an effort to not worry the small child. "Can you go inside and get your father for me Alanna? I need to talk to him about something."

"Okay!" Alanna said with a nod of her head before disappearing into the house. Fifteen seconds later, Randy was jogging out the front door and down the steps toward the car.

"You called for me honey?" Randy asked with a smirk on his face, but when he noticed the disgruntled look on her face, the smirk disappeared. "What's going on?"

"It's Rochelle . . . I can sense her thoughts a few miles west of us, but she's not making any move to approach the house," said Amanda with a shake of her head as she closed the trunk. "She's standing still, as if she's waiting for something."

"Is she waiting for a partner or an associate or something?" Randy asked her with an eyebrow raised as Amanda picked the cooler up from off the ground.

"No . . . there's no one near her at the moment," mumbled the Anaconda as they walked over the steps. "Right now, I see her . . . taking out her cell phone and typing up a text message."

"To who?" Randy asked her curiously, just as his phone began to ring. When he took it out of his pocket, he let out a low growl. "Never mind. . ."

"What did Rochelle text you?" Amanda immediately asked him as they walked up the steps.

"I know you saw me on the beach Randy. Don't come looking for me. I'll come to you. You just won't know when," the Viper read off the message with a scowl on his face before pocketing his phone. ". . . That's some good news to know."

"She's moving away now . . . She'll be out of my range soon enough . . ." mumbled Amanda as she continued to look west. "How long do you think it'll take before she actually does come to you?"

"Unfortunately, probably before this vacation is over," mumbled the Viper as he shook his head. "And I won't be looking forward to it."

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