Page 62 of Love Finds Home

“So, the three of you and all your muscles ganged up on the man and intimidated him until he ran away scared for his life?”

“Something like that.” Jorge smiles. “But we got answers first, and he won’t be bothering you again.”

“What did he say?” Tiny asks the question we all want to know.

“Other than that he’s in love with you and just trying to show you?” Ranger asks, a brow raised and a smirk firmly on his face. I roll my eyes at him and give him the go-on motion. “He said he left the petals so you wouldn’t forget him while you were out finding yourself.”

“No shit?” Nolan chuckles under his breath.

“We asked about the note and he didn’t know what we were talking about. Said he’s never left you a note, only flowers.”

I think about it. The entire time we dated, which admittedly wasn’t very long, he brought me flowers or sent flowers at every opportunity. But they never had a card or note on them. “I believe him. He’s not a big notes guy. What else? Did he say why the petals now? And about finding me in Boulder Canyon?”

“He said the petals were a symbol of his dying heart.” Jorge rolls his eyes.

“And he felt like he failed his love if he didn’t let you know where you are now that he’s still thinking of you and waiting for you to come back to him. Hopefully, before his heart dies without you,” Joker finishes.

“Why?” I ask aloud. “Why do I have to say yes and date the crazy ones? He’s worse than Barty was.”

I realize my mistake when my mom gets choked up. “Barty?”

Bash quickly goes to her side and puts an arm around her shoulders, whispering something in her ear. I watch as her eyes go wide and her jaw drops before slamming closed. She slides her eyes to me, and in them I see questions, anger, disappointment, and hurt. It’s the last two that I feel in my chest.

“You and me have some serious conversations that need to be had, young lady,” she finally tells me, the stern mom voice in full effect.

“Yes, ma’am,” I quickly and quietly agree.

“Later. We will talk later, but we need to get back to this right now. How did you get him to leave?”

“We told him he was scaring Elle,” Joker confesses. “Played on his broken heart. He was horrified that he was scaring you.”

“He didn’t say anything about the benefit and what he said that night?” I ask.

“No, he said nothing about it. Why?” Joker asks.

“That night he told me he had an artist I needed to check out and put in this show, and if I didn’t, bad things would happen to me.”

“Did he say which artist?” Jorge asks.

“No. That was the odd part. He never gave me a name. But something was off with him that night. His eyes were glossy, like he was--”

“High?” Joker asks.

I shrug my shoulders in response. I don’t know much about what high looks like.

“Is this something he would do? Give you artist names?” Bash asks, redirecting the focus.

“Yeah, that’s how we met. He came in to purchase a piece for a client and said he had an artist I should check out. They were legit, and I put them in the next show the gallery had.”

“Who else has had access to your studio?” Bash again.

“Since last night? Because I was up there last night and it was fine. We all left and locked up together. Ranger was here with us.”

“And arrived at the same time this afternoon for prep,” Jorge backs me up.

“We need to watch the cameras.” Joker nods to Jorge.

“Sure, follow me.” Jorge shrugs.

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