Page 46 of Sunflower

A cough from behind me brought my attention back to the creepy, smiling guy with dead, shark-like eyes, wiggling the pack of cigarettes in his hand. “This is a signal jammer, Joey. Not cigarettes.”

Still not hearing any ringing, I frowned and pocketed my phone as I picked up the pace even more, deciding to ignorethe creeper following me. That didn’t stop him from yammering though.

“Your stepbrother, Callum.”

At the sound of Callum’s name, my steps faltered as terror instantly filled me. I recovered quickly enough, but not before he gained on me with an evil chuckle.

“Oh, yes. Callum. I want you to tell me who he sees, where he goes, what he does. That sort of thing.”

I paused to stare at him with a befuddled look. ““Dude, I don’t even know him.” Not totally a lie, but far,farfrom the truth.

Pulling to a stop, he hummed as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands loose in his pockets. Was he trying to hypnotize me? “True, but now that he’s back from New York—” I widened my eyes in shock before cursing myself when he grinned knowingly at me. “—you’ll no doubt be seeing more of him, what with your little family all back together again. All I want is for you to get to know him, and then simply tell me what you find out. Easy.”

“And why on earth would I do that? If you want him, approach him yourself.” I sucked at my teeth to buy myself some time. I needed to tell Callum all of this. Every single moment of this interaction. I could feel my fingers twitch from the adrenaline roaring through my system, so I crossed my arms in front of me to keep them steady. Longingly, I looked off into the distance,wayoff in the distance, to where I could now see Erin exiting the center. Without a second thought, I automatically started towards her.

“Joey, Joey, Joey…” Not to be dissuaded, the creepy fucker calmly stepped up beside me and casually kept his pace in line with mine. Sighing like he was disappointed, he shook his head and tsked at me. “It’d be such a shame for Erin to become a widow so soon after she got married, wouldn’t it?”

Immediately, I stumbled to a stop and stared at him in horror. Now he was threatening mydad??A terrifying spike of fear ran up my spine, but I swallowed it down as best as I could and narrowed my eyes to glare at him. Any hint of weakness and this fuckwit would jump on it like the apex predator he was.

He took two more steps before he realized I’d stopped. Turning around, he continued, “Here’s how things are going to go. You’re going to get to know Callum. Then you’re going to report back to me everything you learn. It shouldn’t even be that hard. You went out on that date with him only a couple of days ago, right?”

The blood drained from my face. How much did this fucker know about me? About my family? I started hustling towards Erin again. The sooner I was clear of this creepy, dead-eyed motherfucker, the better.

As before, he dogged my every step. “Just continue doing that. It’s not like you need to do anything extra. Just date him. Today’s Friday. You’ve already seen one movie today. Why not ask him to see another one tonight? Then all you need to do is to come back here this time tomorrow and tell me what you two talked about. See? That’s not so hard, right?”

He was right. What he wanted wasn’t hard to get. But did I want to do it just to give that information back to him? Fuck no. And how the fuck did he know I’d already been to the movies today? How long had he been fucking following me for? “And if I don’t?” I gritted out.

“Then bye-bye Daddy dearest.” He shrugged nonchalantly as he stepped around in front of me to stop me in my tracks. His eyes twinkled with excitement, showing the first true sign of emotion during our interaction. “It’s simple, Joey. I honestly don’t know why you’re fighting me about doing such an easy thing. Like you said, it’s not like you even know him. It’s onlybeen, what? A few days? What’s it going to hurt if you tell me what he gets up to? It’s only information.”

Over his shoulder, I could see Erin approaching, her hands laden with multiple bags. I gritted my teeth and snarled, “And you want me back here this time tomorrow?”

“Now you’re getting it.” The shark-like grin was back. “Good man, Joey.” He removed a hand and was about to pat me on the shoulder before he stopped himself short. He chuckled to himself before he shook his head. Instead, he lifted the cigarette packet signal jammer from the same pocket and waved it over his shoulder as he turned around and walked away, at a right angle to Erin. “See you tomorrow!”

I stared after him and listened to his whistling fade away the further that he got from me. It wasn’t until Erin caught up to me that I broke out of my daze.

“Who’s your friend, Joey?”

“No-one. Just someone asking for a light.” Swallowing nervously, I shook my head, turned to face her, and grimly smiled, adrenaline still rushing through my veins at his threats. “Here, let me take some of these bags from you. Let’s go home.”

Chapter Sixteen

Joey

BythetimeCallumcame to pick me up from our parent’s place that night, I was climbing the fucking walls.

There was no doubt in my mind that I needed to let him know what had transpired between me and the fuckwit in the parking lot. If I could somehow talk to him as soon as he arrived, I felt positive that we could sort something out before I was supposed to meet that idiot again tomorrow.

The countdown was on.

The very moment Callum walked through the front door, I was pulling him up the stairs to my room. I paid no heed to Erin and Dad, who were laughing at my eagerness to get Callum alone. If they wanted to think I was dragging him away because I couldn’t keep my hands off him, then I’d rather they think that over the truth.

Even Callum seemed bemused by my antics. I knew he’d lose that feeling as soon as I told him what happened, but I couldn’tfind it in myself to care. My thoughts were on making sure our family was okay, and that alone.

Earlier, I had found a pad of paper in Dad’s study, and he’d been fine with me taking it once I’d told him I wanted to make some notes about my studies. I hadn’t yet explained to him about my eagerness to change courses, but I knew Erin would talk to him. What with the shitstorm that had occurred at the parking lot, my mind was most definitely elsewhere. I’d laid out two pens next to the pad and had written on the top page:Approached by stranger today. He threatened our parents. Knew too much. Possibly bugged? Definitely followed.

I still had his hand in mine when we cleared my bedroom door, but I stopped long enough to turn around and flick the lock.

“Mm, I missed you too,mo lus na gréine,” Callum murmured as his hands drifted to my hips, drawing me closer and pressing his lips to my nape.

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