Page 49 of I Want You
“Good. Keep taking me through your day, Letty. What was next?”
“Well, when I got back to my car with my flowers, that’s when I noticed the little piece of paper again and read it.”
“When you got back here from the flower shop, you mean?”
She shook her head, her eyes already pleading with me. “No. I read it when I was still there.”
“And you didn’t call me immediately?” I yelled. “What the hell, Scarlett? How did I not hear about it until you got back here? Why would you leave the flower shop at all? What if someone had been watching you?” I scrubbed my hands up and down my face, pushing them into my short hair. I didn’t think I had ever felt this level of frustration and fear.
“I know. I know,” she pleaded. Scarlett reached out and pulled my hands away from my head, holding them in her hands. “I wasn’t thinking. I think I was just on autopilot. Plus, I didn’t want to give the note any power over me. It’s just a piece of paper. It can’t hurt me… It was a good pep talk while I was driving, but as soon as I got home, all I saw were the dangers of someone lurking behind a car or a barrel or jumping out at me as I walked to the front door. That’s when I called you.”
“Scarlett… Letty.” I pulled my hands from hers and sandwiched her face in my hands with a light pat. “If anything like this ever happens again, I need you to call me. Immediately.”
She tried to nod her head, but I was holding her too tight to allow much movement.
“How are you feeling right now?” I asked. My thumb gently swiped at her cheek. The feel of her soft skin under me helped to calm my racing heart, but just barely.
“Better. A little wound up still. My heart rate is still all over the place, but I don’t feel like someone is going to pop out and murder me, so yeah… better.”
I stood from the couch and pulled her up with me. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Tugging her along, I led her to the bathroom and started filling her tub with water. I rummaged through her vanity for any bath salts, fizzy bath bombs, or bubble baths that I could find. Scarlett just watched me. The smile on her face as I took out every product imaginable was worth the effort.
“Pick any one of these you want or any combination of them. I want you to rest and relax for a minimum of thirty minutes.”
“Oh.” Her brows rose. “Is that an order?”
“It is. I need to look into some things. I don’t want too much time to pass before I start asking questions. Keep the door locked. Hell, keep the windows locked. Don’t let anyone in until I get back, understood?”
“I’m on the second floor, Luke. I don’t think anyone is going to be climbing up the drain pipes,” she said. I shot heran unimpressed glare, my brows furrowing. “But I’ll lock them now while the tub fills.”
“Thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”
“You don’t have to, you know.”
If she thought I was going to leave her alone here overnight, she was out of her mind. I didn’t even like the idea of leaving her alone right now, in the middle of the day, with the doors and windows locked. If it wasn’t up to me to find out who the fuck left that note, I wouldn’t leave her side at all.
“I’ll be back,” I told her again.
My squad car was still double-parked outside her apartment. I had completely forgotten to find a parking spot when I arrived. I looked inside Scarlett’s car quickly, finding her purse sitting on her passenger seat, along with a bouquet of flowers. I took them both with me and locked her car before heading off to the Downtown Diner. On my way over, I called my best friend to ask for a favor. If he couldn’t do it, I would call Wyatt, then Reid, then Wes, then my father until someone could help me out. Luckily, I didn’t have to go through all that.
“Hey, man. What’s going on?” Seb answered on the second ring.
“You busy right now and for the next three hours?”
“Three hours?” he asked. “I can clear my schedule. What’s up?”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel as the thought of Scarlett in danger lodged in my head. “I need you to go by Scarlett’s and hang out there with her until I get off shift.”
“The fuck is going on, man?”
My brothers, Seb, Wes… there was no one else I trusted more in this world than those guys. I knew I needed to keep this close to the chest, but Seb was going to need to know what to watch out for if he was going to be looking after Scarlett for me.
“She had a threatening note attached to her windshield earlier today. I need to find out who left it, but I don’t want her alone right now.”
“I’m on my way,” Seb rumbled. I could hear shuffling in the background, and then he yelled to one of the other tattoo artists to handle the afternoon client or reschedule her. “I’ll be there in five.”
