Page 34 of Below The Surface
“We’ll get it taken care of.” Tony glares at Doug.
I turn to the nameless one. “So what’s your name?”
“Manny.”
“Well, Steve, Doug, Tony, and Manny. Have a lovely evening. Sorry to disturb your flower delivery. I’ll grab my phone and be on my merry little way.” I skip toward what I’m hoping is the garage door, surprised no one stops me. I stop at the fridge unit and grab one of the vases with a single blue rose as I go. Then I’m rummaging in the bed of the truck for my phone.
“That was fucking weird,” Doug whispers loud enough I can hear when they enter the garage.
The trick is to keep everyone on their toes. I pop up. “Found it!”
“You know our names, so what’s yours?” Tony asks.
“Nope, not happening any time soon. But you can call me The Masked One.”
A few of them snort. “So original.”
I shrug and hit the garage button to exit, and there’s a group of five more guys all unloading actual flowers onto different wagons. I look back at the four behind me. “We good?” I’m stillitching to fight, but nine against one aren’t great odds if I’m being honest with myself.
“We’ll let you go for now, but if we find you here again, I’m calling the cops.”
“Fair enough, but you know they don’t give a shit about you. Toodles.” I give them a finger wave and turn on my heel.
This was fun. I got a little bit of info on Dallas’s stalker. I found a cute little flower shop. And I need to talk with Cindy’s kid to see what the fuck scared them. Sure, the guys come across as scary, but my instincts tell me they told me the truth. That said...
I still “trip” into one of the people loading up a wagon. The water from the vase spills everywhere and I make sure not to drop it where it’ll shatter. We roll around on the ground until he can get me off him. All the while, I’m patting him down for drugs or anything weird. Nothing.
I bounce to my feet and grab the vase. “Sorry ‘bout that. I’m all two left feet right now.”
“So’kay,” they mumble. I lean in close. No alcohol on their breath.
“Sorry, again.” I walk backward until I’m out of sight, then I’m running through the alley, forgetting about the goose shit until I’m running from a gaggle of geese for a few feet before they get distracted. I’m panting when I get to my car, and I scratch the soles of my boots on the asphalt, hoping any goose shit that attached to me comes off. When I’m satisfied, I hop into my car. I buckle the vase into the passenger seat because of course I do. Then I’m on the road back home.
Now, I trust Jim and Cindy. However, something isn’t adding up. But I’ll question them another day. I’ll have to remind them I’m not here just to rough up people they don’t like. Just not my vibe and they know it. I enjoy making sure my people are safe. And so far Steve’s Flower Shop doesn’t exactly scream badguys. Just bad shipping timing. I sill plan on investigating them further. I’ll tap in to a few security cameras and watch them a bit.
A yawn escapes and all I want to do is crawl back into bed with Dallas. The man is basically his own heater and with the temperature we keep the apartment he’s all cozy. But there’s no way in hell I’m crawling into any bed until after I’ve showered.
9
DALLAS
There’s a snuggly, wiggly Kay in my arms when I open my eyes. He’s adorable and I kiss his nose. Then I notice the blue rose in a vase on the nightstand beside him and the heat drains from my body.
Kay pouts when I pull away. “Why are you over there now?” He scoots closer.
“Where did the rose come from?”
“Oh, we got a lead last night, and I investigated while you slept.”
I flop back onto the pillow. “I must have beenoutout. I’m usually a light sleeper. But I don’t remember shit.” I rub a hand over my face and stare at the ceiling. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I enjoy a challenge and this is just one step closer to finding who’s stalking my stalker.”
I snort and wrap my arm around his shoulders, tugging him closer. His hand grazes my chest, then goes lower and lower until it’s on the growing bulge in my jeans.
He licks his lips and looks up at me. “Wanna fuck around this morning? I need a protein boost.” His fingers work the button on my jeans open, but he doesn’t work down the zipper. “Prettyplease can I suck your dick?” It’s basically a whine, and not gonna lie, I’d love his lips around my dick again.
“Sounds like a good way to wake up to me,” I say as I help him with the zipper and we shuck my jeans off together.
