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Victor beamed. “’Cause you’re weird. Most girls like shoes.”
I shot him a look.
During the pedicures, Adam came back, tailed by Lei. They both hovered over my head, discussing in murmurs things they wanted to do to my hair. I wanted to catch Victor’s attention, but Adam’s body was in the way.
From that point on, I was polished, brushed, sprayed, combed, styled and other things I didn’t know the name of.
I wasn’t sure how long it took, but it felt like hours before I actually saw Victor again, even though he’d been next to me the entire time. My nails and toenails were a light shade of pink. My hair felt different. They hadn’t cut it, but they managed to sweep most of it off my shoulders, and the rest they set into soft curls.
When Victor saw me, his eyes widened and his smile lit up like his eyes. “Gabriel might have a rival in you, Adam.”
“Please tell me he’s got the formula for this color,” Adam said. He curled one of the locks of my hair between his fingers. “I need to know what he did.”
“That’s all her,” Victor said, beaming. “Not a drop of dye on her head.”
“You’ll have to bring her back. I want to try to match it.”
I grinned at Victor. For another massage, I’d let Adam cut off all my hair and glue sequins to my bald head.
Victor laughed at my expression. “I think you’ve won her over. If I knew that was all it took, I’d have brought her here sooner.” An eyebrow cocked. “Or learned to do it myself.”
“Anytime you want to learn, come by. I teach a class.”
Victor had to drag me away from the guys when it was time to go. By then it was noon, and I was starving. I buried my cheek against Victor’s shoulder as he swiped his credit card at the front desk. As I did, my stomach started growling.
Victor laughed, shaking his head. “You’re welcome, Princess. And yes, we’ll go to lunch. Where do you want to go?”
“Someplace you like.”
“There’s a little bistro not far from here.” He signed the receipt. I tried not to glance at the slip, but I couldn’t help but notice Victor leaving a tip that matched the price of the spa package and I nearly choked. Victor gave 100% tips. He hooked my arm through his, turning me away from the spa. He waved at Janet standing by the front desk. “We’ll be back,” he called to her.
“Just give me a call,” Janet said, waving goodbye.
“Victor,” I said as he opened the door.
“Yes?”
“I like the spa.”
He leaned over, his lips planting a kiss at my temple. “I know.”
A spark lit up my heart. I couldn’t find my voice to tell him what I was really thinking. I did like the spa.
I really liked him.
I was leaning against him as we approached his car in the lot. My fingers intertwined with his. I was wondering how I could tell him what I was thinking. It was in my heart and I wanted to let him know. I felt like him with his inability to keep a gift for too long. I wanted to say it right now before I forgot or before this feeling escaped. I simply couldn’t find the words.
“Sang,” he said and he stopped a few feet away from his car.
The way he said my name had me confused only for a second. It was distressed, and so out of sync with the last couple of hours that I thought perhaps I did something wrong. I straightened, caught his line of sight and followed it.
The hood of the car had a manila folder stuck to it. My name was scrawled in red on the outside.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Get in the car,” he said. He hit the button on his set of keys. “We need to leave.”
He opened my door for me. I got in. He closed the door behind me before jogging around the car. He snatched up the envelope, flipped open the folder and gazed at what was inside. His eyes widened, the frown deepening. He half crumpled the folder in his hand, as if ready to toss it away. He stopped midway through, looked again, and stuffed it under his arm as he opened the driver’s side door.
“What is it?” I asked as he sat inside.
“I don’t want to show you,” he said. He closed the door and jammed his keys into the ignition, turning the engine over.
“I want to see it,” I said. “It had my name on it.”
“You don’t want this.”
“Show me. Don’t keep it to yourself. Something’s wrong.”
He frowned, but pulled the folder from his arm. He turned in the seat, holding it up to me. “Do you remember how you felt inside the spa? Do you remember how nice Adam and Lei were? Do you remember that feeling?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I don’t want this to change that. This shouldn’t be here at all, and I don’t want this to ruin what just happened. This wasn’t Adam or Janet or any of them. Okay?”
“Victor?”
He sighed, passing along the folder to me.
Suddenly I didn’t want to look inside. I couldn’t help it though. Victor knew. I’d asked. I needed to know.
Inside of the folder was a collection of pictures.
Each one was of me. Each one was a progression of me walking into the spa, then me inside the spa through the big window in the back room, getting undressed, then me talking with Victor, then Lei massaging my back.
And each one had the same message, a message scrawled over my face like the one that had been delivered to their phones.
I’ll squash you like the leech you are.
REROUTE
“Where are we going?” I asked Victor.
“We’re getting our phones changed and then I’m dropping you off with someone else.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“This guy is following us.” His hands twisted on the steering wheel. “He’s following you around. This isn’t phone harassment any more. He’s stalking you.
“I don’t get it. He tried to get me into the car last night trying to talk to me like he wants to help me, and here he is doing things like this.”
/> “He’s crazy, Sang. Chances are there’s some weird rationalization only he knows that we wouldn’t be able to understand.” He changed lanes, weaving around traffic to hurry along. “What we need to do now is ... I don’t know. I don’t have a phone to reach anyone.”
“No one else has their phones, either.”
“Mr. Blackbourne always has one. He’s got an emergency one.”
“Mr. Blackbourne carries a second cell phone?”
“That surprises you?”
I wasn’t sure what to think about it anymore. “Would anyone else be by a land line phone?”
“Possibly North and Luke if they’re at the diner. I might be able to pass a message through Uncle if he’s there. Maybe Dr. Green.” Victor snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Yes. I’m taking you to Dr. Green’s after this.”
“Why can’t I stay with you?” I didn’t mean to sound like I didn’t want to visit Dr. Green, but whoever was following us, he was following Victor, too. I didn’t want him to be alone.
“I’ve got to go back to the spa.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to check out security cameras, talk with some people around there. We need to do this quick. First I want to get a phone so I can reach you. I’ll call in someone to go with me.”
Victor turned into a cell phone store parking lot. I jumped out of the car before he could open my door. I thought we didn’t have time for that kind of thing. He hesitated for only a moment, before snatching up my hand.
At the door of the store, he stopped to open the door for me. I bit my tongue. I wanted to tell him not to worry about it, but I couldn’t help feeling the warmth of the little things he did to look out for me.
We stood in line to wait our turn at the counter. Victor’s thumb slid across the back of my hand at a rapid tempo. I couldn’t blame him. Every two minutes, I turned around to check out the car, watching out the window for anyone flashing pictures or trying to leave more photos on his windshield.
When Victor was at the counter, he ordered four brand new iPhones with new phone numbers, all under his name. The man behind the counter eyeballed him, but when Victor yanked out the black credit card, the guy started ringing it up and opening the boxes to start the process of getting them working.
