Page 20 of Clever Deceit

My hands immediately started shaking, then, because I knew. Warren wasn't the kind of guy who'd send flowers with a card attached. It wasn't his style. He was up front and honest and forthright. He'd want to hand them to me in person with that crooked grin of his and tell me what he'd thought when he was buying them and why these were the ones he'd gotten.

He'd want to see the look on my face when I saw them for the first time.

Then again...

I glanced up at the window of the kitchen, then backed away into the hallway, where I was hidden from the window. Because I knew another man who'd liked to watch when he gave me news he knew I'd react to. Only he'd never bothered with good news.

No, he'd liked to say things that would upset me, just to see me try to cover up the panic they would send rushing through my body.

I looked down at the flowers in my hand again and reached slowly for the card. I knew who they were from now, and I knew the card was probably going to say something I didn't like. But I needed to see it. I'd sworn to myself that I wasn't going to hide from Tony McCarthy, and that included facing anything he sent to the house head-on.

He'd already sent a dead squirrel.

The card couldn't be any worse than that.

I took it from the stem of one of the flowers, set them down on the closest table, and pulled the card stock out of the envelope. Then, after a deep breath and a lecture to myself about being strong and facing this thing like the woman I knew I could be, I glanced at the writing inside.

Lils, I miss you so much. Do you miss me? That's good. Don't worry, though. You'll be seeing me soon.

It was signed with nothing more than a T.

But I didn't need anything more than that.

I backed up until I was standing against the wall and leaned there, letting it support me while my knees got weak and my stomach sank. I'd be seeing him soon. What did that even mean? It was a small town, and I saw a lot of people every time I went to the grocery store or the bakery. Hell, I'd seen his father just this morning. I might see him out driving around or when I took Silver to the vet to get a checkup. I might see him when Warren and I went out to dinner.

That was no big deal. I mean sure, it'd be awkward as hell and I'd rather not see him, but you learned to deal with these things when you lived in a town this small. It was impossible to avoid people.

No big deal.

It happened.

So why did this feel like a threat? Why did it feel like he was saying a whole lot more than just 'I’ll see you around town when you're getting groceries' or something like that?

And what the hell was he doing? They'd forced me to move out of town in the first place, and though Tony might have wanted me back then, that was five years ago. Why would he still want me back after all this time? He'd had other girlfriends, and surely that meant he'd moved on. What was going on here?

Why wouldn't he just leave me alone? He'd shoved his way into my house, done damage to my VW, and set Warren's house on fire. He'd tried to kidnap me.

What did he want?

And how could I get him to stop wanting it?

***

I WAS STILL IN THE hallway with my back to the wall, though I was at least now sitting on the floor, when Warren came back from getting some fresh air, whistling.

When he saw me on the floor, his eyes widened, and came running.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sliding to his knees and taking me in his arms. “Shit, Lily, what happened? Why are you in the hallway on the floor? Are you hurt?”

I reached up and quickly wiped the tears off my face. “Why would sitting on the floor in the hallway mean I was hurt?”

He drew back and gave me a look that said he thought my injury might actually be to my brain. “This isn't exactly a common place to hang out, you know. Besides...” He reached out and brushed the moisture on my cheek. “You've been crying. So sitting on the floor in the hallway with tears on your face means you have two marks against you just choosing to relax right here. What happened?” He looked down at the sunflowers now scattered on the floor, and his frown deepened. “Where did they come from?”

I breathed out slowly. I didn't want to tell him the whole story, and I definitely didn't want to tell him about all the things I'd been thinking—like that this would never have happened if I'd just given in to what Tony wanted that first time I saw him. I knew what Warren would say: that I didn't need to give that man what he wanted and that I was crazy for thinking I should.

But that didn't change the fact that if I'd given in to Tony, Warren and my mother wouldn't be in danger right now. And that idea was very, very tempting. But Warren would never accept it.

Hell, if I'd given in to Tony in the first place, I wouldn't even be with Warren. I might have met him, but I wouldn't have fallen in love with him, and I definitely wouldn't have slept with him.