Page 7 of Clever Deceit

“Like hell I will,” I said. I stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and hustled after him down the hall.

He cast one glance over his shoulder when we reached the foyer, his face a mixture of affection and concern, and I gave him one swift nod. Yes, I answered him wordlessly. I was ready. I didn't care who was on the other side of the door. We were going to face them together. And there was strength in that. Strength enough to block anyone who meant us harm.

Warren gave me an answering nod, then stepped forward and jerked the door open.

Only then did I realize that the knocking had stopped before we got there.

And whoever had been knocking had left me a present.

I glanced down and cringed back, half shocked and half disgusted. A dead squirrel and a bouquet of dead roses lay together in front of the door, a rope binding them together. And attached to the rope was a note with one single word on it.

My name.

***

“YOU'RE SURE THIS IS the first time this has happened?” Warren asked, kneeling in front of me as I sat on the couch. He slipped his fingers over my clenched fists and started working to get me to relax, one finger and then another working their way between mine and forcing me to open up.

“I think I'd remember if anyone had left dead animals on my doorstep,” I said, trying to make it a joke. “It's not exactly something you forget.”

Warren's narrowed eyes and tightened lips told me I was failing at the whole joking part. “This isn't a joke, Lily.”

“No kidding,” I said, still striving for lightness.

His glower turned even darker, though, and I realized that now might not be the time to push him.

“Right, fine, I'm done joking. No, it's never happened before.”

The frown lightened up a bit. “Have you had any other sign that he's around?”

I thought about that for a moment, casting my mind back over the week I'd just had. Tony had definitely been there the night of the fire, but Warren already knew that. What he didn't know was that there had been odd things happening ever since then. Things moved around on the porch. Stacks of firewood knocked over behind the house.

Shoes that I'd sworn I left by the back door that were now missing.

I hadn't paid them much mind, though, because those sorts of things happened. I forgot that I'd moved something, and the wind was often heavy enough to knock over stacks of firewood.

But now that Warren was asking me, I was starting to see them in a whole different way. I might have misplaced those shoes, but surely I would have found them by now. And how would things move to an entirely different location without human help?

And without me remembering having moved them?

My stomach filled with ice water at the thought. Had Tony McCarthy been around my house all week, messing with things just to mess with me, without me realizing it? Had he been looking through my window when I was in my bedroom? Watching my mother and me eat dinner?

Standing behind the barn when I went outside to play with Silver, just biding his time?

When my eyes came back up to Warren's, I couldn't keep the thoughts hidden from him, and his face turned serious again.

“How many times?” he asked.

“At least four,” I murmured. “Four that I know of.”

Warren's eyes shut for a moment, and when they opened up again, they were hot with anger. “Four that you know of. And I'm guessing more that you never even suspected. That's it. I'm moving in for good.”

“What?” I gasped. How had we gone from Tony being around to Warren moving in permanently? I thought he would just be staying until he got everything together with the house...We barely even knew each other! And we hadn't yet talked about what we were, or if we were anything. Moving in seemed like...

An escalation, yes.

But it also made me feel immediately safer. Like I could handle anything if Warren was standing behind me, his hand on the small of my back and his strength backing me up.

“Moving in, long-term,” he repeated. “I don't want to be over there asleep, thinking everything is okay, and then wake up and find that something's happened to you. I don't want to wake up to a fire at your house because Tony thought no one was over here to wake you two up.” He put a hand on my cheek, his caress both hot and gentle. “I just found you, Lily. I'm not going to let that man take you away from me. I'm not going to let him hurt you.”