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Bile rises in my throat and I barely make it to the trash can before I lose the small bit of contents I have in my stomach. My throat burns as I continue to dry-heave. Hands grab my hair and hold it back from my face. Seconds later, a glass appears in my line of sight. I grab it and take down several gulps, trying to relieve the pain in my throat.
“Who in the hell is this sick fuck?” Tony says beside me.
“I know who it is,” Liv seethes beside me.
“No,” I croak and lean up from the trash can, wiping the back of my mouth with my hand. Liv hands me a wet washcloth and I wipe my mouth again before I turn to face her. “It’s not Sterling.”
“Poppy, you can’t—”
“I know it’s not him, Liv.”
“Wait, who in the hell is Sterling?” Tony comes to stand beside us. I’m grateful the card is no longer in his hand.
Liv looks at me for a minute before turning to face Tony. “He’s her secret admirer.”
“You mean the guy that’s been sending her flowers?”
“Yes,” I answer. “I call him Sterling because he sends me sterling silver roses.”
“How do you know it’s not him?” Liv asks, her expression now a mixture of anger and uncertainty.
I really don’t want to get into this with them yet. I want to get out of here first, then I’ll open up and tell them everything. They’ll understand Asher had nothing to do with this.
“Can we just leave?” I plead. “I’ll tell you why I know it’s not him when we get back to your house. I can’t be…” I clear my throat when it cracks. “I can’t be here right now. Please?”
“Come on, let’s go,” Tony says, thankfully understanding my need to go. He picks the flowers up and we all walk back out to the living room. He grabs my bag, and I lead them to the front door.
“Why are you bringing them with us?” I ask, looking at the flowers. I don’t want them anywhere near me.
“Because I have a friend meeting us at home. He used to be a detective and will know what we should do with them. I’m sure he’ll advise us to call the cops and they’ll want to see them.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. I just hope the cops will do something and not just push it aside. There’s not much to go on, unless they can pull prints from the flowers. Asher’s already tried pulling info from the text without success. The night we first had sex as we were laying beneath the covers, he told me Eric wasn’t able to break into the cell phone company’s database. To say he was pissed about the lack of information was an understatement. I felt his body tense until I started kissing his chest and felt him relax again.
The ride to Tony and Liv’s
place seems to go by fast. Of course, it could be because my mind is running a mile a minute. I can’t seem to focus on one single thing. One minute I’m thinking about the phone call, the text, the flowers, and knowing this guy was probably in my house. The next it skips to Asher and everything we’ve done over the last few days. Then it goes to Sterling.
I open my door and climb out once Tony parks, grabbing my bag from the backseat. Tony was going to put it in the trunk with the flowers, but I refused. I don’t want anything I own near them. I keep my eyes diverted from them as we walk into the house. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look at my favorite rose the same way again. This creep ruined that for me. Tony puts them down on the counter, before grabbing my bag from my hands.
“I’ll take this to the spare room. Sam should be here any minute,” he says and walks off.
“Wine,” Liv mutters. I watch her stoically as she pours us both a glass. When she hands me one, her eyes are filled with fire.
She comes to stand right in front of me and says, “They’re going to catch this guy, Pop. I wish you would have told me this was going on.”
I take big sip and lower my glass. “I really did think it was my fault about the drawer, and the other stuff didn’t happen until a few days ago. I haven’t even really had time to process it yet myself.”
She grabs my hand and entwines our fingers.
“Hey,” she says, and I lift my head. “No matter what happens, you know me and Tony are here for you, right?”
“I do. Thank you, Liv. I have no idea what I would have done without you two.”
She frowns and cocks her head to the side. “Why didn’t you call Asher? With him knowing about the situation, I don’t understand why you didn’t call him first.”
I shrug and take another sip of wine to buy myself some time, but there’s no need because there’s a knock at the front door. We walk out to the living room, just as Tony walks out of the hallway.
He pulls the door open and on the other side is an older gentleman, probably in his mid-to-late fifties.
