AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sam, thanks for coming by.” Tony shakes his hand and stands aside for him to enter.
They both turn toward me and Liv.
“You remember Liv,” he says, motioning to her.
Liv steps forward and gives the man a kiss on the cheek. “It’s nice to see you again, Sam.”
“And you, Liv. I hear congratulations are in order,” he remarks, smiling down at her.
“They are, and thank you,” she says, her smile forced.
“And this is Poppy Lexington.” I step forward and take Sam’s hand. “Poppy, this is Sam, a friend of mine.”
“Nice to meet you, Poppy,” he says kindly.
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you as well.”
“So,” Sam says, turning back to Tony. “What’s going on here?”
“Let’s move to the kitchen. There’s something I need to show you and we can talk in there.”
Tony leads the way, and me and Liv follow, Sam bringing up the rear.
“Would you like coffee, water, or something else to drink?” Liv asks Sam.
“No, but thanks.”
My eyes land on the flowers sitting on the table. I steer clear of them as we walk over to the bar.
“Why don’t you tell Sam everything that’s happened so far, Pop?” Tony advises, his eyes soft on mine.
I turn to Sam and see him watching me expectantly, his kind eyes assessing me. I lick my lips and start talking. I tell him about my suspicions of the guy being in my house, the text I got the other day, and the phone call earlier. Sam’s face stays neutral, but I can see an underlying anger deep in his eyes. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle when I tell him I got the feeling of being watched while I was on the phone with the unknown man. The package at the door proves that the feeling was real and wasn’t my imagination.
“She called Liv in a panic,” Tony continues my story. “She locked herself in her bathroom until we got there. Before we left to come back here, Liv found these.” He stops and walks to the table to grab the flowers and sets them down on the bar in front of Sam. “They were lying right outside her back door. I kept the stems wrapped in paper so my prints wouldn’t get on them. The bastard left her a note.”
Tony walks to the sink and rummages until he pulls out a pair of gloves and hands them to Sam, who puts them on before grabbing the card. He reads it and flips it over to look at the back, then places it back on top of the roses. I dig my hands into fists as he walks around and inspects them.
He stops and lifts his eyes to mine. “Do you have any idea who sent you these, or who could possibly be harassing you?”
I shake my head and say no, just as Tony and Liv say, “Maybe.”
He looks between the three of us, before settling his eyes on Tony. “Explain.”
“Tony, I swear it’s not him,” I assure, my voice pleading for him to believe me.
He talks over me, bringing on my irritation. “She’s been getting the same kind of flowers every week from a guy she calls Sterling. It’s not his real name, just one she gave him because he won’t reveal his name to her. Granted, the flowers she gets from him are alive. She’s been getting them for months.”
Liv picks up where Tony leaves off. “She knows nothing about this guy. Not even what he looks like. He just started texting her out of the blue a few weeks ago.
I glare at her. Sam turns his questioning eyes to me.
“I’m telling you Sterling isn’t the guy we’re looking for,” I stress, not hiding my mounting anger. I know they’re trying to help, but they’re going to make it worse. I won’t let Asher get in trouble for this when I know he didn’t do it.
“Poppy, there’s no way you can know for sure. Just let Sam try to look into him,” Liv says, coming to stand beside me and grabbing my hand.
I pull my hand away and take a step back. “No.”
“Miss Lexington, why do you believe this man isn’t the one that’s harassing you?”
