He bent carefully over the terrifying bouquet, then wrinkled his nose. “And he does this often?”
I shook my head and folded another shirt into my overnight bag. “Unfortunately, it’s not the first time.”
They’d arrived within minutes, for which I was extremely grateful. I wasn’t sure how Cole had broken into my place, or when the hell he planned on coming back. Most impressive, though, was how he’d managed to replace all my stuff during the course of a single six-hour workday.
“What are the colored roses in the middle for?” Bodie asked. He stroked his dimpled chin, thoughtfully.
“The yellow one represents me,” I growled, “and the red is supposed to be him.”
“And the black ones?”
“They’re the forces aligning against us. According to Cole, we’re fighting them off. It’s me and him against the world.”
“Holy fucking shit.”
I nodded glumly. “Yup. I thought the same thing, the first time he pulled this stunt. Although way back then, a small, naive part of me thought it was cute.”
“So he re-runs a lot?”
“Oh yes,” I confirmed. “He’s short on ideas, but long on originality. It’s just that all too often, his originality is terrifying.”
Carter reached out and flicked one of the flowers with his middle finger. Not a single petal fell off.
“You know it’s almost romantic, even,” he theorized, with a chuckle. “If it wasn’t so psychotic.”
My eyes followed the two of them as they explored my apartment. They were being good sports about it, which I appreciated. In truth though, I felt wholly embarrassed. Once again I was dragging my baggage into their already busy lives. Asking them to inconvenience themselves for Cole’s ridiculous actions, and to rearrange their lives around mine.
I knew what they’d say, of course: that they were happy to do it. And in some ways, maybe they were. Bodie’s face had brightened the moment he saw me, and the hug Carter gave me at the doorway might’ve been the best one of my life. We’d definitely connected over the course of our little getaway weekend. And in more ways than just the obvious.
“I don’t understand how he did all this in one day,” Bodie said offhandedly. “You’re saying he replacedallyour furniture?”
“Eighty to ninety percent of it, yeah.”
“And he did all of this while you were at work?”
“Impressive, right?” I sneered.
“Well he had some help then,” Bodie noted, “because he was also at The Refuge, clear across town.”
My heart froze, somewhere deep in my chest. The shirt I was holding slipped from my fingers.
“Hewhat?”
The two of them exchanged concerned looks. Carter shook his head and sighed.
“I don’t want you to freak out about this,” he said hesitantly, “because it’s not a big deal, but Cole came to the bar today.”
My shock turned to revulsion, and then fear.
“Carter, thatisa big deal,” I said icily.
“I know you think so, but—”
“No, no, you don’t understand,” I cut him off. “Cole iscrazy. Not just normal crazy either, but vindictive, vengeful, spiteful crazy. If he came to see you, it wasn’t just because he was looking for me. He was looking to gauge yourconnectionto me.”
Bodie shrugged. “So?”
“Yeah, seriously,” Carter agreed. “So what? He doesn’t own you. He can’t dictate—”
