As soon as she’s out of earshot, I glare at Kash again. “Seriously, I’ll kill you. Don’t talk about my girl like that.”
“Your girl?” He smirks. “‘Bout time. We all had a bet on when it was finally going to happen. Pay up, bitches!” he tells Rhett and Seth.
“Seriously? You guys bet on us?” I don’t know if I should be offended or annoyed.
“Yep. The buy-in was a hundred bucks, and they both figured you’d waste time until at least after Halloween. That’s next week, baby, so I’m ahead of the curve. I always knew you were impatient.” He laughs, taking the money from Rhett and Seth.
“You son of—” My reply is cut off when the door opens, and a man steps in holding a vase of roses. And they’re not just any roses; they’re black.
“Hey, guys. I have a delivery for a…” He looks at the card. “Cora.”
The guys all look at me, but I shake my head. I didn’t send them. Why would I? I’d just bring them to her.
“No one here by that name,” I lie.
“What are you talking about?” Rhett asks. “Cora works here, dummy.” He looks at me and then tells the delivery guy he’ll sign for them. Dreading her reaction, I make a quick plan to get rid of them as soon as the guy leaves.
“Oh, I forgot. Mila gave me muffins for you guys. There are cranberry ones and chocolate chip ones too. Oh, what’s that?” Cora asks, causing all of us to turn around. They don’t know about the note and other flowers yet.
While her gaze is focused on the guys, I quickly grab the white card off the top of the bouquet and shove it in my pocket. The black roses are sitting in a clear vase with a deep red bow tied around it. It gives me the fucking creeps.
“Oh, Kash got some black flowers for the shop. Decorations for Halloween,” I blurt out. It’s a lie, and it kills me to lie to her, but it’s better if she doesn’t know.
Kash looks from me to Cora and must see my pleading expression, so he goes along with it. Nodding in agreement, he adds, “Yeah. I figured, why not? Black roses are kind of Halloween sexy.”
Laughing, Cora pats his shoulder as she walks to the desk. “I don’t know what you learned about black roses, Kash, but they’re definitely not sexy. They’re a symbol of death and grief. You may want to check your sources, buddy.”
“Here, I’ll move them.” I grab the flowers, and she gives me a grateful smile. “We’ll put them by Kash’s station since he thinks they’re so sexy.”
Cora starts to say something but pauses when the phone rings. “Muffins.” She points at us. “I’ll tell Mila if you don’t eat them.”
Walking away with the flowers, the guys follow me to Kash’s station.
“I’ll eat Mila’s muffin if she wants.” Kash grins.
Fighting the urge to smack him, I settle for a scowl instead.
“Get rid of these fucking things as soon as you can,” I growl in a low voice.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
Rhett and Seth are looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, and maybe I have. Opening the card, my blood freezes when I see the message.
Time’s Up.
“Dude, what the fuck is this?” Seth grabs the card from my shaking hands. I’m pissed. Someone is going to pay for this.
After he reads it, he glances in Cora’s direction. Fortunately, she’s still on the phone. My body trembles with rage, and I know someone will feel my wrath. I won’t rest until this gets figured out. Maybe I should move in with her for a bit.
“I don’t know. There were roses at her house last night with a weird message, and now this. I’m going to fucking kill whoever it is. She doesn’t know the other ones had a card either.”
Tuning the guys out, I notice it’s past seven. Cora still hasn’t eaten. Leaving them at Kash’s station, I turn back toward the reception area. Good, she’s not on the phone anymore.
“You hungry yet?” I ask her.
“Starving. It slipped my mind with everything going on today. You want me to order something?”
“Nope. Come on, baby, I made you dinner in the back. There’s plenty for Noah,” I explain, grabbing her hand.
