CHAPTER ELEVEN
“He’s impossible,” Vanessa exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as her cousin topped up her wineglass. “Controlling even. Absolutely intolerable.”
Natalie had arrived three hours ago with two bottles of prosecco and Pad Thai, and now, both of them were more than a little tipsy. But it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
“Mmm,” her cousin murmured, sipping slowly from her glass. “Sounds perfect.”
“Ha! Not even close.” Vanessa downed a long gulp, trying to drown her thoughts of him. “He’s a brute.”
“You like him.” Natalie lifted a knowing eyebrow.
Damn, those eyebrows wereflawless. Vanessa made a mental note to ask where she had them done, once she was finished fuming.
“Never,” she snorted. “He’s the worst.”
“Uh-huh,” Natalie hummed.
“Seriously, Nat! He barged into the hall like he was Jack Bauer on hour twenty-three. Did that intimidation thing he does, simply by standing there, and then handed Murray ahundred in cash and told him to leave us alone. Oh, and he also offered him a job.”
“Sounds awful,” Natalie replied, once again sipping her prosecco. This time with a sly grin. “Is he single?”
Vanessa’s stomach tightened at the image of her cousin and Jordan…together. She pushed the thought away, clenching her jaw.
The more she replayed yesterday’s incident, the more complicated her feelings became. Yes, his macho display was irritating as heck, but he’d diffused the situation in minutes, saved Rory from having to cough up money she didn’t have, and given Murray a chance to redeem himself by helping the team.
Then there was the matter of him waiting for her after practice—for three evenings in a row. He’d stood with her inside The Link’s foyer while she waited for Anderson. Only when she was tucked safely inside the SUV, did Jordan get on his bike and disappear into the night. She didn’t know where he went. Home probably. But it was a pattern, and one that seemed far too considerate to ignore.
“You sound like you’ve gone too deep down the alphahole BookTok tunnel again,” Vanessa slurred, setting aside her prosecco and picking up the cooled takeout box of noodles.
“Well, fictional or not, I’d say it’s better to be in too deep with an alphahole than the typical asshole that you always seem to get messed up with.”
Oof, that one stung. She discarded her noodles, appetite gone. “Well,” she murmured, “I’d rather not be deep in any hole if I can help it.”
Natalie choked back a laugh. “Yeah, I sure bet you’d rather have the alpha deep inyourhole instead.”
Vanessa gasped. “Ohmigod, you aresosloshed.” Shethrew a napkin at her cousin, who dissolved in a fit of giggles against the couch cushions.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. That was bad.” With half-hearted regret in her eyes, Natalie held her hands up in surrender. After a few sobering breaths, her giggles subsided. “All I’m saying is, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have a strong alpha-type around for a while. Especially with all the weird social media stuff and flower drama and, well, everything.”
Halfway through the second bottle of prosecco, Vanessa had spilled everything to Natalie about the night at Silk and everything after.
“It could all still be a coincidence,” she whispered.
“You know what’s more likely?” Natalie leaned in, looking serious. “That sick fuck is obsessed with you, and your kiss with Jordan set him off.” She sat back, having made her point. “It happens all the time, and not only on the true-crime podcasts I’m addicted to. It’s scary shit, and you need to be careful with this phantom who’s been leaving comments.”
At first, Vanessa had thought the messages had stopped, but she’d discovered something much more concerning.
An anonymous user had been lurking on her Instagram for ages, liking every post, commenting on most of them. They had no profile, no posts, no followers, nothing.
None of the comments were overly threatening or crude. Most were the positive, encouraging notes a friend might leave. But the thing was, she’d never replied. Not once. Yet, they kept coming.
It was all…off. No direct proof that the red roses had come from whoever the unknown user was. No connection to the second unknown user’s weird comment on her flower post. But the coincidence felt too strong to ignore.
“The comment I received on the flowers was from another ghost account. There’s no way to connect them to the one that’s been liking and commenting on all of my other messages.”
“Well, Ness, you know what they say about coincidences,” Natalie replied with a know-it-all smirk. “There’s no such thing.”
“Who’sthey, Nat?” She couldn’t help teasing her tipsy cousin.
