Malec talks to the flower delivery guy and quickly sends him on his way before meeting us on the porch. “He’s only been on the job three weeks. He doesn’t know anything, and I think you made him piss himself,” Malec sighs, looking at Hayes disapprovingly. I hide my amusement on his shoulder.
“I rolled up, and she was on the ground with some kid hovering over her. What would you fucking think?” He challenges.
“I didn’t say you were wrong, but flying off the handle without cause could really make this blooming friendship a little awkward,” Malec says sarcastically, motioning between him and Hayes, and I don’t bother hiding my laugh.
“That was sweet. You should put it on a Hallmark card,” Hayes responds, dripping with just as much sarcasm.Men.
“Speaking of cards. Where’s the one that came with the flowers?” Malec asks, bringing us back to reality.
A fresh wave of anxiety washes over me as I glance at my feet and all the scattered roses, but I don’t see the card. “It was stuffed in the bouquet. It must be here somewhere.”
“It’s right here,” Hayes announces, finding it behind one of the planters. I don’t have a chance to warn him not to read it before his eyes go dark as night…
His hands touched you when it should have been me. I dream of slicing the skin away and keeping it for myself.
I remember the words crystal clear, now.
Malec plucks it from Hayes’s stony grasp and reads it himself before releasing a slow breath. “Yeah… Not good.”
“Do you think he followed me to the bar? Was he there Saturday night?” That’s the only place that he could have seen Hayes’s hands on me. Besides… “You hugged me on my back patio that night, right after my wedding. Was he watching then?” I look at Hayes, but he’s still standing eerily still, staring at the floor.
“So, Lochlan was right, you did sneak over here to see her,” Malec accuses Hayes, but he doesn’t react.
I’m wondering how often they talk about me when I’m not around… But I can’t stop looking at his steely posture.
“Jensen,” I say softly. “I’m okay. It was only words.”
He forces air through his nostrils and tips his head back like he’s attempting to regain some composure.
“Now is the time that I need to know everything, Liv,” Malec states, opening up a notepad. “Every person you might have a hunch about. Every person from your past. It was only words this time, next time it might not be.”
“Fuck,” Hayes swears under his breath, stalking across theporch to grasp his hands on the railing.
“I told you everything already. All my boyfriends from college. Elliot. I gave you all my case filings from the past few years.”
Malec shuts his notepad and shoves it back into his vest pocket, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Jensen. Have any one to add?”
His head shakes in frustration, but not as if he’s saying no.
“Tell him, Liv. Or I will.”
“Tell him what?”
He turns to face us, but doesn’t leave the porch railing as he stares at me in silent contention. “Landon Arkett.”
My mouth pops open. “You’re kidding? I was 17, I haven’t heard from him since the day you…” My words trail off, and I glance at Malec because I don’t know how much he knows about Hayes’s history. “Nearly killed him.”
“He seemed pretty obsessed at the time,” Hayes spews. Hehatesthe man.
“The victim of your assault?” Malec asks, looking at Hayes to confirm.
“He’s not a fucking victim. He was a pervert.”
Malec tips his head in understanding and doesn’t argue.
This type of fury in Jensen is the exact thing that makes me nervous to find my stalker. “The last I heard, he spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. I never spoke to him again. He never reached out. It’s not Mr. Arkett.”
Jensen only shakes his head in disgust when I say the name again.
