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Chapter Twenty-One

Now

Nix and I make our way into the living room ten minutes later to find my brothers lounging on the couch watching football. When they see us, Trey turns the TV off and sits up. Nix settles onto the love seat and pulls me into his lap.

“All right, what’s the big emergency?”

My brothers share a look of trepidation that’s really starting to irritate me. I swear, every time I see them it’s stressful. Tucker clears his throat and I direct my attention to him.

“So, we were just coming over to hang out, Em, but when we pulled up in front of your apartment, I saw Ryan sitting in his car. He was just staring at your window.”

Nix’s body instantly tenses up. “Where the fuck are the guys?”

“They’re outside in the hallway but they can’t see the street from where they are. Ryan’s very good at not being caught.”

“Jesus,” Nix growls, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

My gaze drifts to the window between my living room and kitchen that faces the street. Muscles all throughout my body tense as I think about him down there, watching me. Nix wraps his arms around my waist and squeezes, trying to reassure me.

“He drove off before we could grab him and kick the shit out of him but then Trey found this on your windshield.” Tucker holds a piece of paper out to me and I look at it like a snake that might bite me. Familiar feelings of fear start to work their way through my body as I remember his last note to me. One that was so dark despite the fact that it was practically a nursery rhyme.

When I don’t reach out and grab it, Nix does. He slowly unfolds the paper and holds it out so both of us can read it.

Blood is Red,

Bruises are Blue,

It’s time for you to pay,

I’m coming for you.

Nix makes a choking sound behind me but I’m frozen. All I can do is stare at the words scribbled on the page, my mind racing a hundred miles a minute. This doesn’t make sense. These words don’t seem like Ryan. Even at his worst, he was never this obvious. Then again, it makes perfect sense for Ryan.

It’s time for you to pay.

He’s mad. Furious that I am with Nix and that must be what’s driving his actions now. At least, for the most part. He has always said that I was his, and that he would never let me go. I think that is still there but now it’s just intensified by the fact that Nix and I took our relationship to the next level.

“Em?” Trey croaks and my eyes snap up to his. Both Tucker and Trey look ready to commit murder, and I’m sure Nix is sporting a similar face. I glance down and read the note twice more, trying to figure out where Ryan’s head is at.

“Emma, you gotta say something, baby.”

I slowly shake my head back and forth. Maybe it’s stupid or crazy of me to think this, but I just feel like this escalated so quickly. I can’t wrap my brain around it.

“I…he…what the hell is happening?”

Nix pulls me into him and just holds me. It does help me clear my mind and breathe a little easier. Holding me seems to calm him, too. His shoulders relax and he takes a deep breath.

“Did you guys read it?” I peek up at my brothers from Nix’s hold.

“Yeah, Emmy, we read it,” Tucker grits out.

One question keeps running through my mind: what the hell are we going to do? I’m scared now. Terrified. And I don’t know how to keep myself and the ones I love safe.

“I think maybe we should go to the police.” I’m musing to myself more than anything. I don’t know what else to do here. We don’t know how to handle this situation. A plan slowly begins to form in my head and I start to feel a little more confident.

“Why? They didn’t do anything last time,” Trey growls.

“I didn’t really follow up with that. I was happy that he was finally leaving me alone.”