Page 37 of Haven

I smiled, glancing back down at the photo. “Yeah.” I just wished I could have everyone I wanted.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. After I left Joey’s pub, I went to my shop to do inventory and work on sketches. I wasn’t paranoid all the time, but there was something…off. Maybe I was still shaken because of the text messages I received. I hit play on my app and Motionless in White blasted through my speakers.

Sketching was something that helped me, too, when I couldn’t have sex or joy ride. And as much as I wanted to visit Hades, I had to get these designs ready for my next couple appointments. If I didn’t get ahead, I would ruin my routine.

UNKNOWN

Pink is a beautiful color, but I like red on you.

I remember how your skin looked with red. I always thought you were beautiful.

There was an alert on my Ring as I walked to the front of my shop. No one was there, but there was a bouquet of blood-red roses wrapped in pretty pink paper. I wasn’t playing this bullshit tonight. There was a note sticking out of the top, and with hesitance, I reached for it. If someone wanted to kill me, they had a perfect kill shot.

I’ll be seeing you soon, princess

My breath hitched. I hated how much power one word had over me. It was a written word, not spoken, but it made my skin crawl and my mind pulled me back. I crumbled the note, my hand trembling slightly before grabbing the flowers and throwing them into the dumpster. I went back inside and locked my doors, setting the alarm. Normally things didn’t rattle me like this, but this was the second time someone left me flowers, but the messages were what concerned me the most. I blocked the number this morning. Did they download an app?

I needed to breathe. I knew Vesper wasn’t available, and I didn’t want to bug Cinder. She would have a conniption if she knew about this. She would search high and low until she found someone to blame for scaring me. I didn’t know who it was, but I needed to make up an excuse so they wouldn’t send the cavalry and go on a wild goose chase.

ME

Can you come to the shop?

Was it bad that I knew she would answer immediately? She tried her best to hide everything, but I could see her emotions clear as day.

WIDOW

Is everything okay?

ME

Yeah. There were people around the shop and I didn't want to go home alone.

WIDOW

I’ll be there in ten. Do you want Cinder to come, too?

ME

No, just you, please. I don’t want her to worry, It’s probably nothing.

I wanted to believe it was nothing, but I was rattled. There was fear racing through my nervous system more than normal and I was scared. I hated to admit it, but I didn’t want to leave here alone.

Thirty-One

Rory

Iwalked to my office and opened my security app. I had plenty of cameras to catch whoever did this. I watched someone dropping off the flowers, but they were in dark clothing and wore a mask. Who was this? I took in a lot of clients, but none of them gave me bad vibes, and the majority of them were women—my style was more feminine. Hell, this could have been a woman for all I knew. Flowers and creepy messages didn’t automatically mean it was a man.

Widow was here in under ten minutes, and I was still looking through my footage when she knocked on my door. Although I knew she was coming, it startled me. I needed to figure out who this was. I could get Hades to help me because she wasn’t a Viper. If I told Widow or Vesper, they might tell Cinder. If anything happened, then I would tell her myself, but I knew she would be over the top.

With the attack, everyone was on high alert, but I didn’t let it change anything. I already rescheduled my tattoos because Cinder wouldn’t leave my side. She was already protective, but now she was worse. I didn’t think it was possible for Cinder to become more overprotective.

“Are you okay? You’re white as a ghost,” Widow said as I unlocked the door.

“Yeah, it just startled me.”

She inspected me. “Phoenix, you don’t get startled easily.”