Page 62 of Until Joy

“You have my number, Joy,” Glenda said. “Don’t hesitate to use it. Sometimes having an older friend to lean on is exactly what the doctor ordered.”

I gave her a wan look. “Yeah, okay.”

She gave me a soft smile. “Anything you need, just ask.”

“Glenda, Graham’s on the phone, I need to speak to him.” I pointed to the phone on Kayan’s desk. “Let July check over Rosebud and I’ll give her a cat treat before the two of you leave.”

She patted my shoulder. “Okay.”

“Are you done, Joy?” Graham growled. “Can we get back to the reason you thought a madman wrote you the note?”

I licked my bottom lip and gripped the edge of Kayan’s desk. “I don’t know why I said that,” I lied.

“You’re lying,” Graham called me out.

“Maybe I’m just paranoid. New town. New people. Staying in a new house…”

“You’re lying again.”

“Fine!” the word burst out of me. “I’ve been stalked before. I never got a bouquet of flowers like this before, but I’ve gotten creepy notes. I know what it feels like. I know what this is.”

“Fuck!” Kayan shouted. “What in the hell happened? Did they get the guy?”

“No, they didn’t,” I all but shouted back. I was practically in tears.

“You listen to me. All of you. Nobody leaves Joy by herself. Got it? Nobody. Lock the doors and set the goddamn alarm! I don’t even want her going into the bathroom alone, you got me?”

He paused.

“You got me?” he snarled.

“Yes,” Kayan squeaked out. She gave me the ‘eek’ face.

“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty. Don’t move.”

My phone went dead.

Kayan and I looked at one another, then she edged around me and went to the alarm panel on the wall and set the alarm that none of us had reset after letting Glenda into the clinic. Then she turned around and our eyes met above the bouquet. The smell of the flowers was oppressive. I wanted them gone!

Suddenly everything in the clinic seemed wrong. Hell, even the dogs were quieter. My skin felt like fire ants were crawling just beneath the surface. Even Glenda, God love her, actually irritated me a little, so that told me just how out of sorts I was.

I needed these flowers gone.

I needed Graham.

Chapter 17

When I’d gotten to the clinic, Joy was trying to figure out with Kayan and July how to get the flowers to the local nursing home so they didn’t go to waste. Of course she was. Just went to prove how strong my woman was.

But, despite Joy’s brave front, I could see signs that she was still freaked. It was in the way she licked her lips, and the slight tremble of her hands as she held her purse. I needed to get her the hell out of there and back to my house, where I could take care of her. The drive home had been quiet, Joy's brave mask finally slipping as exhaustion took over. By the time we got home, her bravado had faded away. My woman had trusted me to take care of her before I led her to the bedroom.

“You make me feel safe,” were the last words she said before she fell asleep in my arms. I wish I could have fallen asleep, but there was just no way it was going to happen. She’d been too tired and traumatized by the time we’d arrived to answer any questions I had about her previous stalker. All she said was it had happened while she’d lived in London and they hadn’t caught the fucker.

Tonight, she wasn’t wearing a sleep shirt. She’d insisted on making love. I didn’t want to at first. I was too worried about her. I thought she needed holding, not sex. But I finally understood that she needed the intimacy, the closeness that only came when we joined our bodies. Hell, she was so worn out by the time we were done that she didn’t have the strength to put on one of my tees.

I slowly disentangled myself from her embrace, then got out of bed and grabbed a clean t-shirt out of my dresser. I went back to bed and carefully pulled it over her head and threaded her arms through the holes.

“Graham?” she muttered softly.