Strange Love (Choose Yours Book 1)

by Robin Edwards

  “I don’t like that period,” she said tapping her fingers to her lips.

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t like anything after get comfortable enough for him to fart once, but not comfortable enough for you to take care of him during the stomach flu. Cold, maybe, but puke and other bodily fluids, no.”

  She nodded at me, “I think you’re right. I’m a love junkie. That’s the cold hard truth of it. I am obsessed with love. Can’t get enough of it. Boom. I just diagnosed myself.”

  I snickered. “Who needs therapists when you have realization over a glass of wine and talk of bodily fluids?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Lindsey

  “Hey, did you ever find out if that one guy actually threw out your clothes or did he sell them to that street vendor?” I asked, finishing the popcorn and walking back in the living room. “You know, the one we saw with the Fendi purse and those leopard skin leggings you had for the 80’s party?”

  Kitt laughed loudly. “I totally forgot about that douche bag.”

  I stopped eating and looked at her, “You do realize that was like last month and he was the last guy you were soul mate happy with, right? What was his name, Bono? Rhino?”

  “Barry, but his friends called him ‘The Traveler’ because he liked to write sci-fi stories in spray paint on walls for people to read,” she explained.

  I came over and sat down, shaking my head, “I really would like to know how you would expect me to really figure that one out. Like seriously, where do you meet these guys? Do you go to the worst parts of Boston and just drive until you see the most dysfunctional dude you can find on the street corner and pick him up? By the way, hemp is not a wearable fabric when you have business meetings. I don’t care how many times Barry argued with me.”

  She smiled, grabbing a hand full of popcorn, “You are such a stick in the mud. You only brought that argument up because you thought it was funny to watch a hippy dude stumble for words and talk about his love for a plant.”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “But I think it was a valid argument in the fight against hemp in the boardroom.”

  There was a knock on the door and I put the popcorn down, walking over. “Man, Sunrise is really stepping up their game on delivery time; it was a full five minutes faster than the last time we ordered in. That poor kid must have been hoofing it to get here.”

  “Maybe they gave him a car to drive this time,” she replied.

  I opened up the door but there was no one there. I stuck my head out of the doorway and looked around my front yard but there was no sign of anyone. Opening the door all the way, I put my hands on my hips and looked at Kitt, “You heard the knock, right? I’m not losing it am I?”

  She glanced up, confused. “Yeah I did.”

  I looked down at a folded piece of paper laying on the ground. Picking it up, I started to get a bad feeling immediately. I immediately opened the piece of paper to read it. My stomach dropped and I reached out for the doorframe, feeling a bit frightened.

  Kitt immediately jumped up and ran over, wiping the butter from the popcorn on her jeans and taking the note,“The investigations currently underway at your firm need to cease immediately. If you do not comply with this demand, we can ensure that your safety will no longer be of any importance. You can expect to be visited and you can expect to feel the pain of your choices.”

  She looked up from the note at me and shook her head, “Who is this? The ghost of Christmas Past?”

  I snatched the note from her Kitt to read it again, hoping that I was dreaming, “I saw the notes that were left for Graham, this is the same person. It is the same handwriting on the same type of paper used. How do they know I was hired to investigate the situation and how do they know where I live? They could still be watching us, I better shut the front door.”

  Kitt shook her head, “If they even so much as approach us, I’m going to kick them in the nuts.”

  “Uh…I…,” a voice said from beside us.

  I jumped back and grabbed my chest and Kitt hunkered down, lifting her knee in mid-kick. Standing in the doorway was the delivery kid for Sunrise Restaurant, sweat pouring down his forehead and fear on his face. Kitt stood up and reached in her back pocket, pulling out some cash. “Sorry kid, we weren’t talking about you. Sorry to scare you.”

  His eyes shifted back and forth as he carefully handed Kitt the bag of takeout and took the money from her hands quickly before running back to his car.

  Kitt nodded as she shut the front door, “I’m impressed. I just hope he doesn’t tell anyone about my kick him in the nuts comment.”

  I stared down at the letter, my hands shaking uncontrollably. I walked immediately back to my office and picked up the phone with Kitt following, “Who are you calling?”

  “Graham,” I said, searching through for the number. “He has to know this and I need answers. I did not sign up for this. I will not be subjected to this, and this guy is going down.”

  “You need to calm down.”

  I finally found the number and dialed, tapping my foot. “Hello?”

  “Graham,” I blurted out.

  “Lindsey? What’s going on? You don’t sound alright.”

  “I just received a note from you know… your guy,” I said, feeling a lump rising in my throat. Graham was the only one I’ve ever lost my sense control around but it had to stop, he wasn’t my safety net anymore. In fact, my guard had to be up ten times more with him then with anyone else.

  “What did it say?” he asked.

  “It said to stop the investigation or to expect them, in a weird poetic kind of prose way,” I replied. “It was on that blue paper and the scribbling was just like the ones you received.”

  “I’m coming over,” he said adamantly.

  “Okay,” I agreed, knowing arguing with him when he was like that was pointless. “Kitt’s here, too.”

  “Right, so I not only need to protect myself against blackmailers but I need to be wary of and angry best friends,” he teased.

  Graham was always good at pulling me out of my own head. Luckily, in the state I was in, Kitt didn’t make a comment about it. She had already called Tyler to tell him what was going on. I hung up the phone with Graham and sat in my office chair, holding the note. I wasn’t so scared of the idiot that wrote it as I was to the fact that someone knew where I was and how I was involved. Which meant the culprit was either someone I knew or we were being followed from the beginning.

  “Hey,” Kitt said sticking her head in. “When the magician gets here, I’m going to go to Tyler’s. You can call me when he leaves and I’ll come back so you aren’t alone.”

  I scratched my head. “The magician?”

  “Yeah,” she said, shoving her hands in her pockets. “The great Houdini and his disappearing act…yeah, not the right time, I know. I regretted it the minute I said it.”

  Kitt patted my leg, “Just know, I’m not blaming Graham for any of this. It could and probably will happen with clients in the future. I mean we deal with people who need to be investigated all of the time, this situation is no exception so we shouldn’t be too surprised. Some of those people will be caught doing bad things and they won’t like us too much.”

  I nodded in agreement, folding the paper and setting it on my desk. I leaned my head back on the chair’s headrest and closed my eyes. I tried to get my heart to settle down, “I can’t help but feel creeped out that he was actually here. You’d think I would have gotten used to it by now but this was like the first time it’s actually happened, getting threatened I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. We should probably think about installing a security system and getting a dog. I’ve always wanted a puppy.” Kitt suggested.

  “We could always hire your Zamboni driver and his team of hooligans to stand guard in hockey uniforms with their sticks to protect us.”

  “We could,” she nodded. “But then who would knock out all the teeth?”

  “I got a baseball ba
t,” I shrugged.

  She chuckled as she pulled up a chair and leaned her head against mine, “We are one motley crew I have to admit that. Crazy disappearing boyfriends, hemp suits, hockey players. It’s like this shit should only happen in movies.”

  “I’m pretty sure we are just one long running sitcom,” I replied, feeling suddenly exhausted. “Now there’s some guy or girl threatening people or sending one of their henchman to do it.”

  “Definitely someone that sends henchman to do it,” she replied. “He’s definitely not from deep Boston. He’s like some rich guy from the North trying to sound scary.”

  He could be from Kansas and if he opened a weapon, then I would have no choice to go to the police at that point. I did not say that though, not wanting to freak her out because she enjoyed what we did so far. The second it turned scary, she probably would be looking for another job or would want to move out.

  Kitt always acted tough pretending not to be scared about anything, but I knew better than that. She was tough on the outside and just as scared on the inside. If she gave up a chance to beat up on Graham, I knew she was freaking out.

  “I need more wine,” she said.

  I stood up, “Me too. Do you think the wine made the situation seem scarier than it actually is?”

  She giggled as she stood up to walk with me to the living room to grab our glasses, “No, threatening people is scary no matter how much you’ve had to drink. You are going to be okay, Graham will be here in a minute and we are going to catch this person. I agreed to go into this business with you because you have a gift for these things. I knew given enough resources and time you could find anyone and find out anything and you are one tough lady.”

  I smiled, clinking my glass to hers. “Good thing or I might have become a bartender in some old gambling town just to outrun my bad luck.”

  “It would follow,” she whispered. “But yeah, I’m glad you didn’t do that too. Might have made us a little less compatible for true sisterhood.”

  “I don’t know, I think I could bring you into the lifestyle,” I replied, trying to ignore my racing heart and shaking hands. “We could wear big bangs and yell at bikers. I could call you Patty.”

  She laughed, her eyes constantly glancing at the door. “And you could be Helen. Beautiful Helen with the ‘love your momma’ tattoo.”

  The sound of a car door slamming drew my attention and we looked down out of the window. Graham had arrived within a few minutes and he started sprinting up the front steps and through the front door. Kitt lifted her glass, “I guess he owed you a knight in shining armor moment.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Graham

  My heart was beating out of my chest. I hadn’t been that freaked out since I was a kid and watched IT without my mother’s permission. Even that didn’t compare to truly knowing someone you cared about was in trouble and to make it even worse it was all my fault. I had put her in this position. I practically welcomed this scumbag to go after her. God, what did I do in this lifetime to make me so absent minded toward other people?

  When I had gotten off the phone with Lindsey, I threw on a sweatshirt and jeans, drove over as fast as traffic would allow, and got here in record time. I almost killed six people, a squirrel and at least three joggers. It was terrifying speeding over the bridge from Cambridge to Boston but at least I got here. I just wanted to see Lindsey with my own eyes and know she was okay and out of harm’s way.

  When I got to her office, I raced to the front door and put my fist up to knock. The door opened before I could and Kitt stood there glaring at me. She walked past with her eyes narrowed and had a frown. She bucked at me once and swiped her finger across her nose, “I want you to know that your balls are only safe for this one occasion. Had there not been a lunatic at our door, I would have answered with a nut punch.”

  I swallowed, thankful I was off the hook even though the punishment did not seem that bad enough for what I had done, “I appreciate it.”

  She put up her hand and closed her eyes, shushing me. “Shush, I don’t not want these ears taking in the melodic tone of Satan.”

  She turned to walk away and then turned back, “Hands off the goods, got it?”

  I nodded with my hands up in defense as Lindsey came to the door, “Who are you talking to? Oh, hey.”

  Looking at her, I smiled kindly. She glanced over at Kitt who was walking backward, pointing at her eyes and then over to me repeatedly. Lindsey opened the door and let me walk past, the smell of her perfume hitting me in the nose and making my knees weak.

  ****

  Lindsey

  He walked inside and I shut the door, locking it after him. Now that everything had calmed, it almost felt silly for him to be here. He did not think so though and I knew that when he turned and grabbed me by the arms, “Are you alright?”

  I stared at him for a moment, confused, and then suddenly the feeling of his arms, the sound of his voice, the visions of a stranger at my door all came hurdling back and I just stopped and broke down in tears. He sighed and pulled me close to him, wrapping his arms around me like a bear, one of the things I used to love about him so much. Like he could wrap me in his comfortable world and protect from everything.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into the top of my head. “I didn’t think it would go this far. That they would go after anyone else. I really thought it was some sick joke someone was playing on me. I can’t accept that they would do this to you. I am going to go to the police despite what Will recommended.”

  I pulled back and shook my head, wiping my tears on my sleeves. “No. That is exactly what they want. So, they can go back on their word. You have got to stay the course.”

  He stared down at me with those big eyes, the same stare that had melted my heart so many times. Shaking his head, he pushed a strand of hair from my face, “I can’t do that. I can’t be okay with letting you take the fall like that. What if they do hurt you or send someone after you? No, I can’t even think about that. I should have gone to the police from the beginning.”

  Reaching out without thought, I grabbed his wrist not letting him get his phone. He looked at my hand on his arm and then slowly looked at me. All of the past hurt and pain inside of me slipping to the background. I felt like I was stuck in a whirlwind. A fog that was encompassing only us. It held us in a suspended reality, a moment of time notched in the universe meant only for him and I.

  Both Graham and I stepped closer to each other without even realizing it. Our faces inched closer at a very slow but steady pace. Before I knew it, our lips were so close, I could feel his breath on my skin. My heart skipped a beat and my legs wobbled, a heat burning through me more than I had ever felt before. For a moment, I thought there was nothing that could happen that would break that connection.

  “The connection,” I whispered, my eyes beginning to close.

  “The what?” he whispered back, doing the same.

  Suddenly my eyes popped open, his voice both a draw and a wakeup call. I was doing exactly what I had told myself a million times I would never do. I was putting myself in a precarious situation again and by the same guy nearly destroyed my world the first time. If I did not learn the past, then any mistake I made thereafter would only be my fault and my fault alone.

  I put my hands on his chest and pushed back from him. He opened his eyes and cleared his throat. We both stood there awkwardly in front of each other, reality swirling back in and widening that space between us. That would have been a good time to discuss what had happened, if it hadn’t been on the same day as this blackmailer left a threatening note on my doorstep.

  To stop the spilling of emotion I turned away, putting my fist in my palm, “This all has to lead somewhere.”

  “Where?” Graham asked but I don’t think he understood where I was coming from.

  I glanced over at him and then looked away, “I don’t know. Wherever this guy is leading you to. He obviously wants you to stop your tech release an
d he wants everyone else to stay out of it. He doesn’t seem to be threatening your life, but your livelihood. Don’t you notice that? As for me, it’s easy to threaten someone you don’t know. Especially with a note on the door.”

  “Can I see the letter?” he asked.

  I looked up at his realizing I never brought it out, “Oh, yeah. Uh…stay here, it’s in my office.”

  I grabbed the blue piece of paper from my desk and hurried back, trying desperately to get the vision of him, me and what almost happened out of my mind. He opened the paper and read it, clenching his jaw.

  “I’m going to call Will and let him know what is going on. If you got one then maybe Will got one too. Anyone involved that he could threaten to keep me away from the conference.”

  “Right, I’ll just be over here,” I replied, pointing to the window on the other side of the room.

  I stared out of the window, the street lamps flickered but there was no one outside and it was eerily quiet. There had to be a connection I wasn’t seeing. I had checked backgrounds but found nothing too obvious, but I hadn’t checked everyone’s. If they were following Graham, they would have seen the interest in me as an investigator also. Following me really wasn’t that tough, as I’ve kept the same routine for the past year.

  “He said he will keep an eye out and will continue to pull in data to send to you,” Graham said walking in the living room.

  I turned back, my arms around my body and nodded, “Good. I was trying to think if there was anything I probably missed at everyone I’ve researched, but there isn’t. I don’t know if it had anything to do with what I did.”

  Graham shook his head and sat down on the arm of the sofa. He reached over and took some popcorn, his eyes off in the distance, his face angered and worried at the same time,“I really didn’t mean for any of this, anything bad I have ever done to you, to happen.”