Page 65 of Venom and Lace
Owen rolled his eyes at her and shook his head. “Nobody raises the roof anymore, Juliet.”
“What crawled up his ass today?” She handed me a giant coffee.
“He’s mad that the movers aren’t following the moving plan.” I shook my head, and she giggled. My eyes narrowed at the black box she carried under her arm. “Are you kidding me?”
She grimaced, handing me the box. “Hopefully the last one, since we’re moving.”
I yanked the lace off and froze when I looked inside. “What the hell is this?” She peered over my shoulder and made a humming sound. Inside the box were black and red roses, the stems all broken in half. For months I had been receiving black roses, intact. “That’s—odd.”
Owen grabbed the box and cleared his throat. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
I sighed and breathed deep through my nose. There wasn’t time to worry about some weirdo sending me flowers. Juliet was right. Since we were moving, the deliveries would probably stop, and this freak wouldn’t be able to get his rocks off anymore by hassling me. Good riddance.
I grabbed her hand and tugged her into our office and shut the door. “I don’t want to get too emotional right now. Can you believe this? It’s finally happening.” I walked around the room, chugging my coffee. “It’s so small. Remember when we moved in here and how excited we were that the place was so big?”
“Oh, my God, remember when that pigeon flew in here and we couldn’t get it out for hours? You were so afraid of hurting it and almost let it move in.” She poked me in my stomach.
We ended up lying on the floor reminiscing for over an hour, laughing so hard tears streamed from our eyes. “I can’t believe how crazy this year has been.” I wiped my face with my sweater.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married next week.” She rolled to her side, facing me. “How are you feeling about everything?”
Numb. Scared. Worried. Heartbroken.
“Fine.” I sighed. “Good, I mean. I think I made the right choice. It’s the right thing to do.”
She pulled on my jeans around my waist, a good inch of space in between. “You’re not eating.” It wasn’t a question.
“I am too.”
“You’re not sleeping either.”
A yawn escaped me at that moment, and I laughed. “OK, Detective. Just tired from all the moving is all. Just a little stress. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Well, you look like shit, and I’m tired of seeing you mope around.” She rolled in the other direction when I reached out to smack her. “C’mon, I booked us massages in thirty minutes.”
I sat up straight and grinned. “You did? Oh, you sweet, sweet angel, that is the best news I’ve had all day.”
The movers were almost done packing the van up, and Owen promised he had everything under control. I wasn’t worried about that; I was more worried that he was going to drive the movers crazy without adult supervision.
An hour later we were in the middle of the most relaxing massage I had ever had in my life. Juliet groaned next to me as the masseuse rubbed her feet. “Everything going well with you and Riddick? You haven’t said much,” I said.
She usually wouldn’t shut up when she got into a relationship, but this time around was different. I was out of the loop on things and, if I was being honest, I kinda hated it.
“Mmm, yeah, pretty good. I found something strange in his home office last night, though.”
“Snooping, were you?”
She chuckled and turned her head towards me. “Maybe.”
“What was so strange?” I turned on my back and let the masseuse roll my ankles back and forth.
Juliet chewed on her bottom lip, a distant look in her eyes. “Well, it was floor plans for a luxury high-rise building.”
Didn’t seem strange. He was a real estate attorney. I nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“But it was on the land that our new warehouse was on.”
I scrunched up my nose. “That’s—odd.”