Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Valerie
I walked into Sophisticated Sheen—with Nolen behind me—the next morning flying high after the amazing night of sex and cooking.
There was something to be said about kitchen-table sex, and yes, even at my age, it was glorious.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized I wasn't the only one in the store.
"You're back!" I said in surprise because Vanessa hardly ever made it into the shop before me.
"I said I would be." Vanessa's normally upbeat demeanor was nowhere to be found.
"Is everything okay? It's not like you to just disappear for a few days."
Vanessa grabbed the tagging gun and started walking toward the back room, but answered my question over her shoulder.
"I'm fine. Sorry that I didn't give you advance notice but something came up unexpectedly and I had to leave town to deal with it."
Normally I would've accepted her response and dropped it, but it was the fact that she was acting weird that put me on edge.
"No, it's fine. I understand things happen, but with everything going on lately, I just want to make sure you're alright."
"Yup, everything is good."
My instincts were screaming that everything, in fact, was not good, but it would appear Vanessa wasn't going to tell me anything.
"Okay, then. I'm just going to head over to the security company to speak to Aaron for a minute. Can you hold things down for me?"
"Yup, absolutely. Take your time." That was the first Vanessa-like thing she had said since I walked in the door.
On my way out, I whispered to Nolen, "Watch her for me and see if you can find anything else out."
Nolen merely nodded in response.
I kept my head down on the way over to Aaron's work and nearly ran into someone in the process. I picked my head up just in time to be met with an ugly scowl.
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"You should really watch your surroundings better," the creepy guy said before pushing past me and continuing on down the street.
I didn't recognize the man and that alone was strange because I knew everyone in a town this small. It was hard not to unless they were a complete recluse, and that wasn't something Bee would allow.
I shook off the interaction and continued into the security building and found Annalee sitting behind the receptionist desk.
"I'm so sorry you had to open that package," I said as soon as Annalee looked up at me.
The woman was nice enough to wave it off. "Not your fault. I'm just glad they got rid of the things quickly. I hate rats." Annalee shuddered. "Even dead ones."
I couldn't say I blamed her. I didn't like rats either and I probably wouldn't have handled opening up that package very well.
"Is Aaron here?"
I was surprised he didn't walk out as soon as he saw me walk through the door considering the guys in the back could see everything that happened out here.
"He should be in the back, talking with Maverick."
That made sense, then. Work would be the only thing that would keep him from coming to say hello.
"Who's this?" I stopped dead when I saw the drawing of a man sitting on Annalee's desk. I picked up the sketch and immediately thought of the man I had just run into outside on the sidewalk.
"That's the person who attempted to abduct Lucien. Lyla just finished with the sketch and dropped it off."
The paper slipped out of my hands and fell back onto the desk before I spun on my heel and raced back out the front door. I skidded to a stop and looked in the direction of my store but I couldn't see the man who just minutes before I had crashed into.
Taking off down the sidewalk, I ran as fast as my heels would allow, straight for Sophisticated Sheen and crashed through the door, nearly breathless.
"What happened?" Nolen was immediately on guard as Vanessa looked over from where she was hanging clothes on the rack.
"Did a man come in here?" I asked between taking gulps of air. A rather ridiculous notion considering I barely ran that far.
"Not since you left. Why?" I could see the way Nolen's eyes didn't stop moving like there was possibly a threat amiss.
A fact that was yet to be determined.
Before I could answer, Aaron and Maverick both came hauling ass through the front door.
"Why did you take off like that?" Aaron came right to my side and immediately wrapped me up in his arms.
"I saw him." Everyone looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head, so I elaborated. "The man who tried to abduct Lucien. I saw him on the sidewalk. I bumped into him by accident because I had my head down. He told me I needed to watch where I was going."
Maverick, Nolen, and Aaron all cursed under their breaths.
"So, you figured you would just go after him?" Aaron didn't sound the least bit pleased.
"Well, no," I tried to explain. "Not exactly."
"Then what?"
Yep, it was safe to say Aaron wasn't happy at all.
"I had to make sure he wasn't coming into my store, or God forbid, to hurt Vanessa."
"That's what Nolen's here for." Aaron turned me so that I was facing him. He then bent down so I was forced to look him in the eye. "Don't ever put yourself in danger like that again. I don't know what I would do if I lost you after finally getting together."
Well, when he put it like that. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize, just please don't do it again."
Emotion clogged my throat. "Okay."
Aaron pulled me until I crashed into his chest and my arms went around him. We just stood there together for who knows how long until Maverick finally cleared his throat.
"Where did you say you saw him?"
"Right in front of your building. I was walking with my head down when I almost smacked right into the guy. I didn't recognize him and I know just about everyone."
"Kati said the same when we asked her."
"So who is he? And where the hell did he disappear to? I wasn't talking to Annalee that long.”
"We’re trying to figure that out, but now that we know he was walking down the sidewalk, we can pull his picture up from our surveillance cameras."
"Do you think he's behind all the attacks?" I was desperately grabbing for straws so that this would end. I hated the thought of my friends in danger.
"We won't know until we get an ID. In the meantime, Nolen will continue to be here when Aaron can't, and I don't want you or Vanessa to be alone."
"I'm fine without a guard." Vanessa spoke up for the first time since the conversation started.
"One of us will always be with you." Nolen was quick to reply, to which Vanessa responded by crossing her arms over her chest and arguing back.
"I don't want one."
"This isn't up for debate."
"You're right, it's not, because it's not happening."
Vanessa and Nolen kept going back and forth until Maverick stepped between the two of them. "Okay, enough!" he hollered. "It's like listening to a married couple going through therapy."
Vanessa sneered at Aaron's boss but Nolen didn't look the least bit bothered by the reprimand. If I had to guess, it was because he didn't plan to honor Vanessa's wishes.
"We'll circle back to this discussion later. In the meantime, Nolen, I need you back at the office to look over the security cameras."
Nolen looked like he wanted to argue but Maverick gave him a “don't fuck with me” look that seemed to shut Nolen up.
I had never seen that look before on Aaron's boss' face but I knew one thing: I certainly didn't ever want to be on the receiving end of it.
"Aaron, stay here. We'll let you know when we have something."
And just like that, both men left. Those of us that remained? Well, we stayed quiet.