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.”
I hated that she knew so much about me; how to comfort me when I was scared, what to do if I had a panic attack. Her touch made me feel alive.
I shook my head. “Uhm, I saw someone on the cameras, but I didn't recognize them. They left flowers.”
She arched her brow. “Flowers? Why didn’t you tell me when you called?”
“Because you would have told Cinder and she would have raised hell. I’m not pressed about it yet.”
“Rory—”
“Widow, I’m okay. I called you cause I wanted you to walk me home, er well, ride home with me.”
“Okay, what do you need to finish?”
“I’m done. I just need to lock my safe and put things away and we can go.”
It took fifteen minutes for me to finish everything before I stepped back into the main foyer of my shop.
I glanced at Widow and my God, she looked sinful.
Widow always looked hot as hell, but there was something different today.
Maybe it was because she wasn’t wearing her jacket and I could see her tattoos and biceps.
She peeked at me, her fingers running through her hair and pushing it back.
She was trying to kill me.
I was about to make a mistake, but I was never great at making good choices.
“Widow,” I called. Don’t do this, Rory. You're going to break your heart even more. “I know something that’ll make me feel better.”
She arched her brow, and I closed the space between us.
I wrapped my arms around her neck and brushed my lips against hers.
I was waiting for her to push me away, but instead she sealed her lips with mine.
Oh, fuck yes. Even if this was just to make me feel better, she was kissing me.
How could Cinder not want me to be happy when I felt butterflies with Widow?
At this moment I knew Widow wanted me back because she returned the kiss.
The only reason she didn’t chase me was because of my sister.
It took a total of ten seconds before she pushed me back, but ten seconds was plenty of time to get what I needed.
I was teasing myself, but that was why I had several vibrators in my nightstand.
“Phoenix,” Widow whispered like she was still contemplating on stopping this.
“Sorry. I wanted a kiss, and it seems you did, too. Think of it as a thank you…for everything.”
And before she had the chance to argue, I scurried out the front door. I would deal with the consequences later, but I was tired of not being allowed my happiness because of my sister’s fear.