Midnight Daffodil (Poisonous Petals #1)

Chapter 36Luke

thirty-six

LUKE

T he loud ringtone tore me from the metrical world of sleep. Haze dissipated slowly around me as reality came into focus. I answered my phone, knowing the special tone assigned explicitly to the love of my life.

“Hey, angel,” I said groggily.

Confusion seeped from my pores.

What time was it? Did I sleep all day?

“Luke,” her soft voice came from the other end of the phone. I shot up in bed at her tone.

Something was wrong.

“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?”

I heard labored breathing. Olivia had panic attacks if she saw someone similar to Matt or his car. Her struggles were agonizing to witness, and all I could do was hold her close. Years of abuse will do that.

“There was a note when I came home.” I could hear her sucking in air.

“I’m on my way,” I said as I heaved myself out of bed. I felt like I couldn’t move. Shoving my limbs through my shirt and jeans was like moving through quicksand. I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear as I made my way through the house.

“No, Luke, you’ve been up for like sixteen hours.” She sniffed into the phone.

“Doesn’t matter. You do.”

Silence spread across the line. I clenched my fists, knowing I couldn’t leave her alone. What if that motherfucker was still lurking? God knows the security at Vera’s apartment had always been a joke. My heart pounded as I rushed to get there.

We hadn’t seen everything Matt was capable of, that I was sure.

“I’ll stay on the phone with you. I’m on my way over now, angel,” I told her as I snapped my fingers, motioning towards the truck. Rev jumped in and sat in the passenger seat.

“I feel like I can’t breathe,” she whispered.

I started the truck waiting for the garage that opened slower than shit.

“Breathe with me, baby,” I told her, placing the phone between me and Rev on speaker. Her breaths sounded like glass in her lungs. “Tell me what you see, angel.”

I sped down the backroads towards the city.

“I see Noodle.”

“What’s he doing?” I asked her, needing her to focus on something in the present. Something she could touch, taste, or smell to keep her calm.

“Purring on my lap.”

It was a start.

“How does his fur feel?” I’d do anything for her; loving her through her panic attacks would always be included.

She took in a breath, the storm subsiding. “He feels soft. Every time I stroke his face, he purrs more.”

“Rev and I just pulled into the parking garage under the apartment. I’m about to come up,” I said, picking the phone up and hauling my ass out of the car. Rev ran behind me, trotting happily through the lobby.

I didn’t have time for manners; I rushed past the valet and some of the concierges who were face deep in their cell phones.

Real fucking safe.

I hadn’t even knocked before the door to Vera’s flew open. The weight of Olivia’s little body collided with mine. Her arms locked around my neck right as her legs did with my waist. Tremors rolled through her, crashing down on me as my arms tucked her into my embrace.

“I’m here, baby; I'm not going anywhere,” I held her trembling body close to mine, feeling the warmth of our connection and the depth of my love for her. Those three words were on my lips, battling for freedom.

“It’s over there,” she said as she slid out of my grasp.

Oatmeal, Olive, and Noodle all stood with their backs arched as they hissed at Rev, who was cowering behind the chair in the living room, glancing back and forth between me and the cats.

I picked up the note off the floor, smoothing it out, reading the five words neatly scribed. Handwriting analysis could prove that it was Matt. I recognized the stationery instantly–the same used by his office for all documents.

If I had to guess, he strolled his stupid ass up here without even a glance from the doorman who shared intelligence with a tire and left this on the door after one of his hearings.

My thoughts were going faster than my exhausted brain would process. I wanted to take this to work tonight and throw this note in Lampton’s face. Would a restraining order have stopped this?

I set the note down on the counter and turned back to Olivia. She’d wrapped her arms around herself, looking down at the cats who were moving closer to Rev.

He was shaking.

“I think the cats are gonna bully him,” she said, a tiny smile appeared. “I actually thought Rev wouldn’t be able to be around the cats.”

“Are you being dog prejudiced, angel?” I teased. She laughed, wiping her face on the back of her hands.

“Of course not! It’s just he’s so big, and they’re so tiny, I thought”—she paused—“I dunno what I thought,” she said, getting down on the floor with Rev petting his head. He looked at her lovingly. “Come on, boy, they’re just kitties, see.”

She lifted Noodle into her lap. He swatted and hissed at Rev. Noodle hadn’t even used his claws, and Rev let out a yelp. He stumbled over the chair, taking the entire thing down, as well as the entire living room setup as he stumbled to his escape.

“Oh my God, your dog is scared of cats!” she exclaimed.

Rev shook under the couch, the cats all surrounding him, ogling him curiously. Oatmeal swatted a paw at Rev slowly; he freaked out. Then Olive did the same thing; Rev’s reaction never varied. They all took turns swatting at Rev and chasing him through the house as he ran for his life. Olivia collapsed on the floor, consumed by uncontrollable laughter.

I knelt and wrapped my arms around her. “Oh, come on, is that how we treat our service pups?”

She gasped between laughs, her body shook with abandon. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let me go rescue your eighty-pound dog from these ten-pound kitties.” She stumbled to her feet, merriment echoed through the air as she shooed the cats away from Rev.

She tried for several minutes to get Rev out from under her bed, but he wasn’t budging. I could swear I almost heard the cats laughing at him as they sat outside her bedroom door. Making our way into the kitchen, she brewed coffee and took in a deep breath.

“I’m sorry I freaked out,” she said as she set a steaming mug in front of me. The rich and inviting notes wafted past my nostrils. “I know you needed to rest, and I woke you up with this nonsense. Nothing even happened to me.”

“You’re allowed to be afraid. I’d never leave you to deal with this by yourself, angel. I love—” I stopped, my heart pounding as the truth sat on the tip of my tongue.

She stared back at me, her shoulders tense, holding the creamer mid-pour.

I could feel my big mouth just hanging open. I snapped that shit shut. “I love coming to your rescue. Always have.”

Pathetic.

She narrowed her eyes at me and opened her mouth to speak when the sticky cream started spilling over her cup and onto the floor. “Shit!” She rushed to clean it.

“Mesmerized by my good looks, I see,” I joked as I wet a couple of rags to clean up the mess, feeling fucking ridiculous. The cats were licking up the vanilla creamer like it was milk.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” she blushed.

We cleaned up the rest of the sticky mess and settled on the couch with our coffees. We put on a movie and took turns dozing off on the sofa, snuggling up with one another.

I almost slipped up.

What a fucking mess of a time that would’ve been. She looked at me like a deer in the headlights. I couldn’t tell if it was nerves because she didn’t want me to say it or because she did.

I love coming to your rescue?

Since when did I start saying stupid shit like that?

I mentally punched myself in the face when we heard the keys in the lock turn. The chain on the door stopped it from opening, pulling a curse from Vera.

“God dammit.”

Olivia hopped up quickly and swatted Vera’s hands back. She unlocked it as Vera shoved her way past.

“Why is that locked? You got me out here fighting for my life.” She burst through the door, her voice tinged with frustration, as she struggled to balance several items in her overfilled arms.

“I was scared,” Olivia whispered meekly, telling Vera about the note and flower staring at me from the trash. Olivia finished on a lighter note with the story of Rev and the cats.

“Aww, poor Rev,” Vera laughed, turning to me. “I told you they were some fierce creatures. Forces to be reckoned with.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. That’s why someone could waltz into this building and put something on your door. Cuz it’s so safe.” My words were laced with so much sarcasm that even Vera narrowed her eyes.

“Stop going all cop on us. Matt is a freak. He’d find a way to get to Olivia regardless of where she was. Even if her new residence was Area 51,” Vera retorted.

She was right. I was being an ass, but I couldn’t help it.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I don’t like the thought of her being here alone.”

Vera’s face softened at my remark. For a second there, I could understand why Aidan thought she was attractive. Vera was cute. If you like loud women. Which he did.

Her eyes narrowed again as her lips spread into a Cheshire cat smile. “Did you guys fuck on my couch? Is that why the living room is a damn mess?”

And the moment was over.

I don’t know what face I was making at her, but I could feel the wrinkles embedding themselves in my fucking skin. “That was Rev’s doing,” I grumbled, picking up the table and righting the chair.

Vera cackled that laugh that made me want to give myself a lobotomy. I loved that Olivia had a friend as amazing as her, but God, they were opposites.

“Luke?” Vera said, looking at me more seriously than I’d ever seen her. Her eyes flicked to the empty creamer next to the crusty flower in the garbage.

“Yeah?”

“What happened to all the creamer? Are you guys kinky? Did you lick it off of her in my apartment?” She wailed, throwing her hand to her forehead and leaning back as if someone had struck her. “God, I can’t believe I’ll have to sit on the couch where my best friend got dicked and licked down.”

Olivia’s features wrinkled in embarrassment. Red flooded her chest as Vera doubled over, laughing at her own damn joke. Christ, she was the woman version of Aidan. And it took me a while to be able to tolerate him.

“Oh my God, shut up!” Olivia laughed with her, falling into their usual routine.

“Babe,” she said, looking up at me. “Did you wanna go home and rest?”

I took her face in my hands and kissed her. Vera made gagging noises. “You kicking me out, angel?”

“Never,” she said sweetly, kissing me back. “But you work tonight. You need sleep.”

“Please, Luke Ryder, please go get some sleep so you can lay me down and make love to me,” Vera gobbled in the background, slapping her knees.

Her and Aidan would be a God damn unstoppable force together.

“Do you mind if I take that note?” I asked her softly.

She shook her head. “Take it, I never wanna see it again.”

She exhaled into my chest as she leaned her weight into me.

God, I loved her so much it hurt.

I squeezed her in my arms, memorizing how she felt against me.

“I’ll text you when I get home,” I told her while leaning down and kissing her forehead. She pried herself off of me and nodded as I whistled.

Rev peeked out the threshold of her bedroom door on shaky paws. Christ, this dog was part of the force, for fucks sake. I’d seen him take down criminals, face off guns, he’d been thrown from a moving vehicle and shook that shit off, yet he was terrified of these cats. He went to turn to run back under the bed.

You gotta be shittin’ me.

“Absolutely not. Rev, let’s go,” I spoke firmly. He halted in his tracks and ran between my legs, trembling.

“Oh, that’s rich! I didn’t know your dog was a little bitch,” Vera howled.

“I’ll see ya later, sweet angel,” I said to Olivia, opening the front door. Rev shoved himself out of it, running down the hallway. I waited until I heard the lock click into place before starting towards the elevator.

Rev waited for me there. “You were embarrassing me in there. What’s your deal?”

He huffed and raised his paw, cocking his head to the side.

We made our way down to the lobby doors that led into the attached parking garage. I scanned my surroundings. The lack of sleep was truly catching up to me. I needed a nap. I heard the engine of a car idling in the distance. Where the hell was it coming from?

I looked around; people were everywhere. So many that I almost didn’t see him standing there across the street in an alley. With that unforgettable white Mercedes.

Matt.

Our eyes met like two ships crossing in the night. It cut through the bustling city like a knife, but mine was sharper as I deadpanned at him.

He knew she was here.

And he knew she was mine. My muscles itched, roaring at me to end this once and for all. But he tore his gaze away first like the coward he was.

The Rolex he wore glinted in the sunlight as he turned on his lifted heel and got into his car. Screeching tires of hate pierced my ears as he maneuvered sloppily through traffic. Potent vehemence gripped my core.

I pulled out of the parking garage and went straight down to the precinct instead of going home. I needed to see if there was a way I could get his court schedule. I needed to know just how much free time that motherfucker had during his workday. And I wanted to see if we could get a handwriting match from that note. We worked with Matt often enough that we were bound to have something with his writing, his signature. Anything.

I pulled out into the main road, my stomach in knots. My body was so fucking exhausted, but my mind was alive, fueled by indignation. Matt would never touch Olivia again.

Over my dead fucking body, would he ever lay a God damn hand on her.