“Love.”
“No. You may not have sent me those pictures but someone sure as hell did. I can’t fucking believe this.” The images are burned into my mind and I’m fuming.
“What pictures? What are you talking about?” I go to walk downstairs, hearing Joey’s voice and someone else’s but Reese holds on to me.
“Let go of me and I’ll fucking show you.”
He does but not before I hear him mutter something under his breath that sounds an awful lot like drives me crazy.
I march into the bakery and see Ian pinning a very red-faced Joey against the wall. “Jesus Christ. Let him go, Ian.” He does and Joey shoves him hard before turning towards me.
“Are you all right?” he asks, flicking a glare towards Reese who has followed close behind me.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I reach into the trash and pull out the box, thrusting it into Reese’s chest. “So glad I got to see these. Really made my fucking day.” I walk over to Joey and make sure he’s okay.
Ian walks up to us both. “Sorry, man. I just needed to give my boy a chance to talk to his girl and knew you wouldn’t let him.”
Joey smooths out his shirt. “You’re lucky you’re marrying one of my best friends, otherwise I would have hurled you through that window. Asshole.”
“Fuck,” Reese says and we all turn to him and see him fishing through the box. “That fucking bitch. Dylan, I’m so sorry you saw these.” He moves closer to me and I step back, putting my hand up to stop him.
“Who sent them?” I ask sternly. His eyes flick to Ian and I move in closer. “Reese, who the fuck sent these to me?”
He swallows loudly. “The girl I was last…”
“Fucking?” Joey fills in.
Reese nods.
“Classy,” Joey adds.
Ian’s eyes widen. “Shit, man. I knew she was pissed that you fired her but I guess she was way past pissed. And clearly unstable. Fuck.” Fired her? Oh please don’t tell me.
I shake my head and feel all three pairs of eyes on me. I rub my temples. “Let me guess, bitchy redheaded receptionist?” Reese and Ian’s eyes both react the same way. I run my hands down my face. “Wow, nice, Reese. Have you fucked every girl in your office or do you just have a thing for the ones that give your current hookup access to you?” He doesn’t answer that and it’s probably for the best. I can feel my blood pressure boiling and I want to hit something. I need to hit something. “One of you better fucking volunteer or I’m slapping all three of you.”
Joey immediately backs up. “Fuck that. What the fuck did I do?”
Ian looks at Reese who quickly steps forward, holding his hands out to me. I step in and slap him hard, harder than I’ve slapped him before and yelp as my hand begins to sting. “Shit.” I shake my hand and feel Reese grab it, looking at it as his reddened cheek glares at me. That looks like it hurts. Good.
“Jesus,” Ian says and Joey muffles a laugh. The redhead pops into my mind and so does the image of her sitting on the park bench last weekend. “Oh my God. I knew that bitch was psychotic.” I yank my hand out of Reese’s as he begins to rub it.
“What are you talking about?” he asks.
“Juls and I saw that whore staring at you guys while you played basketball on Sunday. It was really fucking weird.” My eyes flick from Ian to Reese and I see a small smile pull at Reese’s lips. “What the hell are you smiling at? You do realize that I have another hand to slap the shit out of you with right?”
“You were watching our game?”
Oh damn it. “No.” I snarl and his smile widens. I hear a muffled laugh from Ian. “Maybe. That’s not the point. She was staring at you guys and it was really fucking creepy.” I grit my teeth. “That stupid bitch. She better pray that I never see her face again otherwise I’m going to break it.” I know my face is blood red and see all three men smiling at me in amusement. “Shut up,” I spat and turn at the sound of the shop door opening. I freeze as Justin steps into the bakery and possibly also into the room he will die in.
“Fuck,” Joey and I say in unison as Reese moves quickly, grabbing me with one arm and pulling me behind him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he blasts as my eyes stay glued on Justin. He looks fucked up, seriously fucked up. Eyes are swollen, his nose is jacked up, and he has a massive cut in the corner of his mouth. I briefly feel sorry for him until I remember his hands on me last week. His mouth is hanging open and his eyes widen at the sight of Reese. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting him to be here.