His Revenge by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Fourteen

 

 

“What in the world?” Sam pushed open the door to the apartment she shared with Gwen and did a double take. Every inch of the tables, counters, and even some floor space was filled with flower vases. Dozens and dozens of flowers. Every kind and color imaginable. It looked like a florist’s shop. Whoever sent them had to have spent thousands of dollars.

She dropped her school bag on the floor and picked up the closest vase. No card. Sam picked up and put down vase after vase and not one had a card or note. None had a florist name on them either.

In a way it was a cool sight to see, but the more she thought about it, the creepier it became. She moved farther into the apartment and the flowers continued to be on display. There were even some in the bathroom.

She sure hoped Gwen had been home to receive all of the flowers and that they were from Drew. His parents had that kind of money, but Drew wasn’t the type of guy to make such a frivolous and grand gesture. He would be more inclined to bring her a single rose or pick flowers from a neighbor’s garden just to be a rebel.

Pulling her phone from her purse, Sam dialed Dean. He answered right away. “Hey, Dean. Are Drew and Gwen fighting and Drew had to make a ridiculously grand gesture with a boatload of flowers?”

“Umm. Hold on, I’ll ask him.” Dean yelled to Drew. “Dude. What’d you do to piss off your woman?” Dean put the phone on speaker. “I don’t think she’s mad at me. I left her this morning with a big ole smile on her face. Why? What do you know? Did she say something to you?”

Sam groaned. “Well, if you aren’t trying to get back into her good graces with more flowers that I’ve ever seen before, then we have a problem.”

Dean and Drew shared a worried look. “Sam, Drew’s turning red, and there’s a tick starting in his cheek, so you better start explaining.”

“Guys, you need to see this. The team might need to as well.”

“Shit. Where’s Gwen?” Drew demanded.

Sam knew Drew was going to flip. “Not sure. She left a note saying she was going for a run.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Drew grabbed his keys and started for the door.

Dean hurried after his best friend. “We’ll be right there.”

 

~*~*~

 

Gwen finished her run with too much on her mind. Twice now Dominic had the opportunity to grab her and haul her off, but he didn’t do it either time. No one would have seen or heard her cry for help if he had tried to kidnap her. It would have been the perfect time for him to do it.

He said he was there to protect her, but wasn’t he the threat? He told her that she was under a misconception about him. But wasn’t he the cruel and evil crime boss? The billionaire who could buy anything he wanted?

Or was he?

His nearly black eyes did not hold anything sinister. She watched for it. There was a deep sadness she wondered about, but nothing that had her shivering in fear. He’d touched her twice and both times were to keep her from falling. He did cause her clumsiness on both occasions, but he held her arm gently and let go once her balance had returned.

He wanted her to have an open mind; to listen to him. If he was such a bad guy, why would he want her to believe what he had to say? Was it all some sort of sick and twisted game?

Dominic never gazed at her with lust like some of the other men his age would occasionally do when she was working out. 

She had made it almost all the way back to her apartment when she skidded to a stop. Drew stood before her with fire in his eyes and wild look on his face. He closed the gap between them and crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair.

His body was shaking, but she wasn’t sure if it was from fear or fury. “Drew?”

“You’re okay.”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Something must have happened, but she had no idea what.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Drew shuddered and then kissed her head. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

Dean and Sam were a few feet away. “What’s going on?”

Sam kicked at a rock on the ground. “You’ll understand when you get back to our place.”

As soon as Gwen opened the door, she gasped. “Oh, my goodness. Where did all of this come from?”

Dean lifted a vase to see if there was some sort of marking on the bottom. “You didn’t know about this before your run?”

Gwen shook her head. “No. None of this was here when I left.”

Drew couldn’t shake his fear. Something could have happened to her, and he was screwing around with Adrian Colton and the damn stupid society. “Did you leave the door unlocked?”

Gwen’s eyes got squinty. “Do you think I’m an idiot? Of course, I locked the damn door, Drew.”

There was a knock on the door and the four of them turned toward it. Dean walked to open it, first checking the peephole.

The Special Forces team filed through the door. Rip whistled. “Damn. I don’t think there’s enough flowers here.”

Crash inspected a couple of vases, moving around the room to take everything in. “This had to have been a special order. Most florists couldn’t fill an order like this. It should be fairly easy to trace. There are only so many flower shops in the area.”

Jeff took photos of each arrangement. “I’ll start running through the florists and garden centers.”

Boomer folded his arms over his chest. “Dominic would have the kind of money to pull off something like this.”

Gwen was overwhelmed and had no idea what to think about all of the flowers. It was a crazy display of blooms, but the men in her apartment were acting like it was the end of the world. “I don’t think it was him.”

Boomer tried to gentle his features. “I know you don’t want to think you’re still in danger, but we believe he’s still in the area. That means he’s still a major threat.”

Gwen was ready for a nuclear meltdown of epic proportions. “It couldn’t have been him. He was jogging on the trail.”

They all started asking questions, demanding answers and yelling over each other. Gwen glanced at Sam who mouthed she was sorry. Her best friend must have called the guys when she found the flower garden in their living room.

Needing a shower and wanting the men in her home to burn their anger out, she left them arguing in the living room and wandered into her bedroom. All of the surface areas in there were covered too. The flowers were more expensive in this room. More exotic varieties and longer stemmed roses. That was interesting.

Drew followed after her, but she let him. He had been worried about her so she would cut him a break and not suggest he keep the guys company.

“What happened with Dominic?” Drew asked in a calm voice.

“Why aren’t you freaking out?”

“Because I’ve had a half hour to do that.”

“And?”

“And…I think we’re missing a major piece of information.” Drew sat on the side of her bed. “He could have taken you from the trail and we would have never seen you again. But, he didn’t.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Want to share what happened?”

Gwen tipped her head to the side and studied him. “What’s going on?”

Drew gave her a small smile. “We need more information, so we are going to have to take some risks. And I’m going to have to trust that you can take care of yourself.”

“Wow. Who are you and what did you do with my sexy overprotective boyfriend?”

Drew pulled her to him, settling her to stand between his legs. “You think I’m sexy?”

“No! We have a house full of people. Go back and keep them occupied. I want to get a quick shower and change.” Gwen grabbed a few things from her closet and closed herself in the bathroom.

Drew leaned back against her pillow and heard something crinkle. He sat up, pulled the pillow away and found a single sheet of paper with big blue calligraphy across the page. “He’s not good enough for you, but I am.”