Chapter 37

“Are you ever coming back?”I ask, pressing my phone to my ear as I start up the stairs to my apartment. “It’s been over a month. Just how much money does my brother have that he’s not telling me about?”

“Listen, when it’s right, it’s right,” Marci says. “But we should be home within a couple of days.” She lowers her voice. “Jesse’s feeling very threatened.”

“Threatened?” I frown.

“Mr. Skitters appears to be in love with June,” Marci whispers. “It’s confirmed. Every time we have a video chat with him, he’s always purring in June’s lap or staring up at her in adoration.”

“Bullshit,” Jesse shouts in the background. “He’s my cat.”

“Our cat, Taylor,” Marci says.

“Fine. Our cat. But mostly my cat. He loves me. Marci, you think he loves me, right?”

“I’ve never heard him this insecure,” I say. “And that includes the whole running for sheriff debacle.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Marci replies, with a giggle.

“What did she say?” Jesse calls.

“Nothing, nothing. Just girl talk. Speaking of girl talk, Han, what is going on with you and Savage?” she asks. “When last we texted, there was something, uh, brewing in the coffee pot, if you know what I mean.”

“Is that a diner metaphor for sex?” I ask.

“Don’t say diner,” Marci whispers. “I’m having a panic attack about the Heartstopper, even with Greer in charge.”

“It’s doing great,” I say.

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“I’ll text you about it,” I say, as I come up the stairs and stop on the grating. My stomach drops.

There’s a dusty pink rose resting against my door. “I’ll talk to you later. I can’t wait until you guys are back.”

“Love you,” Marci says.

I hang up without replying and crouch down in front of the rose. My heart sputters in my chest as I lift it from where it was placed. There’s no card, but this is… It’s got to be him. It’s not Savage, right? No way.

It’s Franklin.

Why would he do this, even after Cash warned him off?

I don’t understand it. I stare at the rose, and the soft click and whine of something mechanical catches my attention. It came from above my head, and I search the eaves of the building for what it was. My gaze lands on a distant and tiny red blinking light.

What on?—?

The red light is attached to a black box that’s seated against the side of the building. And it has a tiny lens. A lens that is focused on me. It’s so small that had I not heard the noise, I wouldn’t have realized it was there.

My breaths come in gasps, and I drop the rose and insert the keys into my front door. I burst through into my apartment and shut the door behind me, then lock it.

Relax. Breathe.

But I can’t.

This isn’t the first inexplicable flower from my stalker. And the camera? That is brand new, and incredibly disturbing. I pull my phone out of my jeans, shaking.

I need you to come over here, please. I’m really afraid.

SAVAGE

On my way.

That’s all, and it brings me so much comfort, my shoulders ease. I pace back and forth between the coffee table and my sofa, trying to work this out in my mind.

Franklin has sent me how many flowers now?

There was that bouquet, the white one, and then this pink rose, and the worst part is, that rose was sent after Cash talked to Franklin about leaving me alone. And I haven’t received any texts from him either. What the hell is going on? And the camera? He set up a camera?

I pace back and forth for half an hour. Waiting for him.

Savage’s knock on my door sends me scattering toward it. “Carter?” I whisper.

“It’s me.” His reply is in that rich, comforting rumble.

I unlock the door to admit him, but freeze as he steps through it, holding the discarded pink flower. He holds it out to me.

“What are you?—?”

“It’s for you,” he says.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem, wouldn’t you say? I thought Cash got rid of him?”

“Wait, what?”

“What?”

“Hannah, I put this flower in front of your door,” he says.

“Oh. Oh,” I say, and exhale. But the relief is momentary. I take it from him and inhale the sweet scent. Of course. Savage has an entire greenhouse full of roses. Even ones named after Charlotte. So, there’s that.

“Why did you think it was from your stalker?”

“Because he used to send me roses. Bouquets of roses with a card. And then there was that time he sent me a white rose without a card, and a few times before that. It’s always a bouquet with a card or a single rose, and?—”

Savage pulls a face. “Shit.”

“What?”

“I had no fucking idea he was sending you flowers.”

“That’s okay,” I say. “I shouldn’t have freaked out, but?—”

“Hannah, every rose you’ve received that came without a card was from me.”

“But—” I do the math. “But then you’ve been leaving flowers on my doorstep for months.”

Savage remains still.

I suck in a breath. “Ever since… Ever since the night you rejected me. When I was drunk.”

He nods once.

“Are you kidding?”

A shake of the head, his dark eyes focused on me, like nothing else exists.

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Carter, what do you?—?”

He crosses the space between us and takes my hands. The rose drops from my fingers onto the floor between us. “I’ve been obsessed with you for fucking years, Hannah.”

I swallow.

“For years. And when that night happened, when you wanted me, I had to get out before it was too fucking late, and I broke my promise. But the way you were hurting was criminal. I wanted to put a smile on your face, so I left you the roses. If I’d known that they frightened you, I would never have done it.”

I’m shaking, but I have to keep myself under control because no matter how romantic and perfect this is, there’s still a camera outside.

“There’s a camera on the roof,” I say.

Savage brushes his fingers up my arms. “I know.”

“You put it there?” I step out of the protective circle of his arms. “You put a camera up outside my apartment.”

“The morning after your brother asked me to be your bodyguard.”

“So, you’ve just been watching me without my consent.”

“Not you, Princess. The front of your building. I’ve been making sure that you aren’t being targeted by anyone.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to get my bearings in this moment.

Savage cares enough to look out for me, but I don’t like the fact that he never told me about the cameras. “Did you put cameras up inside my apartment?” I ask.

“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t do that.”

“No, you would just put them up outside and not tell me about them,” I say, backing up another step.

“Hannah,” he says. “I should have told you I put it up, but you can’t tell me you don’t feel safer without me around.”

“I do feel safer with you around,” I say, breathing through my anger. He has helped me. He’s been everything to me over the past couple of weeks, but this is a struggle for me. “You know I want to be independent.”

“You can be independent and still be safe.”

“Not with the man I— I’m seeing watching me without my consent. That’s weird. That’s weird and kind of creepy.”

Savage grits his teeth. “I was your bodyguard. I technically still am. It’s not like I put a camera up in your bedroom without your consent. I have some boundaries.”

“But you’re not going to respect mine.”

“What?”

“You’re not going to take it down, are you?” I ask.

“Fuck, do you really want me to do that?” He cracks his knuckles. “Because I’m trying to protect you here.”

“Protect me from what? The stalker thing is not a thing any more.”

“I have a past too, Hannah. Someone might try to use you to get to me.” Savage scratches the back of his neck. “I got a weird fucking call a couple of weeks ago.”

“From who?”

“Davis. He was using a voice changer.”

“Well, that’s just amazing news,” I say. “That sounds like something you should have told me about.”

“It didn’t involve you.”

“But it involved me enough for you to keep watching over me with your cameras.”

Savage takes a breath. “Look,” he says, “I crossed a boundary here. That was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have put up the camera without asking you first. I’m sorry.”

I wait for him to try to gaslight me like one of my exes. To tell me that it was for my own good, and I’m overreacting.

“I hope you can forgive me, Hannah.”

“I need a little air,” I say. “I’m… look, Carter, I’m stuck on you, and I’m not going to stop seeing you because of this, but I need a minute to think, okay?”