“What, a threat? Because let’s call this for what it is, Caleb.” She stood up and crossed the room to the big window overlooking the dark street. She was rattled and rubbed her belly as she stared out into the darkness. “What do they usually send?”
I stood behind her and ran my hands up her bare arms. “It started off innocent. A hip flask. A limited edition Easy Rider movie poster. A bottle of Jack Daniel’s.” I turned her to face me. “Never anything like this. It’s why I’ve never contacted the police. It’s some girl who has a crush on me. That’s all.”
She turned back to the window and folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, well, your some girl has crossed the line. I’m calling the police.”
I nodded. As much as I wanted to handle this myself, I knew I couldn’t give Honey the peace of mind like involving the police would.
Sherriff Buckman turned up twenty minutes later.
“So take me back to the start. This secret admirer has been sending you stuff for how long?”
“About eight months.”
His eyes bounced between Honey and me. “So before you two got together?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay, tell me what was going on around you when you got the first gift.”
“What do you mean?”
“With these stalking cases there is usually a trigger. If it started before the two of you got together, then it’s not that. So think, what was happening?”
I tried to think of something but there was nothing significant going on when I first received the silver hip flask. It was about two weeks before I met Honey. And as I peeled back those months, I was reminded of how empty my life had been before I met her.
“I can’t think of anything.”
“And before the box of doll heads, the gifts were tame? You mentioned the hip flask, movie poster, and a bottle of liquor. Anything else?”
I glanced at Honey and then back at Buckman. Avoiding any mention of the worn lacy thong was impossible. I sighed, resigned to it. “A while ago, a pair of women’s underwear and a Polaroid arrived at the studio. Not long after that, a box of roses with their heads chopped off turned up on the doorstep of the studio addressed to me.”
Honey exhaled deeply. Buckman noticed too and then looked at me.
“What was on the Polaroid?”
It was my turn to exhale deeply. I should’ve dealt with this earlier. “It was a picture of a naked woman with her legs spread, her pu—vagina—exposed.”
“A vagina —” Honey stood up with a rush. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think anything of it.” I stood up, too. “Look, I don’t know who is doing this. In all honesty, I thought it was a club girl. Maybe someone like Tiffani. It didn’t seem like a big deal until right now when I came home to find someone had left a box of fucking doll heads on my fucking doorstep.”
“It could be that your secret admirer’s obsession is escalating and she’s doing this to get your attention.”
Honey moved around the room and nervously rubbed her palms together. “Is it possible this isn’t from someone else and not the person sending those gifts to Caleb? Someone who might be pissed about the cannabis fields, maybe?”
“This isn’t about the fields,” I said.
Because if another MC was going to send a box to my front door, it wouldn’t have doll heads inside it.
It would have real heads.
No. This wasn’t about the club.
This was personal.
HONEY
I can’t lie. The box of doll heads freaked me out.
And hearing about the other gifts Caleb had received from his secret admirer didn’t help the situation any.
I had a meltdown.
I mean, what crazy-ass person did that kind of thing?
Caleb assured me that I had nothing to worry about, that he would take care of the situation. Slowly, I started to calm down and believe him, because it was hard to fear anything when he had his strong arms around me and his powerful body pressed hard up against mine. I’d never felt so protected and cared for in my entire life.
I spoke to Autumn about it the next day and she seemed more concerned about some woman coming after my man than she was of some woman doing any harm to us. I couldn’t help but share her concern. Because not only did I have to contend with the women who openly pursued him, now it seemed I had to contend with the ones who hid in the shadows.
When I asked Autumn if she thought I could be in danger, or Caleb, she brushed it off.
“It’s not like you’re the Godfather and woke up with a horse head in your bed,” she said. “Relax. It’s some girl with a crush on him trying to freak you out. I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.”