Toxic Bad Boy (22 page)

“
Um, yeah, a letter from
someone who wants to hurt me.”

My dad exhaled loudly into
his phone. “Damn, Gianna, you scared the crap out of
me.”

Yep, a super crappy day,
like top ten list.

“
Do you still want me to
call the police?” I asked.

“
I’m pulling into the
garage. Just in case, I’ll come up to get you.”

“
Okay,” I said in a small
voice, feeling incredibly stupid.

“
Caleb just pulled up in
front of the house,” my dad said.

My boyfriend, who may have
fit a mini relationship into the two weeks we were broken up. “I
think I just missed a text from him.”

“
Gianna, I need to see the
letter and then we’ll file a report at the police station.” We’d
probably have to Google for the location. Then again, maybe Caleb
already knew where it was.

“
Letters,” I told my dad, unlocking the bathroom
door and peeking out before going to lean against my bedroom door.
“This is the second one.”

“
If you are meant to be
together forever, you will survive any obstacle or trouble that
comes to you.”

-Unknown

CALEB

Chris Thorpe’s face was
tight with displeasure when he opened the front door. “Caleb,” he
greeted curtly and moved out of the doorway.

“
Hey,” I said cautiously,
edging past him to get to my girl where she stood in the foyer with
her phone gripped in one hand.

She didn’t look any
happier to see me. In fact, the blue fire in her eyes told me she
was pissed at me. But there was something else there, worry, maybe
fear.

My eyes darted between
Gianna and her dad. “What’s up?”

Her dad shut the front
door, locking it. “I just got home, but Gianna and I are leaving to
visit the police station.”

All trace of anger left
her expression, leaving only the fear and worry. Alarm creeping in,
I approached my girlfriend. “Why are you going to the
cops?”

“
Where is it, Gianna?” her
dad asked abruptly.

“
Living room,” she said
softly, leaning into my side on an exhale.

As Chris went into the
living room, I guided her with an arm around her waist to follow.
“What’s he talking about, Gianna?”

She pulled away, sitting
on the end of the couch as her dad stared down at a piece of
notebook paper. Avoiding my eyes, she explained, “It’s a
threatening letter, to me.”

Taking several steps, I
gestured for her dad to hand it to me. The words were fire and ice
in my veins. Anger burned, but a chill went through me at the
thought of someone wanting to hurt her.

Ha! ha! Got you, bitch.
Can’t wait to fuck you up.

Who the hell would send
this?

“
You said there was
another letter,” Chris said. “Where is it?”

Gianna nervously ran a
hand down the front of her skirt. “Upstairs in my desk.”

“
Go get it,” he ordered.
Her lips trembled and I started toward her, but she got up and
threw herself into her dad’s arms. “Shh, baby, it’s okay,” he
soothed, rubbing her back.

“
I’ll go get it,” I said,
annoyed she hadn’t run to me instead. Her dad gave me a strange
look over her head. It wasn’t until I was halfway up the stairs I
realized he wouldn’t like the idea of me in her bedroom for any
reason.

Her dainty desk had a set
of drawers on one side. She was organized, having a tray in the top
drawer for her stationary crap. I opened the bottom drawer, finding
a blue envelope at the top of a pile of letters. Picking it up, I
pulled out the greeting card and read the handwritten note. Inside
the
Get Well Soon
card was written,
Because I’m going
to cut you up, whore.

Someone was obviously
eager to die. Josh’s name came to mind, but he was locked up and
with the restraining order, his mail out of the high-risk youth
corrections facility was monitored.

I was about to push the
drawer closed when I saw the pile of letters tied together with a
light green ribbon. Thumbing the edges of them, I confirmed they
were all from me. Underneath was another pile tied with the same
color ribbon. Damn, I probably wouldn’t write this many letters
total for the rest of my life. Often, I wouldn’t wait for her to
respond before I’d mail another one.

The fact that she’d saved
every single one unlocked some previously unknown sentimental part
of my heart. I’d saved all her letters to reread while in juvie and
they were now in a shoebox in my closet at home.

As I returned downstairs,
Chris’s authoritative voice drifted from the living room. Standing
in the doorway, I saw they’d moved to sit on the couch, with Gianna
still in her dad’s arms.

Not liking the weird vibes
I was getting from Gianna, I sat on the other side of her, passing
Chris the card I’d replaced in the blue envelope. Gianna’s cheeks
pinkened as he read it.
Bitch
was bad enough, but a daddy’s girl probably
wouldn’t like her dad knowing someone had called her
whore
.

Not that either label were
remotely true of her. I’d known chicks who were bitches or whores,
sometimes both, and she wasn’t.

“
Why didn’t you tell me
about this sooner?” her dad asked.

“
It slipped my mind,” she
said, biting her bottom lip guiltily.

“
This could be serious,”
her dad said, not addressing her pathetic excuse. He didn’t need to
say aloud that it could be a situation like with Josh.

“
It looks like a girl’s
handwriting,” I pointed out.

“
It does,” Chris said
thoughtfully. “But it could still be serious if it’s a female, so
we’ll have to file a report so the police are at least aware of the
situation in case it escalates.”

Putting an arm around
Gianna, I helped her up. “If it’s okay with you, Chris, I’ll drive
her there and we’ll meet you. I need to talk with her.”

Gianna’s eyes flew to mine
and she looked about to protest but I squeezed her hip to silence
her. Since I’d arrived she’d gone back and forth from being cold to
holding onto me for comfort.

He gripped both envelopes
in one hand, appearing reluctant to let her out of his sight.
Finally, he nodded, using his phone to look up the nearest police
station. “I’ll text you the address.”

I ended up driving behind
Chris to the station. Alone with my girl, I was able to question
her. “Why didn’t you tell me about the first letter?”

She shrugged, gazing out
the window so I could see only her jaw. “I’d mostly forgotten about
it and we weren’t talking at the time.”

Her answer was believable,
but something was still off between us. “When did you get the first
letter?”

“
About a week and a half
ago. Monday, I think.”

“
Okay, and why did you
look mad at me when I showed up?”

Her head whipped around,
the blue fire blazing brighter. “Who the hell is Norah?”

Holy shit, now was not the
time. How did she even know about Norah? “Where’d you hear that
name?”

She frowned and her
eyebrows drew closer. “What does it matter? I asked you a
question.”

Staring at the back of her
dad’s SUV, I told her, “This girl that interns at the
gallery.”

“
And that’s
it?”

I’d allow nothing to come
between me and Gianna again, especially some chick who meant
nothing to me. Norah was a mistake I’d made driven by a broken
heart. “She’s not important.”

“
It’s important to me that
you tell me the truth. You said you didn’t have sex with anyone
when we were broken up.”

Stopping at a red light, I
gave her my full attention. “I’ve never lied to you,
Gianna.”

“
Why are you dodging my
questions?” she said in exasperation, crossing her arms under her
breasts and distracting me from the multiple problems of the
moment.

“
Look, we’re almost there
and now isn’t the time. We’ll talk about what didn’t happen with
Norah tonight.”

“
Fine,” she muttered in a
way that let me know she’d be giving me hell later. Not that her
attitude worried me. As long as she loved me, I could fix anything
between us.

The last time I’d been in
a police station I was getting arrested for putting Josh in the
hospital. Thrown into a cell with Ian, I’d had to watch him pace
our cage like a tiger until he’d finally gone to sleep.

This visit was almost as
bad. Chris’s wrath was just under the surface as he spoke to the
cop taking the statement. Gianna held back tears I knew would
embarrass her if released.

Josh’s name was brought up
and her dad took over telling the story. When asked if there was
anyone else who would want to hurt her, we drew a blank. The first
letter came the same day I’d went out with Norah, so it couldn’t be
her.

“
I don’t know,” Gianna
said, her face red.

Officer Novak placed the
letters into plastic bags. “We’ll have these checked for prints and
get back to you.” He’d looked at Chris as he spoke, having handed
his card to him a moment ago.

“
You’ll get a hit,” I
informed him. His eyes shot to mine, one eyebrow raised in
curiosity. “I touched the letters and I have a juvenile
record.”

“
Really?” he said
condescendingly.

“
Yeah,
really
.” I repeated. “Among other
things, I beat up Josh after the attack.”

His lips tipped up. “From
the sound of it, can’t say I completely disapprove.”

Chris grunted from his
seat on the other side of Gianna. My guess, he completely approved
as any father would.

“
Can we go now?” Gianna
said impatiently.

Her dad got to his feet,
as did Novak, reaching out a hand to shake. I did the same, shaking
Novak’s hand firmly. “So, you’ll call Gianna’s dad if you find
anything?”

“
It’s unlikely we’ll get a
hit other than yours, and Josh Larsen shouldn’t have been able to
send them. As you pointed out, the handwriting appears feminine.
But with the history,” he trailed off, shrugging. He didn’t need to
finish. Given the attack last fall, it wasn’t impossible it was
related.

“
Thank you, Officer
Novak,” Gianna said politely despite her apparent eagerness to get
out of there.

Her dad stopped us with a
hand on her arm as we exited the police station. “Why don’t we eat
out tonight?”

“
I’m not really hungry,
dad,” she responded. “My stomach feels queasy.”

“
I’ll make sure she eats
something,” I assured her dad.

“
Okay.” He let go of her
arm. “You’ll be home soon?”

I answered for her. “In an
hour or so.”

Her dad gave me a hard
look. “Don’t let her go anywhere alone.”

Returning his expression,
I said, “I won’t.”

I unlocked her door for
her, holding it open. Before shutting the passenger door, she gazed
up at me. “Maybe it’s someone playing a prank?” Her hopeful tone
made me sad for her. She didn’t deserve this problem after
everything else.

“
Maybe,” I said
noncommittally, closing the door gently.

Neither of us spoke as I
drove us to a Mexican restaurant. We both had a lot on our minds. I
was already planning on how to spend every moment with her that she
wasn’t with her mom or dad. In case the threat was real and not
some prank by a vindictive female, Gianna shouldn’t be alone at any
time until the police figured out who was sending the
letters.

There was also the Norah
complication. Not an issue for me, only an insignificant instant of
my life. However, to Gianna it might be a problem. I could
understand her hurt, with the misery I’d suffered while thinking
she was having sex with Gage.

Thank fuck I hadn’t nailed
Norah.

We sat across from each
other in a booth. The server, a college-age Hispanic guy brought us
chips and salsa, taking our drink orders. Gianna leaned back into
the padded seat, ignoring the chips and glaring at me.

“
Have I ever told you how
hot you are when you’re angry with me?”

She didn’t look the least
bit amused. “What’s up with you and Norah?”

I ate a chip with salsa on
it, chewing slowly to buy time. I’d have to tread carefully since I
tended to be blunt and this was a delicate situation. Going for
nonchalance, I said, “We hung out once.”

If anything, Gianna looked
more suspicious. “I know we were technically broken up, but hanging
out can mean a lot of different things with you, Caleb.”

Reaching for her hand, I
held it tightly in mine. “I don’t want you hurt.”

Her head tilted and she
got a vulnerable look in her eyes. “Did you do something that would
hurt me?”