She spins around and marches toward the door, but before she walks out, she turns and fixes me with her fiercest glare, pointing a finger in my direction. “And if anything bad happens to this dog, if you don’t find him a true loving home where he’ll be cared for every day of his life, I’ll report you to the police, the humane society, the FBI, the CIA, Congress, NASA, and any other organization I can think of.” Her pretty face incandescent with rage, she storms out of my office.
“Well, that definitely didn’t go to plan, Snowflake.”
He lifts his leg and pisses on my desk. Yep, that’s exactly what I deserve.
A second later, West walks in. “Was that—?”
“Yep.”
“What the fuck happened?”
I look down at Snowflake. “I sent her a dog.”
Irritation darkens his handsome features. “Jesus Christ, Xander. What the fuck were you thinking?”
My body shakes with pent-up rage. “Don’t you Jesus Christ me, West. At least I fucking tried something, asshole. What the fuck have you done? This is all your goddamn fault anyway. You and Zeke believed that fuckbucket, Bree. You wouldn’t listen to me when I told you we should just sit down and talk to Lily like normal fucking people would. You and Zeke treat me like I’m a fucking child, but I was the only one of us who wanted to act like a man, and I was stupid enough to let you talk me out of it. I was stupid enough to—fuck!” The last word is ripped from my chest. Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths. “We lost her, West. We fucking lost her.”
West drops his head to his chest and sighs. “I know, Fitch,” he says, his voice full of despair. I hate that I blame him. The truth is that I could have spoken to Lily myself. I’m a grown-ass fucking man.
Snowflake rubs his head against my leg, and I smile down at him. “I know I shouldn’t have sent her the puppy. I wasn’t thinking straight. I hoped he would be a cute surprise and didn’t stop to consider it.”
He stares at the adorable bundle of black and tan fur at my feet and arches an eyebrow. “Is that leash made from—”
“Panty hose? Yeah.” Reaching down, I untie them from the dog’s neck and wrap them around my fist, then lift my hand to my face and inhale, desperate for her scent.
They smell of dog and laundry detergent, but I hold onto them anyway.
“Um, Lily doesn’t wear panty hose. Those are probably Jen’s.”
“Ugh!” I fling them away, and West laughs. I have no idea how he can laugh when I’m as miserable as Scrooge before the ghosts’ visits.
I rest my forehead on my desk, and a second later, I feel West’s fingers running through my hair. “We’ll get her back, Fitch. I’ll fix it. I promise.” I wish I shared his optimism. “What are you doing with the pup?”
“His name is Snowflake.” I sit up and lift him into my lap.
“Xander, no. We already have one dog.”
I shrug. “Now we have two.”
Chapter
Fifty
WEST
I wait for the man in front of me to get his latte, then join him at his table when he sits down.
He frowns at me, his eyes darting around the nearly empty coffee shop. “Uh, can I help you?”
“Every day for the past two weeks, I’ve had a package sent to my office at WXZ buildings.”
He shrugs. “Yeah, so?”
“And every day, someone other than Lily Sloane delivers it. Can you tell me why that is?”
He bristles. “You get your parcel on time, right? What’s your problem?”
“You see …” I run a hand over my jaw. “I don’t give a fuck about the parcel. I want Lily to deliver it.”
“You think that’s likely to happen now, you sicko?”
“I admire you for protecting her, Craig. I want to protect her too.” I lean forward and lower my voice like I’m letting him in on a secret. “You see, Lily is my girl, and I need her to deliver all of my packages from here on out.”
“And just who the fuck are you?”
“West Archer.” The corners of my lips curve upward. “You’ve heard of me, yeah?”
He rolls his eyes. Everyone in this city knows my name. “What the hell do you want with a sweet young kid like Lily?”
I glare at him. She’s not a kid. “Have her deliver all my packages, Craig.”
“Not a chance, you sick fuck.”
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and then level him with a look. “I assure you that she is in no danger where I’m concerned. I just want to check in with her.”
He snorts.
Looks like I need to play dirty. “And if you don’t want me to check in with my friends at the IRS and tell them about all the deliveries you do off the books”—I pause and watch the blood drain from his face—“you’ll have Lily deliver my packages. Am I making myself clear?”
He looks away, his teeth grinding together, but he eventually nods.
“I’m gonna need you to use your words, Craig.”
“Yes,” he spits.
“Good boy.” There’s a smile on my face as I leave the coffee shop. All I need is to spend some time with her and make her see how sorry we all are. How much we miss her. I can fix all of this, I know I can. If I can just get her to listen to me.
Chapter
Fifty-One
LILY
I read through my route for the day, and my stomach drops when I see the location of the last delivery on the list. “Craig, there’s one here for the WXZ building.” I’ve only worked here for two weeks, but I like this job. He’s a good boss who didn’t ask any awkward questions about why I left my previous one.
“Sorry, kid. Got no one else to do it. You’ll have to take this one.”
I look around at everyone filling their backpacks. Surely one of them can swap with me. “But Craig, we agreed. Can’t someone else do it?”
He sighs. “I told you I got no one else.”
Tears prick at my eyes, and he frowns. “What’s your deal with that place, anyway? You in some kind of trouble or something?”
I shake my head. “No, nothing like that. It’s … Please, Craig. I’m begging you.” It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just the building, but the delivery is for the devil himself. He’s had packages sent to his office every day since I started here, and until now, Craig has been cool with my flat-out refusal to take them.
“Deliver the package.” He turns toward his office.
“I can’t.”
He doesn’t stop but calls over his shoulder, “Then you’ll be looking for another job, kid, and it would be a damn shame to lose you.”
“Can you please just sign it?” I give the security guard my biggest, sweetest smile. “Please? It only needs a signature. It doesn’t have to be Mr. West’s,” I lie.
“I can’t help you, ma’am. More than my job’s worth,” he says with a grim shake of his head.