“Ivy,” Mom says, “can you chill for a minute?”
I look at her as my heart thumps wildly and sweat gathers under my sweater, “sure.”
They wait for Saxon to leave the kitchen and then she looks at me pointedly, “what’s been going on with the Jones kid?”
“Neil?”
“That’s the one.” Dad answers.
“Nothing.”
“He’s been seen around your school and we know he’s been by here.” Mom states.
I know they’re not mad, more curious, and this is probably something Uncle Emmett asked them to do so he could clear Neil off the suspect list.
“It wasn’t him.” I shrug. “I know his body type and besides, we no longer talk.”
“Everything is okay?” Dad asks. I know if he felt like Neil was doing something wrong, he would fire him in an instant.
“Just didn’t work out.” I shrug.
“Alright,” Mom’s eyes soften.
I get up from the table and head out of the kitchen. No matter what went down between Neil and I, he’s still a really good guy, and now I need to know why the fuck he was at my school. Does he want to discuss things or is he looking to berate me some more?
Ivy’s street has been filled with cops the whole weekend and I am this close to storming the fucking place and demanding to know what’s going on. Friday night I stayed in with Amelia and played Scrabble, one fucking night off. Then Saturday and Sunday were fucking crazy.
Is she okay? I’ve had my phone in my hand with text messages to her typed out but too fucking chicken to press send. Something was going down at the Greene residence and now it makes sense that the cop was watching it closely.
Today, I will find out what happened if it means asking Vincent himself. I don’t care if he figures out I’m fucking stalking his house, I need to know that Ivy is okay. I get inside the building and stop short when I see the scar faced cop standing in the hallway next to Vin’s office. His brows crash together when he sees me and I know he recognizes me from when he drove by me.
I continue walking and pass by him, both of us never breaking eye contact, and knock on Vincent’s door.
“Yeah.”
I go inside and shut the door behind me.
“Mr. Greene…”
“Vin, Neil. You can call me Vin.” He cuts me off and looks up from his laptop.
“Why do we have cops here?”
He closes his laptop and settles into his chair, “take a seat.’
The fuck? I start to fucking sweat because even though I didn’t do shit wrong, I hate the fucking cops.
“We had an incident at the house on Friday night.” He begins, “someone was creeping around and caught on camera.”
My mouth dries up and my stomach sinks, “who was home?”
“Ivy and Saxon at the time.” He replies.
“They’re okay?” My voice betrays me and cracks.
“Yes,” he smiles. “They’re okay. We just haven’t found the guy yet and unsure of what he wanted. We’re just playing it safe and all kids are home this week.”
“Oh,” I look back out to the hallway. “Is that cop like a family friend?”
“Adam?” Vin looks around me to the cop who is indiscreetly looking inside the office. “He’s been stationed here to make sure everyone is on the up and up. Not really a family friend, his daughter and Ivy used to be close.”
“Oh, okay.” Still doesn’t explain why he was outside of their house and I can’t shake the feeling that this guy is up to something. “So, no stake outs and no investigation into your family then, got it.”
“What?” His eyes widen.
“Nothing, I’m just playing.” I stand up. “What do you need me to do today?”
“Answer emails and take phone messages, I don’t want to talk to anyone unless it’s my wife or brothers.”
“No problem.”
I leave his office and once again play stare down with scar face douche. He has a look about him and I think he’s fucking suspicious, regardless of how I feel about cops, this one stinks.
Once in my little office, I shut the door and power up my computer. The hairs on the back of my neck stand and I look over my shoulder to see scar face walking by and looking at me.
I dare the fucker to come in here, I have so much energy from worrying and stressing out, and I would love to expend it all over his face. He doesn’t come in though and that’s a fucking shame. He does continue to cross in front of my window three more times in the hour, why does it feel like he’s watching me more than the others?
It’s already time for lunch when I finally get to the bottom of all the emails and I’m starving. I do my usual routine and walk around the office asking everyone what they’d like to eat for lunch. The cop is watching me as I circle back around and head to Vin’s office. This time I don’t look at him as I walk by but I can see the fucker is watching me closely.
“Lunch?” I ask Vin. “Looks like everyone wants sandwiches.”
“Sounds good to me, I’ll take a meatball.” He tosses me the company credit card.
I won’t say I convinced everyone to want the sandwich place because it’s conveniently near where Ivy lives and I need to fucking talk to her. I get to my car and finally find my balls to send her a text.
Me: Can we talk?
It takes a few minutes but she finally texts back.
Ivy: Can’t. On lockdown.
Fuck.
Me: Everything good?
Ivy: Same old.
Me: Okay.
She doesn’t text me back and I’m disappointed as I drive to the deli, making sure to pass her place on the way, and then come back, passing it once more. Everything looks good and the gates are shut. I breathe a sigh of relief and head back to the office.
She’s pissed and that’s understandable, I’m simply happy she’s okay. She said, ‘same old’, does that mean the
