Oliver Black
I gave Avery the i8. The look on her face was absolutely priceless.
She, of course refused, but I could see how much she wanted to accept.
I told her seriously I would burn it if she didn't accept. She took the keys after a lot of thought and smiled brightly.
I don't think she really ever had anything to call her own.
I will definitely have to change that.
I would give her anything she wants. I would give her the world if she wanted it.
She's endured so much and worked hard her entire life.
I got a very big thank you kiss. Needless to say, one thing lead to another.
I seriously can't get enough of her.
She went out with Mom and Erica to go shopping. I came to the company to finish up some work since I couldn't spend the time with her.
I began opening the mail that had piled up on my desk. A large yellow envelope caught my eye.
I picked it up and used the pen knife to open it.
My gut twisted when I pulled out the crumpled photographs. More photographs scattered onto my desk.
With shaking hands I picked up the photograph with words scrawled in red ink.
'She's mine!
Back off if you don't want anyone hurt!'
Another one said. 'If I can't have her then no one can.' My blood ran cold after I read it.
I picked up the photographs. They were photographs of us. Some from when we would go on walks or when leaving and entering the company or apartment. They didn't seem to be professional photos either.
I looked at the postage stamp. It was sent when we were in Fiji. A sick feeling settled in my stomach.
I immediately picked up my phone and dialed Tony. After hearing Avery was safe and happy I alerted him to the problem. The man in the hoodie came to mind and I gave him a brief description.
He assured me they had everything covered and at the first sign of danger Avery and the other ladies would be safe.
I dialled Sam's number.
"Can't I have one day without you calling me?" He groaned.
"No." I sighed. "Can you meet me at the office?"
He whined like a kid who was told he couldn't have that snickers bar.
"Fine." He huffed.
He turned up 30 minutes later with a large frown.
I set down the large pizza I ordered in front of him. His mood did a complete 180 and he dug in.
"I received all this in the mail." I threw the photographs on the desk.
With a full mouth Sam frowned and looked closer.
"Jesus!" He nearly spat pepperoni everywhere. "Stalker?"
"You think? I've seen a man every now and then. He always wore dark clothes and a hood covered his face." I ran my hand through my hair. "Avery saw him once she said it was probably nothing but also that she had seen him before."
Sam shook his head. "Trouble just follows her."
I glared at him.
"What? I didn't say it was her fault." He raised his hands in surrender. He reached and picked up the photographs. "Have you called the police?"
"Not yet." I sighed.
Sam's nose scrunched up in disgust. "This is blood."
"What?" I asked in disbelief. "It's just messy ink isn't it?"
"That doesn't look like any ink I've seen." He threw the photos back. "There's definitely no doubt in my mind that he's very sick in the head."
"I'm going to get Avery home." I felt like I was going to throw up. "I don't even want to tell her about it."
I dialled Avery.
"Hello?" Her soft voice answered.
"Hey sweetheart. How's shopping going?" I asked walked to the elevator.
"It's going well, everyone's having fun."
I sighed. I didn't want to spoil her fun. She needed it after the last week she's had.
"How close are you to finishing?" I asked.
"We have pretty much everything sorted, so we should only be another hour."
"Okay, hurry back."
"Is everything okay?" She asked in concern.
"Yeah, I just miss you."
"Oh okay. I have to get going. I love you."
A soft smile reached my face. "I love you too."
I rang the police who came and took the envelope as evidence.
They said finding fingerprints would be hard, but they could use the blood for DNA analysis.
I left and went home, leaving Sam to poke around. I didn't have a lot of faith in the police.
I entered my apartment and heard giggles and a strange cry.
I walked in further and saw Avery, Elizabeth, Mom and Erica sitting on the couch.
Averys back was to me. I walked up and planted a kiss on her temple.
She smiled at me. I looked down and saw her holding a little bundle in her arms.
"What's this."
"This is Nicholas Oliver Jones." Elizabeth smiled.
I looked at her in surprise.
"He came early." She beamed. "And you've done so much for me and Clara we thought to use your name as his middle name."
I looked at the baby in Avery's arms uncomfortably.
"Do you want to hold him?" Avery asked looking down at the sleeping baby.
"I'm good." I said stiffly. Mom and Erica giggled.
Elizabeth looked at her phone. "Sorry, I didn't realise it was this late. I've got to get going." She grabbed her bag and everything before scooping up the infant.
"We should get going too." Erica smiled and stood with Mom. She helped Elizabeth carry her things and they were gone.
"Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun." Avery smiled.
"The wedding is coming up quickly." I stated.
Avery eyed me carefully.
"Is everything okay?" She asked frowning slightly.
I sighed and sat next to her.
I told her about what I received in the mail.
She just sat and listened.
I looked at her face, she was slightly pale and looked at me in worry.
"Everything will be okay Avery." I rubbed her back. "We haven't heard or seen him since. The police and Sam are on to it."
She gulped and nodded.