Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

It was true. It didn’t suck. In fact, it looked great. Probably my favorite of all the houses I’d remodeled so far.

Audrey had good taste.

Of course, she was with me, but maybe it was just her taste in men that was questionable.

I was a lucky bastard.

Dad checked his watch. “Mind if we finish tomorrow? I have a few things to get done at home and then I need to get cleaned up. Your mom wants me to take her dancing.”

“Dancing?” I asked. “Since when do you dance?”

“Since your mom wanted to learn.” He shrugged. “We’ve been taking lessons.”

Zachary looked him up and down. “I can’t decide if that’s awesome or weird.”

Dad’s mouth lifted in a crooked grin. “First one. She always comes home in a great mood, if you know what I mean. Take notes, boys.”

“Did he just give us sex advice by referring to Mom?” Zachary shuddered. “I gotta go shower that off.”

“Yeah, go.” I shooed Dad out. “We can finish tomorrow. I’ll lock up.”

He chuckled on his way out.

Zachary followed. I cleaned up a bit and shut the garage door, then went outside, locking the door behind me. It would have been nice to get the rest of the cabinets in, but I wasn’t worried about it. The countertops weren’t scheduled for another few days, so we had time. And the heat was brutal. I didn’t want Dad to overdo it.

Audrey pulled up and parked in her driveway. Her door opened and Max bounded out of the car ahead of her. I took one look at her face and I knew something was wrong.

I jogged over to her while Max jumped around and tried to get my attention. “What happened?”

“He called. Right when I got to the pet store. I answered and started babbling at him because he never says anything. Just hangs up, right? But this time, he talked back.”

“What did he say?”

“'I hate you.'”

White hot anger seared my veins. I clenched my fists and my jaw hitched. “What?”

“That was all he said. Then he hung up. And no, I couldn’t tell who it was. I didn’t recognize his voice, but it also sounded like he was disguising it on purpose. Remember the Batman movie with the growly voice guy? He sounded like that.”

I hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her against me. I didn’t blame her for being upset by the phone call, but by the look on her face, I’d thought it was something worse. “Baby, I’m sorry that happened. But you’re safe.”

“That’s not all.”

“What else?”

She held up a folded piece of paper. “This was on my car when I came out of the pet store. Tucked under the windshield wiper on the driver’s side.”

I took the note and unfolded it.I hate you.

It took an act of self-control not to crumple it up in my fist. I needed to save it for Garrett, but fuck this guy.

“He left this on your car? Just now?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t there when I left home. I would have noticed. And Max caught his scent when we came out of the pet store. He was sniffing around the car like crazy. Josiah, I was only in the store for a few minutes. Five at the most. How did he know I was there?”

“He followed you.”

Her eyes glistened with tears. “I knew this was bad but I didn’t think he was following me around.”