"What should we do?" Logan asked, his voiced sounding distant and not completely real.
Veronica hadn't been terribly concerned about getting flowers from an admirer. It had happened before. Once it was a shy co-worker; another time it had been a guy from her yoga class. But the image this particular phrase evoked wasn't one she was likely to forget. It had been almost five years, but waking up to find her best friend's roommate standing over her, watching her sleep, had been a disturbing and memorable experience. She shuddered at the memory.
"Veronica?" Logan called again.
"Sorry, lost in thought. What should we do? Well, I think we need to call the police so that I can report that my apartment was broken into. Unfortunately, we've probably contaminated any evidence they might have been able to find, but I'm pretty sure I know who this is now." Veronica could feel her mind kicking into gear. It had been a long time, but she still remembered all of the lessons from her father about dealing with times of crisis. And this wasn't her first time dealing with this particular crisis.
"You know who this is? Has this happened before?" Logan looked stunned.
"It's a long story, but yeah, this has happened before. If I'm right this would be the fifth time." Veronica turned away from Logan who still looked shell-shocked. She went to her purse and retrieved her cell phone and, after scanning through the contact list, placed a call.
"Detective D'Amato." A friendly voice answered.
"Hey Leo, it…it's Veronica. I think I just got an unwelcome little present from our old friend, Piz." Veronica skipped all pretense of pleasantries.
"Veronica?" The friendly tone was gone, replaced by concern and something more. "Are you sure? I thought he was supposed to still be on probation and not able to leave the state. Hold on." Veronica could hear the clack of a keyboard. "Shit."
"What is it?" Veronica had been pretty sure she knew who it was, but until it was confirmed she could maintain a small amount of denial.
"His probation ended six months ago. How did I miss this?" Leo sounded frustrated. "His last known address is his parents' home. How much you wanna bet he's not there?"
"Is my restraining order still good now that I'm in a different state?" Veronica could feel Logan's presence at her back. Normally she wasn't one to take comfort from others, especially someone she hardly knew, but there really was something about him, she couldn't put her finger on it yet, but for the moment she decided to let that go. Yep, breaking more of the rules. She leaned back against his solid chest and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her.
Veronica heard more typing. "Well it would still be good if it were still active. The order of protection expired at the same time as his probation."
"Great, just great. He left me flowers and a creepy card, unsigned of course. First at my job yesterday, and then I found another in my apartment this morning. He was in my apartment, Leo."
"You need to call the police and get this reported. As soon as you've been assigned to someone, send me their contact info and I can make sure they are fully aware of the situation and take you seriously." Leo exhaled loudly, "Are you alone, Veronica? Maybe you should have your dad come visit."
Veronica took a moment to consider the question. Was she alone? At the moment no, but otherwise, yes she was very much alone. Her father was busy with his new wife and trying to keep his PI business up and running. She didn't feel right asking him to drop everything over this stupid stalker problem again, especially after how upset he'd been over her move.
Veronica settled into the solid warmth of the man wrapped around her. "No Leo, I'm not alone. I'll update you after I speak to the police here." Veronica ended the call and looked up the number for the local precinct, deciding that calling 911 was overkill. Once she had explained the situation they assured her that an inspector would be at her apartment shortly.
"Okay, Logan, whip out that laptop of yours and let me get that video. I want to have it all ready to give to the inspector when he gets here." She smiled grimly, hoping he would just cooperate and not ask too many questions yet. She was sure she'd have plenty of time to explain the whole sordid tale to him because—given the choice between being alone and vulnerable to Piz or spending time with Logan—well, she'd take the sexy florist any day.
It didn't take long for the detective, or inspector as they were called in San Francisco, to arrive. He was a balding fifty-something man in 'street-clothes' who introduced himself as Inspector Jim Saitou of the Personal Crimes Division of the SFPD.
"Ms. Mars, maybe you can show me where the flowers and card are?" Saitou asked, though Veronica didn't think it was a request that could be refused.
"Of course, if you could…" She waved toward the kitchen for Logan to finish making the coffees he had offered earlier.
Logan nodded his understanding and headed into the kitchen.
Once Logan was out of sight, the detective lowered his voice, "Ms. Mars I need to know right now that Mr. Echolls has not threatened you or coerced you in any way."
Veronica was taken aback, "If he had, why would I have called you?"
"It wouldn't be the first time. Ms. Mars?"
"Mr. Echolls has not threatened or coerced me. He is my…hmmm…well I guess he's my friend." Veronica fumbled trying to find the best way to say 'super extended one night stand'. "He was with me when I discovered the flowers and card and he is the florist who made the arrangement that was left at my place of employment yesterday."
"Are you certain he is not the person who left them?"
"It seems very unlikely that I would have two stalkers, though technically I suppose it's possible. And I have video of the man who purchased the first bouquet, though you never see his face." Veronica said tapping her chin.
"Two stalkers? I'm sorry Ms. Mars I think I'm going to need more information." The inspector indicated that they should sit as Logan came back in the room balancing three mugs of coffee, sugar and cream on a small tray. "You too, Mr. Echolls. I'm going to need to know more about your role in all of this as well."
Logan sat down on the couch next to Veronica and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. At first, Veronica was temped to shrug him off but she couldn't help but enjoy the solid feel of his body and the comfort it provided. I'm losing it!
"First, I think I'd like to see this video you have." Saitou looked to Logan.
"Sure," Logan reached for the laptop, which was already queued up from earlier, and hit play on the video.
The inspector leaned forward and watched intently, stopping to ask questions of both Logan and Veronica periodically. When the video had finished he turned back to Veronica.
"Ms. Mars, do you know who this man might be?"
"To be honest, when I first saw the video I didn't recognize him. It wasn't until I received the second bouquet and card that I made the connection. Despite the different physical appearance, I am fairly certain that it is Stosh 'Piz' Piznarski. He stalked and harassed me when I was in college and up until recently I had an order of protection against him." Veronica responded trying to be as exacting as possible.
He nodded his head and reached into a messenger style bag, retrieving a tablet. "Where was the order issued?"
"Oregon."
The inspector began tapping the screen purposefully and the room lapsed into silence. While they waited, Veronica felt Logan lean his forehead down to rest above her ear as his hand massaged her shoulder.
"Okay, I have the original report and the expired order of protection. Looks like you worked with a Det. D'Amato. He's also added a notation here about Piznarski's last known address." The inspector made a few more hand gestures on the screen, "D'Amato has confirmed that he no longer resides at the listed residence and that his parents haven't heard from him in several weeks." He looked up at Veronica, "Did you contact D'Amato already?"
"Yes, I did."
Saitou continued to browse on his tablet; although Veronica couldn't tell what he was looking at she had a pretty good idea. Report after report of her basically begging campus police to do something about the other freshman who wouldn't leave her alone.
"Ms. Mars, I see what must be dozens of complaints on your part here starting in late November of 2006 and going through June 2010, when an order of protection was finally issued after an incident."
Veronica nodded. "That sounds right. Campus police thought I was just being a bitch. 'Piz' is a very likable guy. At first he told them I just overreacted and then, as time went on and I continued to complain, he convinced them that I was stringing him along. You know—one week we're a couple the next I hate him. Which, of course, wasn't true but they didn't believe me. I did a summer internship with the FBI after freshman year and he showed up there to 'visit' me. I told my supervisor about what had been going on, which helped." Logan's hand continued massaging her shoulder and upper back, relieving some of the tension she was feeling.
"That would be the lull in reports from June 2007-March 2008?" He asked and appeared to be making notes.
"Yes. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know my supervisor spoke with him and they enrolled me in the self-defense seminar. Things were much better and I figured that he had lost interest. We saw each other occasionally, since we had some mutual friends, though most of them did their best to warn me if he was going to be around."
Saitou nodded along; she was sure he was verifying her account with the public records. "What changed in March of 2008?"
"I was accepted into a study abroad program through the University of Paris for my photography capstone. Right before Spring Break my friends threw a party for me to celebrate. Piz showed up and, after he discovered that I would be gone for the next year, he restarted whatever this is. That night I woke up to find him staring down at me while I was sleeping. I screamed, which woke up my roommate, and Piz fled but was stopped by campus police. That was the first time they even remotely took me seriously, because he had a copy of our 'do not copy' dorm key."
Veronica felt Logan tense and heard his abrupt intake of air. She felt bad, Leo and her dad were the only people who had ever had to hear this story in its entirety and they had lived it. Veronica was fairly certain this was the first time since her testimony that she had told this story from start to finish. Even she had to admit it sounded pretty bad and she hadn't even gotten to the worst part yet.
"I see that report. He was banned from student housing?"
"Yes. He continued to try to make contact with me during the rest of the spring semester but I started crashing on a friend's couch and only attended the classes I had to. I left for Paris in June. I have no idea how he found out where I was staying in Paris but he showed up there in early August, and told my flat mate that he was my boyfriend there for a surprise visit."
"I see the attached report. Looks like the police in France were kind enough to escort him to the airport rather than arrest him."
"Yes, it turns out that while stalking is frowned upon internationally, charm is apparently a universal language. As I'm sure you can see, I also filed an additional complaint with both the university where I was studying abroad and back home at Linfield College. When I returned to finish my senior year I found out that Piz had dropped out and had moved back to his parents' home in Beaverton. He made several appearances at my apartment, but I had splurged for a building with a doorman and restricted access so he never was able to actually make contact. I reported each incidence with video evidence."
"Okay, Ms. Mars, I think there is no doubt that you have a detailed history of his stalking but this final report is heavily redacted. Can you explain what happened? I'll put in a request for the full file but this looks like he must have made some kind of deal to not be charged with whatever happened."
"Hm…part of the agreement included me agreeing not to speak about it. But he also had to agree to never contact or attempt to contact me again."
The inspector set his tablet down on the table, allowing Veronica to see him hitting pause on the voice-recording app. "We'll keep this off the record for the moment, shall we? I don't want you violating a court order but I think I need to know what happened. Would you be more comfortable if we had Mr. Echolls wait in the other room?"
"No, that won't be necessary. The incident was that he kind of…kidnapped me. If you can call it that."
The whole time Veronica had been talking, Logan had kept his arm around her but at this admission his arm fell away and his face showed shock. "He kidnapped you?"
"Well, maybe 'tried' is the better word. It sounds worse than it actually was. The idiot was waiting in the backseat of my car and when I got in he told me he had a special surprise and told me to start driving. He was giving me directions to an ocean view lookout. Since I had no idea what he had in mind and really didn't want to find out, I used the evasive driving I learned with the FBI and crashed the car while we were still in a well lit public area. I broke my wrist and he ended up a bit worse off than I did. In the end they agreed not to press charges mostly because he didn't have a weapon. All he was armed with was a hideous engagement ring." Veronica scrunched up her face at the memory the tacky ring. "I agreed not to pursue it further if he went into a psychiatric treatment program for at least one year, the state would grant me an order of protection, and he would agree to never contact me again. Technically, I suppose he never agreed, his lawyer did for him." Veronica shrugged.
Saitou nodded again; it seemed to be his standard response. He looked back at Veronica and indicated the tablet. Veronica nodded back and he hit record.
"Let's move on to what happened yesterday and today." He continued on like they had never spoken about the final report in the file.
After asking his last questions about discovering the flowers that afternoon, Saitou closed his tablet. "All right Ms. Mars, I saw on my way in that there is a camera on the main entrance to the building. I'm going to request a copy of the last twenty-four hours and see if we can't get a visual on Piznarski. But I'm not real confident. I'm betting he used the entrance at the parking garage and the camera there…lots of blind spots." The detective shook his head. "Unfortunately, since the order of protection you had is expired there isn't much we can do about him without physical evidence he was here. And even then…" The middle aged inspector sighed and Veronica thought he looked resigned.
"What about me? I can positively ID him as the person who bought flowers from my shop." Logan said.
"I wish that were enough, Mr. Echolls. And maybe if the flowers left here were from your shop we could at least use it to get a temporary order but even then if the guy gets a halfway decent lawyer…" Saitou resumed shaking his head. "Ms. Mars I've been doing this for a lot of years and the best advice I can give you right now is to find somewhere else to stay that has good security, preferably with someone. I can't recommend a hotel—too easy to sneak into most. Maybe a trip out of town if you can."
Veronica could feel Logan's eyes on her. Inspector Saitou had given her the same advice as Leo. Get out of town…but even if she wanted to leave she couldn't because she had just gotten her first assignment. There was no way she was going to tell her new job that she couldn't complete her article because some deranged idiot she went on fewer than ten dates with seven years ago was leaving her flowers and creepy notes.
"He hasn't done anything overtly threatening. And previously he never actually did more than be a total creep." Veronica tried to dispel some of the tension that was building.
"Ms. Mars this man has been stalking you for seven years. And if everything you've told me is true, psychiatric treatment and meds did not stop him. He may not have harmed you, but following you across the country and to France is extreme. And now it appears he has moved here to be closer to you once again. These guys…" His eyes looked far away for a moment. "After this much time I can't help but be concerned that he may start to escalate. I'm going to contact Det. D'Amato and the DA who handled that last report and see if we can't shake something loose we can use to arrest him."
"I'll think about staying somewhere else." Veronica agreed as she walked with the inspector to the door.
As she closed and locked the door behind him and leaned her forehead against the cool metal of the door, Veronica took a few deep breaths and started to wonder where she could stay. She hadn't been in San Francisco long enough to have a friend base. There was Mac, but while they got along really well she didn't think they were at a place where she wanted to explain this whole cluster-fuck. Not to mention the fact that Veronica didn't want to possibly put her in danger.
Veronica startled at the feel of Logan's arms wrapping around her. "I know you're feeling pretty stressed right now and I don't want to impose myself on you." He tightened his hold around her for a moment. "I want you to know that you are welcome to stay with me. I have a high-end security system and plenty of room for a guest." He kissed her lightly on the temple and released her.
Veronica pushed away from the door and turned around to face Logan. She looked at the handsome man who she barely knew. His face was open and warm with a hint of some emotion just under the surface that she couldn't quite place.
She hadn't made up her mind what she thought of him yet. Certainly she was attracted to him—very attracted to him—but she had broken one of her many self-imposed rules when she had gone home with him after what could barely be called a first date. Something Logan had said the night before really resonated with her, though. My formative years were…well—formative. Veronica's scars might not have been visible like Logan's but they were there, nonetheless.
Maybe if Piz had been her first bad experience with humanity it would be different. In all the years since Piz had first stalked her, longer if she wanted to think about high school—which she definitely didn't—Veronica had erected walls between herself and those around her. To get past the walls was not easily done, in fact in the last seven years she'd only let a handful of people get to know who she really was. She'd been a fool that first semester of college, thinking she could put high school behind her and just be a normal person with normal friends and a normal boyfriend. Piz had seemed normal, sweet in a kind of boring way, but normal. That certainly hadn't turned out well. And then there was Detective D'mato, Leo…
"Veronica?" Logan interrupted Veronica's trip down memory lane.
"Sorry, I got a little distracted there."
"It's okay. What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?" He swept her bangs out of her eyes and rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
Veronica's whole body tingled at the contact and she was sure he could hear her heart practically pounding out of her chest. Staying with him might not be a terrible idea.
"I'm thinking about what a mess my life has become…again." Veronica tried to maneuver away from Logan but he moved with her and took her hand.
"Hey, you've had a bit of a rough day. I understand, it's not easy to deal with stuff like this." Logan squeezed her hand gently and gave a little tug. Veronica let him lead her over to the couch. "I've been there."
Veronica let out a loud huff. Been there, my ass. Is he trying to bullshit me? Here I was starting to let down my guard…
"I'm sure you know all about what it's like to have someone who shows up and blows your world all to hell every time you start to feel like you can just live a normal life." She scoffed at him.
Logan let out a little laugh, "You really don't know who I am, do you?" He smirked at her and pulled out his cell phone.
Veronica watched as Logan messed around with his phone and remembered his name pulling up a lot of hits when she'd shown Mac a picture of him. Logan handed her the phone.
"I'm the son of Aaron Echolls, accused—but not convicted—murderer of my high school girlfriend."
Logan hadn't been sure if his confession about who he really was would strengthen or destroy whatever it was that was going on between him and Veronica. But he had decided it was worth the risk and it had paid off. Veronica was in her bedroom packing a bag and Logan was looking up the number for his security company to request that they add some additional security, including a bodyguard.
Logan was still reeling a bit, not only from Veronica's surprisingly positive reaction to finding out who he was, but also from the fact that she hadn't known who he was to begin with. Veronica had admitted to knowing who his father was and to being surprised that she hadn't made the connection sooner—Logan was glad she hadn't. He had become so used to everyone knowing who he was and all of the baggage that entailed that it was almost refreshing to be around someone who was forming opinions of him based solely off of his own attributes, even if it was mostly the physical ones at this point. He was confident that there was more between him and Veronica than just fantastic chemistry in the bedroom. Can't forget the deck, the couch, the shower… He chuckled to himself.
"Okay, all packed." Veronica announced, coming back into the small living room and breaking into Logan's musings. "I grabbed enough stuff for a few days. Not sure what I'll do after that."
Logan stood up from the couch and grabbed his laptop bag. "We'll figure it out as we go."
Logan helped Veronica shut off all the lights and they left. It was now early evening and Logan was getting hungry.
"What do you want to do for dinner? I know I said I'd take you out again, but maybe I could cook for you instead?" Logan smiled down at Veronica.
On the way back to Logan's they stopped at a little market and picked up all the ingredients to make lasagna. Logan had a secret recipe that he was sure would be a hit after seeing how Veronica could eat.
A woman who eats is such a turn on…of course everything this woman does is a turn on. Logan thought, adjusting himself after pulling the lasagna out of the oven.
"So this is my secret recipe." He told Veronica very seriously. "In fact, I'm not sure you can have any, I don't think you can handle how great it really is."
"Well Echolls, I've never met a lasagna I couldn't handle, so bring it on."Veronica responded padding around the kitchen island to get a closer look.
Logan had given her free rein of his place when they arrived and encouraged her to put her stuff away in his room and make herself at home. It was clear from her wet hair, tank top and faded jean shorts that she had taken him at his word, despite her earlier reluctance.
She looked relaxed and beautiful as she wrapped her arm around his waist and bent to smell the lasagna.
Logan placed his lips at her ear, "I'll let you in on my secret…I double the cheese."
Abruptly, Veronica pulled away and doubled over laughing. Logan stood dumbfounded, What did I do? She liked my innuendo filled whispers before.
Veronica wiped tears from her eyes. "That's my dad's secret recipe, too. I will never be able to listen to him tell me his secret with a straight face again!" She giggled.
"Geez Mars, you had me scared that my charms had worn off." Logan joked pulling Veronica around and kissing the tip of her nose. "You ready to eat?" He asked, resting his forehead against hers. Logan was adjusting his position to kiss her when the doorbell rang.
"Well crap." He said, quickly pecking her on the lips. "Wine is already on the table if you want to pour a couple of glasses, I'll join you in just a minute."
Logan jogged down the flight of stairs to the front door where he was greeted by a representative from his security company.
"Mr. Echolls, I'm Jeff Ratner. I've been assigned to provide the extra security you requested."
Logan looked at the man standing in front of him and thought the company couldn't be serious—this guy wasn't very impressive; where was the Hulk Hogan looking dude he'd requested?
"I get it; I know I don't look like much. But I promise you, I am fully trained in a variety of mixed martial arts and the fact that you don't find me impressive is actually one of my best characteristics. Your guest has a stalker problem, if there is visible security he will just wait until there isn't, however if he doesn't notice me…well it's more likely that I'll observe him doing something illegal and we can turn him over to the authorities."
Logan felt a smile cross his lips. "Well Ratner, I think this is going to work out." Logan had been expecting some massive guy who would scare off this Piz person, but Ratner's plan was so much more appealing.
After dinner, Logan led Veronica out onto the deck again just as the sun was setting.
"This is so beautiful. How did you end up with this amazing place?" Veronica asked, leaning back into Logan's chest.
"Actually, when I was a kid my mom was in a play here in the city. She didn't want us living in a hotel the whole summer so we rented this house." Logan's arms wrapped around Veronica and pulled her in closer. "After I finished college, I wasn't sure what I was going to do; I just knew I wanted out of Southern California. A friend invited me up here for a visit and we were looking for a place to eat when we drove past this neighborhood and I remembered this place." He kissed her temple gently. "You know how my mom died, right?"
Veronica nodded and snuggled further into his warmth.
"After she…" he swallowed audibly, "She left me her art collection and jewelry, so I have those, but my dad got rid of everything else. If you were to walk through that house you would never know she existed. Anyway, when I remembered this place, I used a few of my connections to get in touch with the owners and made them an offer they couldn't refuse."
"So you have good memories of your mother here?" Veronica asked hoping her voice came out steadier than she was feeling.
"Yeah. That summer it was just the two of us. We walked around the city almost every day, going to museums and galleries and I got to see her perform. I spent a lot of time at the theater. It was before she…" Logan sighed heavily and buried his nose in Veronica hair. "She got a lot of attention for her role in that play—won a Tony—and Aaron didn't like that she was getting more buzz than him. He insisted she stop acting to be at home with me full time even though I was already in school. She started drinking and popping pills after that. This is one of the last places I…"
"Hey, it's okay. I understand." Veronica tilted her head so she could see him. "My mom left my dad and me when I was sixteen. Just packed up and was gone. I know it's not the same—"
Logan's lips interrupted Veronica's words. His mouth was hot and intense against hers as his hands glided down her sides, gripping onto her hips and lifting and pulling her forcefully into his lap. Veronica broke the kiss to catch her breath as Logan's lips burned a trail down her neck while his hands slid down to her ass and rocked her against him. Veronica's breath hitched at the feeling of him hard through his jeans and the thin fabric of her worn shorts. His hands released her and dragged off first her tank top and then his shirt.
"Shouldn't we go inside?" Veronica panted as his lips descended between her breasts, causing her to arch into his touch.
"Later…" his breath was hot on her chest as he lifted her and laid her out on the wide outdoor couch. His lips continued making their way down her body while he made quick work of removing the shorts and thong she was wearing. "God you're amazing," he hummed, biting gently on her soft inner thigh while his fingers traced through her wet folds. He replaced his fingers with his tongue and pressed a digit into her, pumping once slowly and then harder as her body responded to his touch.
Unexpectedly, the feel of his fingers and mouth disappeared, leaving Veronica feeling bereft. "No, don't stop." She pled.
"Don't worry baby, I'm not even close to done." Logan said huskily as he pulled a condom out of his pocket and shoved his jeans off. He rolled the condom on and pulled Veronica to straddle his lap, thrusting into her and eliciting a gasp at the sudden intrusion. He pulled her face towards him, his lips on hers, tongue delving deeply into her mouth with an almost frantic intensity.
Veronica twisted her hips, drawing a groan from Logan. His hands wrapped around her hips and together they rocked and moved against each other.
Logan looked up into her face, "Can I lay you back? Is that okay?" He asked softly, the tone a stark contrast to his assertive actions of only moments before.
Veronica gulped nervously but nodded her head. "Yeah." Looking into his eyes, she saw his previous intensity replaced by a reverence Veronica had never had directed at her before.
Logan, still buried inside her, gently shifted their position and lowered Veronica onto the couch, following her down with soft kisses. Once she was laid out beneath him, Logan hitched one of her legs over his hip allowing him to fill her completely. Never taking his eyes away from hers, Logan started to move, slowly at first, cataloguing each of her reactions.
Veronica had never had someone be so attentive to her during sex before and she had never had missionary feel so good. The intensity of his gaze and the pleasure he was giving her was almost overwhelming, but he kept her just this side of her orgasm.
Logan's lips ghosted across her cheek to her ear as he pulled almost completely out and surged back into her with just a little more force than he had been using. "Is that okay?" He asked as she moaned her approval.
He continued to increase the strength of each thrust until Veronica was writhing beneath him moaning breathlessly as her orgasm washed over her. "That's it baby, oh god Veronica!" Logan called out as he came too.
Never putting any weight on her, Logan rolled to the side and cuddled Veronica into him. He buried his face into her hair, as they both took deep panting breaths.
Veronica's eyelids started to feel heavy as she felt Logan's breath become steady under her ear. Just before sleep took her she heard Logan whisper, "I'm glad the creep picked my shop."
Piz had waited in Veronica's apartment until well after midnight on Friday night, hoping to see Veronica's reaction to his latest offering. He'd found her discovery of the first bouquet anti-climatic. He had been sure she would know it was him. But she hadn't and then he'd had to endure her flirting with that horrid florist. He knew he'd made a mistake going in there.
He'd left the new flowers and card on her bed late in the afternoon on Friday. And checked the recordings on the cameras he'd set up a few days before. His Veronica could be a sneaky one and sometimes if he wanted to see her just being her he had to resort to trickery. Saturday morning, when Veronica still hadn't returned to her apartment, Piz had gone by her office but there was no sign of her there either. After spending most of the night and early morning trying to find her, he had been exhausted and had had to go back to his rent by the week room to get some sleep, deciding that he would check the camera feeds again later, just in case he'd missed her.
Piz had really hoped that he would track down Veronica at some point, but when he arrived at her apartment, after sleeping away most of Saturday, he was again disappointed to find that she wasn't there. It was clear from the dishes in the sink and her disturbed closet that she had been home. But my gift is still on her bed?
Piz headed straight for one of the cameras he had hidden. He'd gone all out on this one. It was hidden in a picture frame that perfectly matched one she had on her mantel. Unfortunately the cost to make it blend in with her belongings had made it so he couldn't afford a model with wifi. He had to pull the SD card to get the video, which increased his risk of getting caught. Luckily, getting a copy of her keys had been much simpler than he'd expected—that new job of hers didn't have good security on their building, and her new apartment was much less strict than the one she'd had senior year of college. This building he had just walked right into from the garage. He'd even made of habit of coming and going at regular intervals so that the other residents would think he belonged.
Piz deftly removed the SD card and inserted it into the card reader attached to his laptop. The first few videos, which he'd seen before, were of Veronica moving around the apartment getting ready for work and relaxing before bed. There was another camera in her room, which he planned to check out next, hoping for something a bit more exciting than watching her watch Netflix. He was down to the last few files, when his world fell apart.
"Bedroom? Couch? Wall? Fuck Veronica I need you right now." The guy from L & L florist appeared on the screen with Veronica unbuttoning his jeans.
"I don't care." Veronica's voice came through the speakers much huskier than Piz had ever heard it.
For the next twenty minutes Piz had to endure watching Veronica having sex not once but twice with the jackass florist. It was entirely unacceptable. He'd been dreaming of making love to her for years and here was this man she had just met…not making love to her.
Then, just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, Piz played the final file. It was Veronica detailing in horrifying, and inaccurate, detail their lives together. Stalking…I worship her! But the end of the file was the hardest.
Piz watched as this man—Logan Echolls—offered to let Veronica stay with him and Veronica accepted. Piz couldn't understand how she could look at Echolls like that when he himself was trying so hard. Piz was leaving her gifts, his words—well, not his words but words that should mean everything to her. She barely knew this man, a son of an infamous celebrity. How could she look at him like that? Like he was her world! No, I'm supposed to be your world! Piz had been convinced that when she had relocated away from that lame detective she was ready to move on, to be with him. He had been biding his time. Knew she would eventually realize she loved him too. But now Logan Echolls. This was not how their great love story was supposed to happen.
A/N: I can't tell you how excited and flattered I am by all the wonderful comments/reviews this story has gotten. Thank you so much! And huge thanks go out to BryroseA for all the help she has given me with it. I have a couple of notes for you all :)
Logan as a florist is weird. Yes, I totally agree! This came from a prompt and I swear I was just scrolling through Tumblr minding my own business when I saw the prompt and that very first scene from chapter one hatched in my head and I just couldn't un-see it. So please blame my imagination – it is completely outside of my control ;)
In case you couldn't tell from my other story…I'm not a big fan of Veronica with anyone but Logan and my brain has a tendency to turn not-Logan into crazy people. So if you like Piz—sorry, not sorry.
And finally, a lot of you asked if I would be continuing it/how long this would be. I will be continuing it and there should be 5ish chapters.
Thanks again for reading/reviewing, I love hearing from you guys!