Chapter Fifteen
Jocelyn moaned slightly as she rolled onto her side. She opened her eyes and groaned when the sun blinded her.
"Damn sun," she said groggily before closing her eyes again.
A knock on the door stopped Jocelyn from falling back asleep.
"Come in," she mumbled.
Vince walked in with a box in his hands.
"Mornin' sleepy head," he said perkily.
"Morning," Jocelyn replied, snuggling closer to her pillow.
"You got a package," Vince said as he sat beside her on the bed.
Jocelyn sat up slowly and wiped the sleep for her eyes.
"Who's it from?" she asked.
"Don't know. There's no return address."
Jocelyn raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe it's from Mom," she wondered aloud.
She opened the box slowly and found a single rose lying amongst balled up newspaper.
"A rose, eh? You got a boyfriend that you're not telling me about?" V asked jokingly.
He laughed a little but stopped when he saw Jocelyn's hands shaking.
"What's wrong?"
Jocelyn took a piece of newspaper out of the box and unfolded it. The title read, 'APD Cop Killed in Mysterious Bombing.'
Vince grabbed the box and the newspaper from Jocelyn and sat it on the floor. All of the color had drained from her face and her whole body was shaking.
Vince took Jocelyn in his arms. Almost immediately, she began to sob.
"Why won't they leave me alone?" she asked in a whispered voice.
Vince hugged her tighter.
"I'll make sure they leave you alone, I promise. They're gonna wish that they never fucked with you."
"Hey, V. What's up man?" Jesse asked as Vince walked into the kitchen.
The whole team was in the kitchen eating breakfast and talking.
"Nothing man. Just some sick fuck sending shit to Jocelyn, that's all," Vince said. He threw the box onto the table and began to pace. He was beyond pissed. Vince felt like ripping the sender apart. The only problem was that he had no idea who in the hell he was up against.
"What'd they send?" Letty asked worriedly.
"It's just a rose," Leon replied once he looked into the box.
"It's not the rose, Leon. It's the newspapers under them. They're all about that cop," Vince spat.
"Carter?" Letty asked.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"How is she?" Dom asked.
"She's asleep now. She was pretty shook up. Can't these sick fucks leave her alone? Hell, she's been through more than all of us. The trucks weren't even this bad. At least we knew who to look out for. She has no idea who's sending this shit or who to stay away from."
"V, calm down man," Brian said. "I'll get some friends of mine to get all the information from Atlanta and send it over here. We'll find this guy."
"Brian, that does us no good. We need to know who it is now or this guy is just gonna keep fucking with us."
"Hey," Dom said. "I realize that you're upset. We all are, okay? Just calm down. The important thing is that she's safe right now. We have to start from square one and narrow down the suspects. We know that the guy who's doing this is involved with a mob of some sort. Brian, can you get the information on the case that Carter was working on?"
"Sure thing, man," Brian said as he wrapped his arms around Mia's waist.
"All right. Jesse, I want you to find out anything you can on Jocelyn. —Letty, I know she's your sister, but I don't always tell my sister everything. Maybe she's run into this guy before and just not have known it. Vince and Letty, I need you guys to just be there for her, all right? We need to have someone with her at all times. She is to never be alone."
"She's not gonna like that," Letty replied.
"I know she's not," Dom said. "But she's gone have to deal with it. We are doing this for her own good. Besides, she doesn't have to know that there's someone watching her. Just make sure that she's never alone."
The team agreed and continued on with their normal activities. Vince grabbed a glass of orange juice and took it up to Jocelyn. When he opened the door to her room, he found her sitting up in bed staring out the window.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," Vince said and walked up to her. "Here, I thought you might want something to drink."
"Thank you," Jocelyn replied. She took a sip of the drink and continued staring out the window.
Vince stood up to leave but stopped once Jocelyn began speaking.
"You know, it's funny. You can never out run your past. No matter how fast you run or how far, it always comes back and bites you in the ass."
Vince sat on the bed. Jocelyn looked down at her hands and began to pick at the maroon finger nail polish on her nails.
"Sometimes...sometimes, I just wish that I had never met him. Life would have been so much simpler, you know? But then I realized that I wouldn't be the person that I am today...I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about this. I just need to let it go."
"It's all right," Vince said. "I know how hard it is to just forget about someone and stop loving them. It just takes time."
"Time," Jocelyn said as she flopped back onto her pillow. "I'm so sick of time."
"Aren't we all," Vince said, sighing.