Page 30 of EverGreene
“V?” the man asked, confused.
“Aren’t you Cole?” I closed the door just enough to provide a shield between The Incredible Hulk standing on my front porch and myself. Not that it would have mattered. The man could undoubtedly rip the door from its hinges if he wanted to. “V’s friend.”
“Oh, V.” Recognition seemed to dawn on him. “I’m sorry, we just don’t call him V.”
“We? How many of you are there? Are the rest of them physically comparable to you and V? Are you Avengers? Oh, my God! Are the Avengers real?”
Cole chuckled. “Yup, the man who shall be known as V said you would be assaulting me with questions.
I held the door open for him, and he walked through, pointing down at his shoes and silently asking me whether I wanted him to remove them. My head shook before I knew I’d answered him. “I guess he told you not to tell me what his real name is?”
“Who? V?” Cole feigned confusion, letting me know that I wasn’t going to crack whatever bro code they had between each other.
“You must at least know about V’s activities, then. So, tellme, how many other security systems have you installed at his request?”
“Are you asking me how many other girlfriends V has?”
“No,” I answered, my face burning enough that I had to turn my back to Cole to grab the box containing the security equipment from my dining room table, handing it to him. His sleeves were rolled halfway up, revealing a full sleeve of vipers curling around his forearms. “I’m just curious how many other women are receiving random gifts from a masked stranger who watches their homes more intently than any Neighborhood Watch program in existence. I figured we could all start a group chat or something. Compare notes, meet up for coffee.”
A grin overspread Cole’s bearded face. “This is the first one V has ever asked me to install for him, actually. You’re the only one in his life as far as any of us know.” He nodded at the door. “We’re swiftly running out of daylight, so I’d better get going on this.”
Cole slipped back outside, where he began installing the cameras, one in the front and the other in the back, placing sensors near each of them to alert me of someone’s presence outside. Once secure, he came back inside to install the keypad near the front door.
“May I have your phone?” he asked, holding out his hand.
“Oh, I don’t know. Are you going to put a tracking device on it that will allow V to follow me wherever I go?”
“It would seem he does a good job of that already.” Cole laughed, his face turning serious again when he caught a glimpse of my expression. “No, Ever. I promise you, I’m not going to install any kind of tracking device on your phone. However, I am going to install an app that will send real-time alerts to you. If a mouse farts, you’re going to get a text from this system.”
“My god, this is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for me.”
Cole raised an eyebrow at me as he handed my phone back. “Stalking aside, V is a pretty decent guy.”
“That’s one sentence I never thought anyone would say to me.”
“Imagine being the person saying it.” Cole smiled at me. “It was nice meeting you, Ever. Let V know if you have any issues, and I’ll swing on by.”
“Nice meeting you, too.” Cole walked out my front door, but was abruptly stopped short by me. “Can I at least have his eye color?”
He looked back at me, raising his arm to his lips and mimicking turning a key before turning around to walk to the jet-black pickup truck parked in my driveway.
“What about his Zodiac sign, then?”
Cole spared a two-second glance back at me, confusion written across his face.
“Look, it’s an important piece of information. I just don’t want to waste both of our time if he’s a Virgo.”
Without looking back, Cole shrugged his shoulders, raising his hands in the air.
“Okay, fine. I’ll settle for his Social Security number.”
With a wave, Cole got into his truck and pulled out of my driveway while I stood waiting outside to see whether V was going to jump out from the bushes somewhere until a stiff November breeze forced me to retreat back inside.
“Your mom is losing her goddamn mind, Vinny,” I said, resting my hand palm-up on a rock in his aquarium. Vinny looked at my fingers, taking a cautious step forward before his turtle brain deciphered what was going on, at which point he hauled as much ass as his stubby legs could muster, stepping into my hand. He’d grown quite a bit since I’d first foundhim, taking up a little over half the width of my palm. “And I thought you were crazy when you yeeted yourself out into the road.”
He craned his neck, looking up at me with a blink of his yellow and black eyes. I crooked my finger, petting the top of his head like a dog, which I was pretty sure he must have been in a past life. A very, very slow one.
“Why does it feel like I’m the one crawling out into oncoming traffic now? I should be afraid, but just like you, it’s like I’m chilling in the median of the road, waiting for a car to come around the corner and take me out. There are zero fucks left to go around, and I’m completely putting my faith in the hands of someone I don’t really even know who could slit my throat in my sleep.”
