My Nerdy Valentine (Nerds, #7)(33)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Will kicked himself for confiding in Justin. Gloria probably could coax it out of him using her arsenal of sex toys. Damn it. As he was reviewing his options, one of which involved kidnapping Justin and keeping him locked in a closet for the next couple of days, he saw Tina bring Amanda a package about the size of a toaster.

It was probably only bar supplies. He was getting paranoid if he thought everything that came to Amanda had something to do with her stalker. Then again, it seemed illogical for bar supplies to be delivered at night.

"What is everybody drinking?" he asked. "I’ll buy the first round."

"Gin martini, dry," Gloria said. "And don’t think buying me a drink is going to make up for you taking some other woman to bed. I will find out, so I can see what I’m up against."

"But Gloria," Justin said. "You can’t have Will and me at the same time."

"Maybe not at precisely the same time, since you won’t consider a threesome, but we’re not exclusive, Justin. I thought you understood that."

Justin looked crestfallen. "I know you said that before, but after what happened today with the flavored oils and stuff, I thought things might have changed."

Will shook his head in despair. Train wreck. But he had no time to think about Justin’s problems. Amanda had started opening the box, and he wanted to be there when she found out what was inside. "Justin, what can I get you?"

"A Bahama Mama."

"Are you sure?" All-booze drinks hadn’t been a good idea a few days ago, and they were an even worse idea, now. Between liquor and sex toys, Gloria would have the truth about Amanda in no time.

"Yeah, I’m sure."

Will couldn’t very well refuse to buy Justin’s drink of choice. "Be right back." He headed over toward the bar and arrived as Amanda reached into the box and pulled out something wedged by sections of molded Styrofoam.

He slid onto a bar stool. "What is it?"

"I’m not sure." She pulled off a section of Styrofoam. "Looks like it’s ceramic, maybe a vase."

Not bar equipment "It was delivered specifically to you?"

She glanced at him. "Yes."

"By who?"

"I don’t know. Tina came over and said some guy brought it and left."

Will stifled the impulse to race out the door in pursuit. He had no idea what the guy looked like. The street would be full of people on a Saturday night, and whoever it was would have melted into the crowd by now.

Amanda pulled off the rest of the Styrofoam. "Oh, my God."

Will stared at the ceramic planter in the shape of a pair of jeans. The fly on the jeans was open to allow a penis-shaped cactus to protrude upward. In a different context, especially after a few drinks, it could be sort of funny. Will wasn’t laughing.

Neither was Amanda. Her face grew pale. "Not much question what he’s after, is there?"

"Just remember that he won’t succeed." Will began to think in terms of available weapons. His mere presence in her apartment might not be deterrent enough. "Was there a card this time?"

"I didn’t look." She peered into the box. "Yeah, there’s a card." She drew in a breath and took it out. The front was a picture of a guy leering at a curvaceous blonde. Across the top of the card was lettered Valentine, you could use some bed rest.

Trembling, Amanda put her hand over the card. "I don’t want to look inside. You read it."

"Okay." He slid it out from under her hand, opened it, and read silently. You provide the bed and I’ll do the rest. Underneath was a printed message. Get rid of the nerd or I’ll do it for you. What you need is a real man. Your Secret Valentine.

He closed the card, folded it, and shoved it in his pocket.

Amanda gazed at him and swallowed. "Anything new?"

"Same old shit. Don’t worry about it. We’ll take some extra precautions when we get back to the apartment."

"Like what? I don’t have a gun or anything."

Neither did Will. And he was beginning to wonder if that was a serious omission on his part. But buying a gun wouldn’t help if he’d never shot one in his life. "We’ll figure out a strategy. We’re both smart. And I can guarantee we’re a hell of a lot smarter than this bastard."

There was a problem with that logic, but the color was returning to her cheeks so he didn’t mention it. He had no doubt that he was smarter than the valentine stalker. But the stalker was obviously a little crazy. Crazy people were unpredictable, and unpredictability could make hash out of any strategy, no matter how smart it might be.

"I’m glad about one thing," Amanda said.

"What’s that?"

"That we’ll be sleeping in the same bed tonight."

TWENTY-FIVE

Although Amanda shivered every time she looked at the planter, she managed to pass the thing off as a joke. Not surprisingly, Gloria loved it. She was the first one with the nerve to touch the cactus. It turned out to be artificial, with soft needles.

That didn’t soothe Amanda, but it made other people far braver. Justin, who seemed determined to impress Gloria with his worldliness, disappeared into the men’s room and came out with a condom. Accompanied by enthusiastic encouragement from those at the bar, he opened the packet and rolled the condom onto the cactus.

Several customers wanted to know where they could get a planter exactly like it, and one woman remembered seeing them on sale at a drugstore chain. Someone else used his cell phone to go online to find a source there. Soon everyone was ordering a cactus planter like Amanda’s, which broke up the singing of rounds.

Other than coming over while she opened the box, Will had made himself scarce during the night. He wasn’t acting much like her pretend boyfriend, but maybe that wasn’t important anymore. Having a boyfriend hadn’t discouraged the valentine stalker.

Instead the stalker was becoming more aggressive. Now he’d contacted her at Gloria’s office, at home, and here at Geekland. He’d covered every place except the university, and she was only there a couple of hours each morning, so he might not think it was worth pursuing her at that location. ‘ To keep herself from freaking out, she drew on her training in psychology. If the stalker was a bully, he would be intimidated by anyone with the courage to stand up to him. Thinking of him as a bully who would fade away when confronted helped.

But there was also a chance he suffered from a personality disorder. He could be delusional. In that case, standing up to him would do no good. He would only reframe her response to fit into his current fantasy.

One thing she knew without a doubt. He wasn’t giving up. He had a plan, and he would follow it through to whatever conclusion he envisioned. She hoped that sex was the only thing on his mind. That was bad enough, but not quite as scary as the alternative.

As closing time drew near, the planter was used as a prize for the last trivia contest of the night, which relieved Amanda of having to toss it in the Dumpster outside Geekland’s back door. Gloria was overjoyed to win it, but Amanda groaned at the outcome. The planter could easily become a permanent office decoration that she’d have to live with until May.

Eventually Amanda, Will, Mavis, and Chester boarded the bus and headed back toward the apartment building. Far from looking exhausted, Mavis and Chester seemed ready to party for several more hours. The bus wasn’t crowded at this hour, so Amanda and Will took a seat opposite them for the ride home.

Mavis glanced across the aisle and beamed at Amanda. "That was more fun than an end-of the-year school picnic. I want to go back tomorrow night."

"Me, too," Chester said. "I have coupons left and I know where I can get more."

"You’re welcome to go if you want." Amanda hoped she hadn’t turned them both into barflies. "But tomorrow’s Sunday. I don’t work Sunday nights."

Mavis snapped her fingers. "That’s right! I knew that, but when you’re retired you lose track of days of the week. I forgot it was Saturday already. You didn’t go to work at the sex therapist’s office today, did you?"

"No."

Mavis brightened. "And you had a friend around for a change. What did you two kids do with yourselves all day?"

Will cleared his throat. "Amanda had a paper due. I helped her with it."

"Was it a paper about sex?" Chester asked.

Amanda shook her head. "Antidepressants."

"Oh. I was asking because both of you are blushing, and so I figured the paper might have been about weirdo sex."

Mavis swatted him on the arm. "Honestly. Chester. Their cheeks are pink from the cold air. You have sex on the brain." She leaned toward Amanda. "He cornered your boss tonight and grilled her. It was embarrassing."

"Nothing embarrasses Gloria," Amanda said.

"I meant that I was embarrassed. He told her that I had her red vibrator on loan."

Will went into a coughing fit.

"Whoops." Mavis clapped her hand over her mouth and giggled. "I forgot that Will wasn’t around when all that happened. He doesn’t know about my hair-curling attempt."

Will coughed harder.

"Goodness, is he all right?" Mavis peered at Will. "Pound him on the back, Amanda."

Amanda complied, although she knew that if Will stopped coughing, he’d start laughing. Coughing was better.

This conversation was a good thing, though. It took her mind off the stalker. She’d scanned the smattering of other passengers for anyone who was faintly familiar. She’d recognized no one but she supposed the person could be wearing a disguise.

Now there was an unnerving thought. If a guy went so far as to disguise himself, then he might be heading into Ted Bundy territory. Damn it, she wanted to know who it was! The waiting and wondering was wearing her down.

When the red vibrator wasn’t mentioned again, Will eventually stopped coughing. "Excuse me," he said. "Got something caught in my throat."

"Happens to me all the time," Mavis said. "You should carry lemon drops. I usually do, but I switched purses to something fancier when I got ready to leave tonight, and I forgot the lemon drops."

Chester shook his head and gazed at Will. "Do you understand this business about fancy purses and plain ones?"

"Probably not," Will said.

"I have one wallet," Chester said. "How many you got?" "One."

"Exactly." Chester gave Will a man-to-man look.

"So even if you’re not working tomorrow night, Amanda," Mavis said, "do you want to go to Geekland with Chester and me, anyway? As a customer?"

"No offense, Mavis, but I’d rather not. I’m there enough as it is."

"Oh, I understand completely. Just thought I’d check. I guess we won’t go to Geekland tomorrow night, either, then." Mavis patted Chester’s knee. "We’ll have to find something else to do."

Chester gave her a teasing glance. "Now that I’ve talked to Amanda’s boss, I have some ideas."

"Oh, you" Mavis turned red and gave him a shove that almost toppled him from the seat. "You’re impossible."

Amanda was dying to ask Mavis what had happened to turn the tables on this relationship, but that would have to wait until they could have a girls-only chat. In the meantime, they’d arrived at their stop. She could finally be alone with Will and read what had been inside the valentine she hadn’t wanted to see while she was working and had to keep her cool.

She could find out if there were any more songs on her answering machine. And she’d experience something entirely new—hav**g s*x with Will in an actual bed.

All the way home, except when he was laughing about Mavis and the red vibrator, Will second-guessed his decision not to destroy the valentine in his pocket. He’d had plenty of opportunity during the evening to get rid of it, and he’d come close several times. The threat directed at him might upset Amanda … a lot.

But in the end he remembered that she wanted to know everything, scary or not. Part of respecting someone was making sure you didn’t overprotect them. And he respected the hell out of Amanda.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t looking forward to showing it to her. They also had the answering machine to deal with. And he’d decided they needed to talk about defense tactics if someone should manage to break in.

None of those would be fun discussions. Then there was the issue of sex. He wanted to have some. He’d guess that she did, too. But during sex they’d be incredibly vulnerable. No telling what this nutcase would do if he broke in and found them going at it.

Despite Will’s efforts not to dwell on worst-case scenarios, he couldn’t seem to help himself. The media were always reporting on bad things happening to good people, people who had never done anything to deserve their fate. This latest threat might be enough for the police to get involved, but Will couldn’t imagine what they could do unless something more overt took place. He could hardly expect them to park a squad car outside Amanda’s apartment building every night.

As the four of them climbed off the bus, Will became aware of the deserted street, the dark shadows, and the overgrown bushes surrounding Amanda’s windows. He wished she hadn’t taken a first-floor apartment. None of this felt safe.

Either Amanda was putting on a good show for Mavis and Chester or she didn’t feel the ominous presence. She was chattering away as if nothing was bothering her.

"We can all go back to Geekland on Monday night." She fished in her purse for the entry key.

Will thought he heard a noise. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one had come up behind them. Amanda seemed to be having trouble finding her key.

"Monday night suits me," Chester said. "They have half-price drink specials on Monday, so I wouldn’t have to use up my coupons."

"Honestly, Chester." Mavis shook her head. "Does everything have to have a coupon or be fifty percent off?"

"Not everything." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that." Amanda finally came up with the key.

Will could swear the bushes rustled. "Come on. Let’s get inside."

Her hand on the doorknob, Amanda glanced back at him. "Will?"