Nice To Meet You (Completed)

CHAPTER 2

    I wake up to loud knocking on the door.

    "Who is it!"  Heading down the hallway towards it, I wipe the slobber off the corner of my mouth and hope I don't look like complete trash.

    Looking through the peephole I recognize Jacob's face.

    I open up the door and peek my head out. "Can I help you, sir?"

    "Stop playing and let me in.  Did you forget I was coming over?"

    He gives me a disgruntled look as he steps over the threshold.

    "Good thing I brought some coffee and your favorite muffins."  He says with a smile, showing his dimples I don't mind seeing once and a while.

    He sits down cross-legged in front of my couch, opens up the bag of muffins and hands me the coffee he brought.

    "Party by yourself last night?"  He looks at the empty vodka bottle on the end table and gives me a knowing look.

    I bend down to muff his head walking into the kitchen.

"Only on Friday nights...I do have a job you know."

"So how was last night though?  Did he come back?"  Jacob asks in a worried tone.

"No.  Not to my knowledge.  He could have but I was knocked out after you called and Bella was fine the rest of the night so." Carefully sitting down next to Jacob attempting not to spill my cup, I pass him the envelope.

He reads it with a sickened expression and glances at me.  "You should have called this in. You don't know how crazy this guy is."

"I can deal with this myself thank you.  If I see Shawn anywhere near here, I'm gonna put my hands and feet on his ass."

"So, you think its Shawn?"  Jacob says in an alarmed tone.  "That's some heavy shit!"

I rub my head thinking about the last time I saw Shawn before I moved away.

"I think it is him.  You know about that shit he pulled before I moved here away from him.  He almost tried to kill me in the crash and damn near got away with it.  This isn't so far off from something he would do."

Jacob furrows his eyebrows,  "This is kind of tame though.  Well, at least for him. I would think he'd just bust in here on your ass and finish the job."

"That is so fucking funny."  I give him a fake smile withholding from slapping him with a pillow.

Shawn was my ex-boyfriend. We went out for two years after high school and when he got word that I was moving out of Chicago he completely changed on me.

I saved up and decided to move out of my parent's house and go to Minnesota leaving my family behind. Of course, he did not accept and wanted me to remain with him where a fresh start was not in sight.

He got so hateful and so fed up that he determined if I was going to leave without him I was going to be leaving the world with him. He forced me into a car and tried to drive us off a bridge. Good thing the cops were able to reach us before he did...I never learned what happened to him after that and didn't care to find out. I just had to get the fuck out of dodge.

Jacob took the tiny rose out of the envelope and twisted it between his fingers.  "Violet, you do need to be careful. I'm serious. Or I will camp out here. You read me?"

"As much as I love you, that sounds like a damn nightmare. I don't need another messy person in here, I already got Regina."

"Your right. Your right. She's a chaotic soul indeed."

____________________________

    Monday morning I wake up and head to the tattoo shop I've been working at for a year and a half now. It's my dream job. A job I've been training and improving in Chicago while I was with that psycho.

It's a black bricked, medium-sized establishment that has a white interior. Our shop is the best in the city no one can compare. The artists inside have extremely big potential such as myself. We all believe in each other and are working to open up more shops in bigger cities. The Mad Tatter is like a second family to me and the city of Rochester is my home.

I step in and instantly see the shop's manager, Eli. He looks up from his computer at the front desk and waves his hand in greeting.

He points in my direction,  "I got a few appointments for you today. They specifically asked for Miss Violet."

"That's great. I'd like nothing more than to keep myself busy."

Eli sits up and buries his hands in his red hair.  "What's up with you? Bad night?"

"More than a bad night but it's fine. Lemme go ahead and bust these designs out. Tell me if you need anything." Heading to the back of the shop towards my station my mind starts to run wild.

What if it is Shawn and I can't get away this time?

If it's not, I could be dealing with someone more dangerous.

________________________________

    After I wrap up three of my clients, I tell Eli I'm taking off on my lunch break before the last client comes in. Snatching my bag, I pick up my phone discovering a message from Reggie.

What's shakin' bacon? ;) I see she's in a good mood today. Her job has been pressing her lately.

Heading down the street to the café what about you?

Right behind you 🥰

As she jogs toward me, I follow her brown coils moving in motion with her every stride. The sunshine on this dismal day glistens on her light brown skin. I wish I was that fine with no struggle.

"You should've hit up the club with me on Friday. It was lit annnddd we could've got you some dick for sure." She does a big laugh while sticking her tongue out.

"Oh shut up. Sometimes Fridays are my time to relax. We have all our lives to kick it."

She hits my shoulder,  "So tell me what happened."

We push open the café door and I sit at a table, "I got you." Reggie walks up to the counter and puts in our orders.

Minutes later she sits down next to me with an apprehensive look on her face.

"So the psycho left a note under the door?"

Removing a wavy strand of hair from my face, I think about the note and take a sip of hot coffee.

"Yea. It was so out of the blue and so messed up. Imagine someone watching you and you don't even notice. I think it was Shawn."

"I should've been there. I'm sorry. You were probably scared as hell." Norah rubs my back and I see she really regrets going out that night.

"You should give his mother a call. Jocelyn has to know and don't let her snake around it either. This is your life on the line."

"Yeah, let's pray she does."

The last time I talked to Shawn's mother was years ago. I think she still blames me for everything that happened and I don't think I can reopen that part of my past yet. That doesn't matter if he's coming after me now. She has to know.

________________________________