Don't Lose Sight of Me

(38) If You'll Allow Me

Tom
"She's going to love it." The old man chuckles as he opens the small black velvet box. The ring quickly catches the light in the room and begins to glimmer to the point of momentarily blinding me as it hits my eyes.

I take a deep breath trying to calm my nerves. Austen looks over my shoulder at the ring. "You'd think for the price you'd get a bigger box." He mumbles.

Both the old man and I turn to look at Austen who bites down on his lower lip and backs away. The old man turns to me and shakes his head. "Don't tell me he'll be your best man." He asks quietly. I chuckle, putting the ring into my hoodie.

"I look forward to seeing the engagement.. hopefully on the news." The old man chuckles. I smirk and begin laughing nervously. "It's been a real pleasure working with you Mr.Kaulitz. I hope to be able to one day meet Mrs.Kaulitz." He smiles and winks at me. "Thanks Garret." I chuckle.

Austen and I leave the story, heading towards his car. "You can't keep your fucking mouth shut?" I ask him, referring back to his comment on the box. Austen scoffs and begins driving. "How's it feel?" I ask him as I sink comfortably into the seat.

He raises an eyebrow at me. "How's it feel to know I'm marrying the girl I stole from you?"

He gasps and looks over at me. Both of us immediately bursting into laughter. "I have to give it to you. I didn't think you'd make it this far." He sighs. I chuckle and nod in agreement. "Of course not. Mr.. Womanizer? Casanova? .. would NEVER have thought about doing this." I tease him. He begins to laugh and shakes his head. "Hey man. That's the best I could come up with back then." He says taking pride in his pathetic name calling. I scoff. "Yeah alright.. Asher."

He looks over at me and smirks. In all seriousness, I look back at him. He notices the look on my face and begins to frown. "What's up?" He asks. "What do you know about Peter?" I ask him, knowing Austen and Juliette had hung out the day before yesterday.

Austen purses his lips to the side, thinking about it. "I mean not much. Only that they met a month ago at the club after she saw you with Kora. And that he had just moved here from.. I don't know, somewhere. So he doesn't really have any friends. Except Josiah. Juliette mentioned they'd become friends."

Austen and I both gag at the mention of Josiah. "But anyways. That's about it. Juliette's been trying to help him get situated."

"Did she mention his last name?" I ask. Austen stays silent, trying to recall. "Barker. Peter Barker." He mumbles. "Which saying it out loud.. sounds a lot like Peter Parker, from the Spiderman movies."

"Why?" He asks me. I stay silent looking out the window. "I was just wondering." I mumble.

"When are you going to talk to Gray?" He asks me. I shiver. Gray's name alone, made me nervous. "One step at a time." I sigh. "I barely got the ring today."

When we arrive to Juliette's apartment, I wave over Vince. "I'll be there in a minute." I mumble to Austen who nods and disappears into the apartment. "Peter Barker. Can you run a background?" I ask him. He nods. "Is that all?" He asks me. I nod. "For now. I don't have much besides he arrived to California a month ago."

Vince nods. "Do me a favor. Run the plate of that red mustang." I bite down on my lower lip, thinking about that unsettling feeling I had the last time I saw it. "Should I confront the driver?" He asks me. I shake my head, and sigh, shaking off the feeling. "No, just watch it for now. Get me the information asap. Juliette's staying with me tonight, take the night off to look into it." I mumble as I turn and walk towards the apartment.

Gray was sitting in the living room on his laptop. I could hear Juliette and Austen in her room laughing at something. My hands were suddenly sweaty. Gray looks up from his laptop at me and closes the damn thing. "H-hi." I stammer. He chuckles and gestures to the recliner next to where he was sitting. "What did you do?" He asks through a sigh.