Origami Heart (Book 3 - DP series - COMPLETE)

24. Sleepless

Clearly, my investigative skills need some work. This is just getting ridiculous. The two people I was most certain were behind the notes have nothing to do with them. Now I'm starting over from scratch and I have no leads. Next option might involve a hidden camera.

I can feel Andy's eyes on me as my mind ticks to piece this mystery together but I ignore his curious stare and yank my purse into my lap instead. Digging through my junk drawer of a bag, I pluck all six notes from hiding and unravel them before spreading them out across Andy's comforter. I do my best to align them in order from when I received them and then I start picking each word apart looking for some kind of clue.

"Those them?" Andy asks, motioning to the pages in front of me with his chin.

"Yeah." I scratch the left side of my head before tucking the dark strands of hair behind my ear. "I just can't figure out who they're coming from." My attention flickers to Andy before returning to the notes. "I thought it was Mike but he says it's not and even though he knows who's giving them to me, he doesn't seem interested in giving the guy away."

"So we can check creepy stalker off the list," Andy says, shifting closer to me so he can read the notes. "What's this mean?"

I glance at where he's pointing and then shrug. "I thought it was a star at first, which made me think it was one of your Starling buddies. Now I'm thinking it's an 'A'."

"Ahhh," he nods, understanding. "That's why you thought it was me then."

"Yep, and because of this." I point at the latest note and then glance at Andy. "I got that one just after you kissed me."

"Seriously?" Andy leans back, uncomfortable about this piece of information. "So someone was watching us?" He hums to himself, shaking his head before lifting startlingly blue eyes toward mine. "I'm not so sure I'd cross 'creepy' stalker off your list after all."

"Yeah." I nod, silence settling into the room as we both work to decipher the notes.

"So..." The word stretches out between us and I can almost hear the thoughts clicking around in his head, dread tightening in my stomach at what Andy plans to say. "The butterflies you mentioned...?"

I groan, flopping back onto the bed and throwing my arm over my face.

"Were those for me?" he continues, "Or for whoever this mystery guy is?"

"As if I haven't been humiliated enough, you're gonna make me answer that?" I ask, horrified as I shake my head in the negative. "No. How 'bout this though. You tell me which answer you'd prefer and I'll tell you if you're right or not."

His laughter is contagious and I find myself grinning around my frown. "Clever girl."

I may have been joking—kind of—but the fact that he doesn't take me up on the challenge tells me only one thing: he doesn't feel the same way and he's sparing my feelings by remaining silent.

"I was almost positive that note was from Mike until he shot down that idea," I say thoughtlessly as I start gathering the notes up again. I even take the time to fold each one back into it's original shape. Whoever wrote these took great care in molding each note into something unique and I can't bring myself to destroy their artwork.

"Why's that?"

Andy's question has me freezing. I clearly didn't think this through because now I'm going to have to be honest. Honesty sucks sometimes.

"Because." I clear my throat. "I got that note the night of Mike's cookout... just after he kissed me."

Nothing about Andy's demeanor changes. His face remains relaxed, his body comfortably seated beside me. Even his eyes manage not to flash even the faintest hint of alarm or hurt. But something in the room shifts. I can feel an almost humid density fill the air, causing heat to sizzle across my sticky skin.