#andy barber series
The Florist next-door… Andy Barber x reader series Part 4
Warnings: 18+ readers only, swearing, angry!Andy, bitch!Laurie
A couple of hours later Andy opened his front door and loosened his tie. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he was about to have.
“Why did, Y/N, get out of your car?” Laurie asked as she appeared in the doorway.
Andy chewed the inside of his cheek as he looked at her. “Something happened at her store.”
“And why does that concern you?” She asked coldly.
“Leonard Patz, showed up there, buying flowers for his friend, Ben.” Andy explained. “Then, someone slashed her tyres and to top it off, that guy that’s been stalking us, is now also following her.” He glared at her. “That’s why it concerns me, Laurie.”
Laurie looked at him worried, gulping before she cleared her throat. “Do you know who, slashed her tyres?” She asked.
Andy’s brow creased as he shook his head. “The police are looking in to it, but they’re worried about her safety now so, she’s staying here tonight.” Andy turned his back and walked into hi office putting his brief case down on his desk.
“Excuse me?” Laurie followed. “I don’t think she is.”
Andy huffed, “And why not, Laurie? The police are worried that someone could be trying to hurt her.”
Laurie rolled her eyes. “Always playing the victim, isn’t she.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Why would anyone want to hurt her?”
Andy shrugged. “I don’t know. But why would, Leonard Patz, go to her store? Why is that guy watching her all day? Why would someone slash her tyres? I don’t, know! But they have and someone did, and the police are worried about her… I’m, worried about her.”
“What’s going on?” Jacob asked as he stepped off the bottom step. “Why are you shouting?”
“Nothing, honey, your father and I, were just having a discussion.” Laurie turned to smile at Jacob.
Jacob frowned and looked at Andy, “Dad? Who are you worried about?”
Andy drew in a deep breath as he looked at his son, debating whether he should tell him or not. He didn’t need to look at Laurie to know she was glaring at him, hoping he’d keep his mouth shut. But Andy couldn’t not tell Jacob, you were Jacob’s friend just as much as his. “How would you feel about, Y/N, spending the night?”
“Andy.” Laurie snapped at him. “You are not involving him in this, he’s just a child.”
Andy ignored her. “Would you be bothered?”
Jacob shook his head. “No, but why would she need to?” Jacob shrugged.
“The police are worried about her safety. Someone slashed her tyres whilst she was at work today.” Andy explained briefly not wanting to fully explain to his son what had gone on.
“What? Why would someone do that?” Jacob asked.
Andy shrugged, “I’m not sure, but the police have reason to believe she’s not safe on her own and asked if she could stay here whilst they watch her place.”
“Oh,” Jacob went quiet. “Is it because of me?”
“No.” Laurie placed her hand on his shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about, okay?” She glared at Andy.
“Do you think it’s because of me, dad? Because she’s on my side?” Jacob asked Andy.
Andy took a deep breath, “It could be, Jacob, I’m not gonna lie.”
“Andy!” Laurie snapped at him.
“It’s okay, mom.” Jacob shook her hand off. “I want, Y/N, to be safe, so she should be here. After everything she’s done for us, we should look out for her.”
Andy smiled proudly at his son. “That’s very kind and grown up of you, Jacob, I’m proud of you.” Andy placed his hand on his shoulder.
Laurie huffed, “For heaven’s sake, so you’re going to put our family at risk instead.”
Andy frowned at Laurie. “What are you talking about?”
“You said she wasn’t safe, so being here means we won’t be safe.” Laurie glared at him. “I don’t want her here.”
“Laurie, I wouldn’t put us at risk but, Y/N, is all on her own.” Andy sighed, “She’s our friend, Laurie.”
“NO!” Laurie snapped. “She’s your friend, Andy, not mine.”
Andy’s eyes widened as he looked at an equally shocked Jacob.
“Pack a bag, Jacob.” Laurie pushed him towards the bottom of the stairs.
“What? Why?” He frowned at her.
“We’re not staying here tonight if your father insists on choosing her the safety of this family.” Laurie sent Andy a cold look.
Andy closed his eyes as he let out a frustrated sigh. “I am not, choosing her over you! She’s not safe on her own, Laurie, why can’t you understand that?”
“I don’t want go, mom. Dad’s, right.” Jacob stood on the bottom step.
“Now, Jacob!” Laurie shouted at him.
Jacob glared at her before looking at Andy with a pleading look.
Andy shook his head as he glared at Laurie. “Go on son, do as your mother says.”
Jacob huffed and ran off upstairs as Andy and Laurie glared at each other in silence until they heard Jacob’s door slam shut.
“I thought you were a good person, Laurie, I really did, but right now, I’ve never been more ashamed of you.” Andy turned his back to her and walked over to his desk.
“Right now, I don’t really care what you think.” She spat at him before slamming the door shut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you sat on the edge of your bed with your overnight bag packed by your feet, you finally took a minute to yourself.
You weren’t sure how to feel. You felt guilty, for letting yourself be so stupid and fall in love with a married man. But then again, you knew Andy wasn’t happy anymore, not with Laurie and you were pretty sure Laurie felt the same, only she wouldn’t admit it. Then there’s the whole Leonard Patz thing, your tyres being slashed and the guy that had been watching you. You hadn’t felt this scared to be alone since your ex-husband was in the picture.
You were thankful for when Andy offered you to stay the night in his guest room, because then you wouldn’t be on your own. But were you really about to do this? Spend a night under the same roof with a man you’ve found yourself falling in love with and have kissed twice, his wife who hates your guts and their son.
There was no doubt about it, you were a horrible human being.
You quickly squashed all your feelings down and grabbed your things before heading over to Andy’s house before you could talk yourself out if going. As you walked up to Andy’s front door you couldn’t shake the feeling you were being watched, so you looked over your shoulder and there he was. You froze as you and the man stared at each other. How was he not fazed by being spotted?
“Jacob, lets go!” Laurie shouted as she pulled the front door open. She glared at you, only stopping momentarily before barging past you and over to her car without a word to you.
You frowned as you looked back at Jaocb as he walked out of the front door with a bag. “Hey.” You smiled.
“Hey,” He returned your smile. “You okay? Dad, told me about your tyres.”
You looked at Andy behind him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool.”
“M'sorry.” Jacob frowned as he looked down. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, Jacob, you have nothing to be sorry for.” You reached out and patted his shoulder.
“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be in this mess.” He shook his head. “So, I’m sorry.”
You smiled warmly at him, “You’re a good kid, Jacob, I hope you know that.”
“Jacob, let’s go!” Laurie shouted through the rolled down window. “Now.”
Jacob huffed and said goodbye to you and Andy before walking over to Laurie’s car.
“Where they off to?” You asked Andy as you entered the house with him.
Andy let out a heavy breath, “A hotel. Laurie, needed space.” He frowned, looking at you. “And don’t start blaming yourself, Y/N.” He said before you could open your mouth. “This is a, Laurie, problem, not yours.”
You nodded keeping your mouth shut as you looked down to the two bags in your hands. “Oh, I bought over some groceries I had that I was gonna make dinner with, I thought I could cook as a thank you.” You smiled at him.
Andy smiled excitedly as he took them from you. “That sounds, amazing.” His belly grumbled at the prospect of something other than takeout. “But you didn’t need to do that.”
You shrugged, “It’s the least I can do…” You smiled, your cheeks beginning to blush. “Hmm, do you mind if I shower? Kinda want to wash away today, if you know what I mean.”
Andy nodded, “Sure. I’ll take you up and show you where you can put your things.” He placed the groceries down before leading you upstairs. Andy cleared his throat as he pushed open a door. “This is the guest room,” He looked back at you and nodded over to another door. “That’s Jacob’s, the bathroom is there and that’s… Where I sleep.” He paused as he looked at the room he shared with Laurie. He quickly cleared his throat, “There’s towels in that cupboard and, there should be some things in there for you to use.” He gave you a warm smile before closing the door.
You let out a deep breath as you dropped onto the end of the bed. What were you doing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy sat in his office, silently brooding as he watched the CCTV footage from the building next to your store. The police officer whom was working the case had sent it to him. The footage showed the person that had slashed your tyres, clear as day and he was beyond pissed off.
“Hey,” You appeared in the doorway with a smile. “Hungry?” You asked.
Andy nodded with a smile, liking the feeling he got when he saw you fresh out of the shower in his home, “Starving.” He stood up and closed his laptop. “I’m gonna shower real quick but I’ll be back down shortly and I’ll give you a hand.” He quickly ran upstairs before you could answer.
He walked into his bedroom and shut the door as he pulled his cell out and dialled Laurie’s number. He began to pace back and forth as it dialled, getting more and more angrier as he waited.
“What do you want, Andy?” Laurie asked coldly.
“Where’s, Jacob?”
“Playing his game in the other room.” She answered.
“Good, I want to talk to you.” Andy gritted his teeth.
“We’re not coming home, Andy.”
“I don’t want you to come home.” Andy snapped at her. “Not after what you’ve done.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Laurie.” Andy balled his fist up as he began Gan to pace back and fourth again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Andy. I’ve done nothing.”
“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Andy shouted. “I know what you did to, Y/N’s, car. There’s CCTV footage of you, Laurie. I know it was you.”
Laurie was silent for a moment before she let out a frustrated sigh. “… I can explain.”
“What were you thinking?” Andy asked.
“I wasn’t, okay. My head is all over the place and–”
“Don’t give me that, Laurie. You knew what you were doing. You were thinking about yourself.” Andy spat.
“How dare you say that? I was thinking about us–”
“NO!” Andy shouted. “You were thinking about yourself, because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t have done this.”
“You can’t say that, Andy!”
“I can, because I know for a fact, you weren’t thinking about, Jacob. Do have any idea how bad this is going to reflect on him?” Andy stood in the middle of the room defeated.
“What do you mean? You can make this go away, Andy.”
Andy let out a dry chuckle, “How am I supposed to do that? The police are involved.”
“You can talk to, Y/N, for me. She’s your friend. She’ll listen to you. Please. Tell her about it looking bad on, Jacob.” Laurie pleaded.
Anger boiled up inside Andy again. “You should apologise to her, Laurie.”
She huffed, “I am not, apologising to her.”
Andy ground his teeth. “Why not?”
“Because it’s her fault, okay. She deserved it.” Laurie snapped.
“How? She’s done nothing wrong. She’s been nothing but a loyal and caring friend to, Jacob and me. Hell, she’s even been all those things and more towards you, even when you’ve been nothing but a spiteful bitch towards her.” Andy spat.
Laurie gasped, “Andy, can’t you see she’s trying to steal you away from me.”
“No, Laurie, I’m sorry but I’ve had enough of it. I don’t know why you’ve had it out for, Y/N, from the moment you met her, but it stops now.”
“Andy,”
“NO. I don’t want to hear your excuses, okay? I’m done. Goodbye.” He hung and flicked his cell onto silence before throwing it onto the bed. He then let out a heavy sigh as he dropped his head into his hands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
