Page 25 of Forever Only Once

Cross: Tell me about it.

I smiled and texted a few more times about nothing, but the sensation of something new and unknown slid through me. Almost as if this were the beginning of something. I didn’t want to think too hard about it or put too much into it, so I didn’t. Instead, I smiled and slid my phone back into my bag after I said goodbye.

It wasn’t a complete commitment, but it was a start.

He had texted, and he had more courage than I did, considering that I still wasn’t sure if I would have texted him.

But he hadn’t run screaming after our meeting. And that counted.

At least, I hoped it did.

My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out, a smile on my face. I wondered what Cross wanted now.

When I looked down, the hairs on the back of my neck rose, and ice slid through my veins.

It was a text from an unknown number, completely blocked, one that I wasn’t going to be able to find on my own.

Unknown: I see you.

That was it, that was the text. Bile slid up my throat, and as I clutched the phone in my hands, I turned towards the counter and threw up the rest of my wine and the salad from earlier, right into the sink.

He couldn’t see me. This couldn’t be him. Only…maybe it was. Maybe he was here. He’d hit me before. He’d stalked me after. Had waited in my home when I was out and thought I was safe. He’d sent me letters during the trial. Had called and left messages telling me what he was going to do to me.

There were reasons I was so extreme in my home security. Why I was careful when I wasn’t at home.

And, somehow, he was texting me.

How.

I wiped my face, turned on the water to clean up the mess, and then double-checked my locks.

I had my pepper spray in one hand, my phone in the other, and went to the corner where I could see all angles. And then I prayed even while calling the detective who’d handled my case. I needed to know if Thomas was still in California. If I was safe.

I needed to know it all, and yet I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t breathe.

All ideas of what I could have with Cross were gone from my mind.

I wasn’t the person I had once been.

I couldn’t believe in paths and hope anymore.

Because he was always watching.

Waiting.

I couldn’t run from that.