CHAPTER 33 MINA
The hot water cascades over my body as I work the shampoo into a lather. This is the third round of shampoo, and I’m hoping that after this, I’ll feel clean enough to use the conditioner. Tonight has been an ordeal, and thankfully, not too bad. Just emotionally draining. There’s a gentle knock at the bathroom door.
“Hey babe?” Alex’s voice is muffled by the door and the sound of the water, not to mention the shampoo suds creating a cloud around my ears.
“Yeah?” I yell back.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re ok. Also, pizza’s here.”
“Thanks baby. Yeah, I’m good, I’ll be out in a few minutes!”
It’s time to wrap this up, but I don’t want to. The hot water feels so good on my tired muscles. After working a full shift I’m usually pretty tired, but then going through an emotionally stressful roller coaster and having to do a full deep clean on the apartment really topped it all off. I feel like once I fall asleep, I won’t ever want to wake up. Thankfully I’ve got tomorrow off to recuperate.
I condition my hair quickly and finish my shower. This hotel is one of the fancy ones that leaves robes for the guests, so once I’m done drying off I wrap myself in the lush fabric and sweep my hair into a towel.
I emerge from the bathroom, finally feeling clean after the debacle of the day. Alex is sitting on the bed in his boxers, the pizza box open in front of him.
“Hey, I waited for you. Let’s eat, then I’m going to shower.”
“Sounds good.” The smell of the pizza fills the hotel room, and my stomach growls in response. “Damn, I didn’t realize how hungry I was until just now. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch, since Jason and I never actually made it to dinner.”
“Holy hell I didn’t even think about that. Sit down, eat. I got us some soda, too, if you’re interested.”
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Alex reaches down to the floor next to the bed and hoists a 2-liter bottle of coke. “Tada!”
“Awesome. Do we have cups?”
“Ummm I may have made a slight miscalculation when it comes to the supplies we needed.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “It’s alright. We can just drink it as-is.”
We eat and pass the bottle back and forth, and finally, my stomach is full and content. Now that my other basic needs are met, I feel the waves of exhaustion starting to creep over me. We clear off the bed and I slide under the covers while Alex goes to shower.
I close my eyes and very quickly feel the darkness of sleep enveloping me. I’m roused slightly as Alex slides into bed next to me, curling up behind me and wrapping me in his arms. I snuggle closer and sink back into oblivion.
My eyes flutter open and for the briefest of moments, panic courses through me. Where the fuck am I? I shift slightly and am suddenly aware of arms holding me in an embrace. With a rush, the memory of yesterday and our retreat to the hotel comes flooding back. I relax, snuggling back down under the covers. I’ve got nowhere to be, and we don’t have to check out until this afternoon. I glance at the clock on the bedside table. Shit. It’s 12:30. We have to be out of here in 30 minutes. I bolt upright, waking Alex in the process.
“Good morning, Princess,” he mumbles, stretching and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“We’ve got 30 minutes. Also, good morning,” I reply, swinging my legs off the edge of the bed. “I’ve gotta pee.”
“Shit, is it 12:30 already?” He sits up too and runs his hands through his tousled hair. “I slept like a damn rock.”
“Me too. I didn’t wake up at all, which isn’t normal for me in hotels. Usually any little noise will wake me up. Guess I was just that tired.”
I reach for my phone, and what I see makes my blood run cold. There’s a message there, from a number I don’t know, though it’s obvious who it’s from.
My face must have registered my shock, because Alex noticed.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
Wordlessly I hand him my phone so he can see the message. His brow furrows.
“Shit. That didn’t even buy us 24 hours. It was supposed to shake him for good.”
I can feel panic rising, and I’m trying to focus on my breath. “What do you think he’s going to do?”
“Nothing good,” Alex grimaced.
“How did he find out?”
“No idea. But I’m sure it was through less than savory means. If we can prove it, maybe we’ve got some sort of harassment case. But otherwise, we’ll just have to deal with this ourselves.”
“How?”
“I have no idea.”
The ride back to Alex’s apartment is quiet. Tension hangs thick in the air as we both wonder what the fuck went wrong with our plan. When we get there, we’re half expecting the apartment to be broken into, or vandalized. Much to our surprise, nothing looks out of place. The stench is mostly gone, and a few quick passes with Febreze takes care of the rest of it. We settle onto the couch, and I pull out my phone. No new messages.
“Should I respond?”
“No,” Alex shakes his head emphatically. “You pretend you never got that message. You act unphased. Don’t play into it. Make him come to you in person.”
“Alex, he’s dangerous. What if he—”
“He wouldn’t. He cares too damn much about his job to do anything overtly stupid, at least not while at the hospital.”
“Yeah, but now he knows where you live.”
“He does. But he doesn’t know where you live. You’re still safe.”
“But you aren’t, and I don’t like that.”
“Hey, I’ll be fine.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I walk into the lounge at work, holding my head high and hoping my racing heart doesn’t betray itself. I quickly scan the room, praying Jason isn’t there. He’s not. I exhale and head to my locker. As I’m putting my things away, a loud slam right next to my face makes me jump. Shit. It’s him.
He grabs my wrist and thrusts me backwards against the lockers, leering in my face. “So, you thought you could pull a fast one on me, eh Mina?”
“What are you talking about, Jason?”
His grip tightens. “I know you trashed your place on purpose, to turn me off. Seems like you’re a lying little snake,” he hisses. “All you do is lie.”
“You’re hurting me,” I protest, trying to free myself from his grip. “Let me go.”
“No. I’ll never let you go.”
“I’m not yours to hold onto.”
“Wanna know how I found out? It’s fascinating, really.”
I don’t reply, hoping he’ll just keep talking, because the longer this lasts, the greater chance someone will come and intervene. To my annoyance and relief, he does.
“I was driving away from your place when it struck me. An ephemeral goddess like you, living in a pigsty like that? In filth? It doesn’t make any sense. You’re too put together.”
He drops his free hand to my waist, then grabs my crotch. I can’t help but gasp at this sudden, brazen violation. What the fuck is he thinking?
He continues, “then it occurred to me that there were a lot of fast food wrappers lying around.” He got closer, pressing his lips against my ear. “You don’t eat fast food. I’ve heard you say that yourself. You were telling that little blonde bitch how it upsets your gut health, so you limit your intake. Based on the trash in your apartment, either you lied to your best friend, or that trash wasn’t yours.”
He leaned back and released his grip on my crotch but kept his vice grip on my wrist. “So, I turned around and came back. And what do I see when I get there? That filthy janitor and his degenerate friends all helping you take out the trash and tidy the place up. Why, if it wasn’t staged purely for my displeasure?”
I still didn’t answer, desperately hoping for salvation. None came.
“You’re a sneaky one, that’s for sure. But not sneaky enough.” He chuckles wryly, finally releasing his grip on my wrist. “But I’ve decided that if I can’t have you, no one can.”
Fear shoots through me like a lightning bolt, and I clutch my bruised wrist to my chest. “What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. I’ve already filed a formal complaint with the hospital about your filthy janitor lover, and I expect they’ll take action soon enough. I plan to do the same about you, unless you agree to be mine.”
I feel my blood run cold. “That’s cruel, he needs this job!”
“He should have thought about that before getting in my way. You both should have.”
Tears well in my eyes as he turns to leave. He stops in the doorway and casts one last look in my direction and delivers the final dagger.
“Oh, I also reached out to your parents. I sent them his full employee profile and made sure to tell them he’s nothing more than a street rat, and that you’ve both been lying. Amazing what information can be found when you look in someone’s personnel records.” And with that, he leaves, his laughter echoing down the hall.
I feel my knees buckle beneath me, and I can’t stop the tears from falling. The seconds tick by, feeling like eternity, before a realization occurs. I have to warn Alex.