Chapter 25
Greer
Melody looks at me over her shoulder as if I'm going to disappear from thin air at any moment. Bill has walked by four times since I got here two hours ago, always eyeing me with a worried look and a grimace.
On his fifth pass, I drop the book in my hands on the table with a thump. "Will you two stop it?"
"Sorry, we're just not used to you being here."
"I was gone for a little over a month. Pretend I was on vacation."
Bill huffs a laugh. "A vacation where you were held against your will?"
I swallow. Since Koen is somehow a ghost, no stories have been broken about my return or his arrest, which I'm thankful for.
I don't think I could handle reporters and media on top of trying to adjust to life after everything that happened.
Bill's trying to get me to give them details, but I won’t.
I turn back to my desk, waving him off. "Go find something to do."
I hear his footsteps move away hesitantly.
"He was so worried about you. Both of us were. Shit, even Sally joined in the search to find you," Melody says.
I keep my eyes trained on my computer, paperwork blurring as I zone out.
Sally, the local busybody who hates me, was probably only there for the notoriety.
"Well, that was nice of her," I finally reply, knowing Melody's still staring a hole through the back of my head.
"We just want to make sure you're alright."
"No," I snap, turning around in my chair to pin her with a distasteful stare. "You want to know what happened to me. I'm still processing. I've only been home for a week, Mel. Give me a break."
"Sure." Her hands rise in defense. "I'll back off. If you need me, though, I'm here."
"Thank you," I whisper, feeling horrible for how I just lost it.
Turning back to the computer, I hide the tears that fall.
My eyes flick down to my phone as I obsessively open his text again.
Nothing.
I shouldn't give a shit. He's a fucking murderer.
I don't know how he got his hands on his phone or managed to get out. Allison can't figure out how he's no longer in the jail's database, either.
She's got someone working on digging into Koen as we speak, and I'm waiting on bated breath to see what her contact comes up with.
A text from Allison comes through as if I summoned it.
Dusk tonight?
I don't feel like drinking.
We'll order a car, so we have a safe way home. Come on, girl. You need this. I need this.
Fine.
Tossing my phone down, I scrub my face with my hands.
"Hey, Mel?" My hands muffle my voice, but I hear her turn in her chair.
"Yeah?"
"Want to come out with me tonight?"
A beat of silence passes.
She knows I don't drink. Not since what happened that night with Koen. Now that I know he's alive and well, however, I need to start rebuilding my life, something Allison and I discussed at length this past week.
"Where are we going?" Mel asks.
"Dusk."
"I'm in."
I drop my hands and smile, turning towards her. "My friend Allison is coming."
She nods, a sad smile on her lips. "I figured."
"We'll pick you up at nine?"
"Sounds good." She perks up.
I swallow down my pride, taking a deep breath to steady myself. "Hey, I'm sorry for how I snapped."
"Girl, don't worry about it. You've been through so much lately. I don't think I'd even be back at work yet."
Turning back to my computer, I ignore it, smoothly dancing my fingers over my phone’s keyboard before hitting send on a text I know I probably shouldn't send.
Going out on the town tonight.
I watch the thread, hoping it's enough to coax him to reply, but he doesn't.
Tossing my phone onto the desk, I decide to bury myself with work until it's time to drink all the shit away that's spiralling through my brain.
Even if it's a shit plan, it's the best I've got.
The loud, steady thump of bass vibrates through my body, my third drink sweats in my hand, and the scent of stale cigarettes, sweaty bodies, and musky carpets curls through the air.
Dusk is packed, but we watch people swarm on the dance floor from the VIP area that overlooks it.
Allison went all out, no doubt to ensure I felt less overwhelmed by the crowd.
Little does she know this is just what I needed to silence the shit in my head.
I miss Koen.
It was hard to admit to myself, let alone him. It's a fact that's slowly changing my DNA.
He's a killer.
He's a ghost.
He stalked, tormented, and kidnapped me.
All of those facts are valid enough reasons to hate the man. Yet, there's a yearning in my chest that aches.
Stockholm Syndrome. That has to be what this is.
I closed myself off for so long that the way he touched me, the way my body responded to him, was all a product of my self-isolation.
It has to be.
I have to rewire my thinking.
"You could text him," Allison says. "You said he's reached out, right?"
She was receptive and supportive when she and I spoke at dinner the other night about Koen, but there’s still judgment in her eyes that keeps me holding my cards close to the chest.
"He doesn't reply."
She nods, eyes narrowing as she seems to consider. Her buzz is evident in the glassed-over look she gets as she grins. "Maybe he got a new phone."
"I get what you're trying to do, Ali. I do. But we both know that trying to find the man who stalked and kidnapped you is a stupid fucking idea."
She laughs. "Oh, for sure."
"Then, don't encourage me." I finish my drink as a waitress in a barely there black maxi dress trots up and hands me another.
I take it, wiggling it in Allison's face. "Especially not when I'm on my fourth drink."
Shrugging, she downs her own. "I was trying to be a good friend."
"You already are."
Melody rushes up the VIP stairs, her sweaty hair plastered to her cheeks.
Bending over, she flips her long blonde hair into a messy bun before standing again.
"This place is awesome! You two sure you don't want to come dance?
" Reaching for water off the table in front of Allison and me, she chugs half the bottle down.
I chuckle. "No. I'm good."
"Same," Allison adds.
"Drinking while sitting is going to fuck you both up royally."
Allison and I share a look before both of us shrug. "We'll be fine."
"Suit yourselves. I'll try to find hot men to carry you both out, because I'm not doing it." Grabbing Allison's drink off the approaching waitress’s tray, Melody flounces back through the throngs of people.
I watch her spin through the crowd effortlessly. "What I wouldn't give to be that carefree.”
"You'll get there," Allison tosses back after listening to the waitress apologize for her missing drink, which Melody took.
"Will I? It doesn't feel like I will."
Allison's hand squeezes my knee. "You will."
"Well, until I believe it, I'll take your word for it."
Hours later, the room is spinning, and I'm jumping up and down to a song I don't know in the middle of the dance floor, Melody on one side, and Allison on the other. The music cuts off, and the DJ tells us it's time to go home, even though I hadn't heard last call.
“I told you that you'd be alright," Allison screams, even though the music is off and the club's lights are on.
I laugh drunkenly. "No. I'm wasted, that's different."
"Is it, though?"
Melody tells us goodnight from the arm of a stranger she's decided to leave with, as Allison and I lean against one another on the curb, the cool night air stinging against our sweat-slicked skin.
"Should we let her go with him?" I point to where the man picks up Melody and carries her toward the parking lot.
"Eh, she'll be fine." Allison leads me toward the town car that pulls up at the curb for us, holding the door a little wobbly as I slide inside.
We pull away, our ears still ringing, and for a long time, we're silent.
Allison is typing on her phone, no doubt to someone she'll regret in the morning, but I say nothing.
Who am I to judge when she's been so good to me since I got home?
I check my phone for texts from Koen, anger building in my drunk chest when there are none.
Once I'm home, drunkenly leaning against the porch railing as Bear does his thing on the tree, it feels like I’m drunker than I was at the club. It turns out that's all I needed to find some courage.
Don't you care where I was?
Bear bounds up the stairs, shaking himself off from the dew covering the ground before rushing inside the front door I left open.
Knowing who my stalker is gives me freedoms I haven't known in so long.
I know right where you are.
Bullshit.
Calling me a liar?
I swallow. My heart is racing as I realize I've won. He answered.
But now that he has, I don't know how I feel about it.
I let the alcohol win out, my fingers flying across my keyboard.
Possibly.
You broke so many rules tonight, poison.
I'm not yours anymore.
Oh, you're mine, alright.
You don't even care about me anymore.
I sound pathetic. I sound like a fucking lunatic. He stopped stalking me, and something about that has me reeling when it should give me peace.
You're trying my patience.
So do something about it.
You're awfully brave tonight. Don't let all that vodka flooding your veins cloud your judgment.
My fingers pause over the keys as I plop onto the couch. How did he know what I was drinking?
Thrill pulses at my center.
He was watching me.
Don't tell me what to do. As I said, I don't belong to you anymore.
You belong to me more than you know. I was with you, inside you, every step of the way tonight.
Inside me?
What's that supposed to mean?
While you slept last night, dreaming fitful dreams, I jacked my cock over your pouty mouth. You swallowed every drop of me down gratefully, like a perfect little whore.
My thumb brushes over my lower lip. I changed the locks and added a security system. I don't think he was here.
He's toying with me, but the idea that he could be telling the truth makes me… hot.
Liar.
Alcohol makes you very stupid.
So do you.
I think the texts are done when no more come through. I stand to undress and get my ass in bed when my screen lights up with another.
Sit down and show me your pussy.
Looking around the room, I search for where he could possibly be watching me from. Allison had two sweeps of this place done for bugs and cameras, yet he acts as if he's still got eyes on me as we speak.
You won't find me, deadly girl.
That's the second time he's called me that, and something unholy curls in my stomach at the idea that I'm his downfall.
Do as you’re told. Do you remember how I punished you?
I nod, realizing I haven't replied via text. Shimmying out of my jeans and panties, I then pull off my top, scenting the bar all over me as I tug it over my head.
I make a show of unclasping my bra and letting it fall to the floor before sitting and opening my legs for Koen.
Good girl. Now give me a show.