Chapter 7 #2
Giggles overtook my body then. Probably too loud. Also probably the only time I’d ever laughed at one of these things and actually meant it.
But as they became more contagious, the text tone of my phone erupted on the table, and as I whipped it out and stared down at the withheld number, my heart stopped.
Unknown Number
Today at 20:38pm
you look so pretty when you laugh
At first I thought I’d read it wrong. I wasn't sure whether to laugh. Whether I'd imagined it. But as I read the words over and over again, as I peered around the room, a half smile unconsciously sitting on my mouth, that’s when I felt the world slip away.
My soul fell from its holding place, time slowing completely. My chest rose and fell at three times the speed it had done a moment ago, and my ears grew hot. Fear blinded me as I looked around the room, every happy flutter in my stomach dying, ressurecting as deep rooted dread.
Who was this? What did this mean? Why the hell was this happening?
My thoughts were a never-ending list, piling up in my head as the ground seemed to fall from below me.
“You okay?” Rainie’s voice sounded distorted, as though someone was holding my head under water.
My chest grew heavy as my eyes darted around the room, frantically trying to search for someone in the shadows. Someone who was clearly watching me.
“Cora?”
Fear settled on my chest, pressing down as my hands gripped the back of my chair, my eyes still darting round the room that was only getting busier with every second that passed.
Before I knew it my fight or flight was kicking in and apparently my body was choosing to fly.
I stood up, ignoring the muffled calls from Rainie as I grabbed my clutch and weaved through the crowd.
My shoulders barged past the blurry faces as my skin grew hot, a layer of sweat gathering on my forehead as I finally made it to the breezy lobby.
The thick carpet dragged beneath my feet, but I carried on, bolting towards the doors and escaping through a side door. I didn’t care where it took me, so long as it took me away from this place, away from the fear and the stupid idea that I was ready to waltz back into this life again—
Hard pressure wrapped around my wrist.
My heart flatlined.
Then the world was pitch black as my body was yanked back, hitting something solid.
And… warm?
“What the hell happened? Are you okay?”
I knew that voice. But that was impossible. There was no way that he’d be—
I pulled my face back from the layers of black clothes I’d been tugged into, unraveling from the tangles of amber that wrapped around me and tilted my head back to find a ticking jaw, dark hair, and midnight eyes that were glossed with worry.
The fear that coursed through me settled a little when realised I was in the arms of Marcus and not whoever had texted me. But my racing mind couldn’t linger on that thought for much longer, not when eight thousand more important things were happening that I needed to get to the bottom of.
His hands tightened on my bare shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I…” All my words had vanished, it seemed. Swallowed by whatever fear was still pulsing through me. I stole a breath as I fell deeper into the black lagoons that made up his eyes. “I think so?”
I was still trying to figure it out, but what I did know was that there was someone in there watching me. Someone in there who wanted to frighten me.
A* for effort.
Marcus lifted his head, scanning the lobby before slipping his hand down my arms and walking me into a corner, away from the harsh spotlights that did nothing but encourage a migraine.
His hands fell from me completely as we stopped, but his eyes roamed every inch of me that it felt like he was trailing a finger over every surface he looked at.
It was only when our eyes met that he spoke again. “Why were you in such a hurry to leave? The thing hasn’t started yet.”
I shook my head, my mind fogging, before clearing in an instant once I remembered what happened, and remembered that he shouldn’t be here. I stepped as far into the corner of the room as I could, lifting my phone between us. “Was this you?”
His brows pulled inwards. “Was what me?”
Confusion masked my face, hardening my stare. “This.” I opened my phone and showed him the notification without reading the words. I pushed the thing at him. “Was this you?”
He took the phone from my hands, his warm fingers grazing mine. I watched his eyes move as he read the text, his jaw ticking again when they went back over it a second time.
The way his features fell, as though the same dread that had drowned me was also drowning him didn’t fill me with much hope. None at all, actually. Pressure sank in my chest as he put his eyes back on me, his head shaking slightly. “This wasn’t me.”
His words did nothing but make my heart beat pick up it’s pace again. “What do you mean it wasn’t you? If it wasn’t you then why are you here?” My head pulled back, my throat drying as my stare grew hot. “Why are you here?”
His bottom lip sank between his teeth, his head dropping as a sigh racked out of him. “I came just in case you needed—”
“Protection. Right?” I was angry for a whole different reason now. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but I don’t need you, or your company, or any kind of protection. I am fine on my—is that a fucking gun?”
His eyes dropped to where my attention had slipped to, the thick holster at his side, before bouncing back to mine. “Yes?”
Confusion drowned me. “Little dramatic don’t you think?”
His bottom lip slipped between his teeth as his head shook, holding up my phone. “Have you forgotten that you just ran out of there? Because of this?”
Touche.
My shoulders squared in defiance. “I just need to calm down. I’m fine.”
Marcus found that hilarious, apparently.
“You didn’t exactly look like you were fine when you were running out of here like someone had just started a fucking fire.
” I didn’t have time to react before he took a step closer, eyes looming over me like a hurricane.
“Louellen told me not to come tonight, but I’m glad this is the first time I didn’t listen to her.
” He shrugged, his tongue making his mouth stretch as his lips glided open.
“If you had run out of here before I grabbed you, whatever piece of scum sent you this would have just been waiting for the perfect time to snatch you and do whatever the fuck they were planning to do with you.”
Fear began to creep up my spine at the thought, but I kept my shoulders tight, my lips pinned down, and my eyes firm against his.
Marcus came closer, enough for me to spot the stars in his eyes. “I came for this exact reason. You can’t protect yourself like I will, Miss Holland. And like it or not I will be protecting you.” His eyes went back to the phone. “Especially given what’s just happened.”
As much as I wanted to slip from under him and run, scream in his face that I was more than okay making sure no lowlife would so much as breathe near me…
I couldn’t. And though I hated to admit it, he was right.
What would have happened if he wasn’t there to stop me leaving?
What if he was right and whoever had text me was just waiting on the other side of the doors, knowing I’d be there?
The last of the fear trickled from me as I said a silent thank you that that wasn’t the case. That I was safe.
Thanks to him.
I lifted my eyes to meet him, his eyes still glued to my phone. I swallowed before gritting out. “What happens now?” His eyes were on me as I pointed at my phone. “What do we do about—”
“There’s no we in this.” His stare hardened. “I will be taking you back home. I will be finding out who this is. I will be the only one making decisions about how you’re kept safe.” His body didn’t budge. “And I will be your shadow regardless of how hard you push. Is that clear?”
No.
Not a fucking thing about any of this was clear.
I didn’t know this man, but suddenly I was supposed to trust him with my life?
It was too much. Too soon.
My eyes latched onto his. “The last time I put my trust into someone they attacked me.” Sincerity flooded his stony face.
“So tell me why I should just trust your word when your word means nothing to me, because, as I made clear yesterday, you’re a stranger.
” My eyes fell up and down his body. “A stranger who is very capable of ruining me like the last stranger did.”
Every hard surface of his face softened as my words settled in the space between us, like I’d struck a nerve that connected his brain to his water ducts. He looked almost… sad, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Wasn’t sure if I could trust it.
Eventually he took a step back, as though the air had become too thick and he couldn’t breath. A sigh flew between his lips as his eyes, soft, genuine, rose to mine.
“We started my company because of an incident very similar to the one you went through. That’s the long and short of it and all you need to know to sleep easy knowing I am nothing like Jamie fucking Radcliffe.”
I could almost feel the rage coming off him as that bastards name left his tongue.
“My priority is your safety. And it always will be.” His dark eyes settled back on me, and as I tried to snuff out the lies, tried to see behind the onyx shields that kept the truth, I couldn’t.
And something in my gut told me, something about the tone of his voice and the way he stood around me instead of over me, that he was telling the truth.
It was going to take time for me to trust again, I knew that. But if that text was real and the threats I’d brushed under the rug before were getting more real with every passing day, I had no choice but to trust. For now.
“Okay.” His eyes softened as I lifted my head to his, nestling myself behind those shields. “You can be my shadow.”
The feeling that settled over my chest was one I couldn’t pick apart.
Either this would be the best thing I ever did for myself, or the end of my life as I knew it.