22. Lennie
TWENTY-TWO
LENNIE
I walked into my condo after zooming out of Dante’s. Anger, despair, and betrayal filtered through me as I threw my bag onto my couch. Thank goodness I hadn’t hooked up with him or else it would have made everything worse.
Although betrayal filled my veins I couldn’t help but check my phone for the umpteenth time and groaned before wrapping an arm over my face.
Why did I still want him so badly? Was it his broody, mysterious persona?
Or was it deeper than that? I knew he had to have more to him based on the relationships that he had with his team.
And from the research I had done, I knew that he was smart and ambitious.
Despite all of his redeeming qualities, something deep down told me he was dangerous and my gut had been right.
My inner monologue had warned me to be vigilant and to not get too attached but it had already been too late.
I’d known deep down he was dangerous, but something about his demeanor and how he looked at me like he wanted to consume me had warned me that I hadn’t met the real Dante Spinelli yet.
However now I felt like I had gotten a glimpse.
Someone who watched from outside my window and got angry enough to throw a rock through my window was clearly unhinged.
After an hour of failing to be productive, I took a nap wanting to forget everything I learned.
When I woke up, I pulled up my conversation with Dante and after a few minutes, I saw the bubble icon on the screen light up.
DANTE:
I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Quite the opposite. I will leave you alone.
His confession did something to my insides. I couldn’t explain how his words seemed to settle in my body like they were meant to be there. Like he was something to me. I didn’t respond, and instead left him on read.
Before I could dig myself into a deeper hole, I deleted the text thread and changed his caller ID to CRAZY STALKER.