WITSEC

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Isabelle would be on her way over soon. Tonight, we were going to watch IT and she was going to sleep over. I was excited as I was nervous. Nope, I was more nervous, and I had almost lied about not feeling well when Isabelle had texted me to see if I was all right after she’d learned I wasn’t at school today.

To distract me from my nerves as the hours ticked by, I’d decided to bake. I’d figured dessert would be fun to have during the movie. That, and of course popcorn.

I had all the fixings in my kitchen to make pie or cookies. I had made enough of both with my mom growing up that I could probably make either of them in my sleep. So I had decided to experiment a little. Do something different.

So far, I had made homemade cinnamon-flavored ice cream with apple chunks and it was chilling in the freezer. Currently, I was scooping large balls of blondie cookie dough with buttery pie-crust pieces that I had crumbled into the batter onto a tray. I was going to make apple pie ice cream sandwiches, and from what I’d sampled so far, they were going to be delicious.

I’d have to save some for the guys to try tomorrow. They weren’t invited tonight. It was strictly a girls’ night. That was what I had told them and that was it. I hadn’t told them what we were going to be watching. It wasn’t that I wanted to lie to them, but I wanted to do this alone. I needed to see if I could do this alone. My trauma was my battle to fight. The support I got from my guys was wonderful, but if I kept relying on them…

I froze mid-scoop as I realized what I had been doing. Sighing, I set down the spoon back in the mixing bowl and reached for my phone.

I had another missed call from that unknown number. Why couldn’t Cassy and Amber just leave me alone? I wasn’t going to answer. So why did they keep calling? They probably thought if they bugged me enough, I’d drop the charges.

As I scrolled through my previous calls, Colt’s name came up first and I clicked on it. The line rang a couple of times before he picked up.

“Hi,” he answered.

“I need to tell you something,” I said, getting right to the point.

“Okay,” he drawled.

“The reason Isabelle is coming over is so we can watch the movie IT .”

He was quiet for a moment. “I’m going to trust that you considered what could happen and get right to the question as to why you felt you couldn’t tell us.”

“Well, I have a nasty habit of wanting to do things on my own. I have this fear that one day I will lose you, and if I know I can do things on my own, then it won’t be like when I lost my family—it won’t hurt as much. I won’t go every day discovering things I need you for because I’ve never had to do them on my own.”

“So why are you telling me the truth now?” he asked without a hint of anger.

“Well, I just realized what I was doing,” I said as I drew lines in some spilled flour on the counter. “I still plan to do this on my own, but…but if I find out that I can’t, will you come over and help me take this back or hold me if it ends up being a complete disaster?”

“Of course I will.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

“Babe?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m proud of you,” he said. “I know you don’t see the progress that you’ve made, but we do, and I wanted you to know that we can see it.”

My eyes burned. I hadn’t realized how badly I’d needed to hear that until right then. “Thank you.”

The doorbell rang as I was pulling the cookies from the oven.

“Coming!” I set the hot cookie tray down on top of a trivet and went to answer the door. Making sure it was Isabelle through the peephole first, I opened the door with a smile. “I love your hair,” I greeted.

She flicked her newly colored teal hair off her shoulder. “Me, too! It’s going to look perfect with my costume,” she said, smiling.

I stepped aside for her to come in.

She walked in with a large bag hanging off her shoulder. She took in my living room quickly, then spun to face me. “I ran to Maranda’s salon after Knox called offering me the front desk position. I start Monday!”

“He did?” I gaped as I shut the front door. “Congratulations!”

Beaming, she pulled a bottle of vodka and a bottle of cranberry juice from her bag. “Want to add a little celebration to our girls’ night?”

“Sure.” I took the vodka and juice from her. Heading to the kitchen, I jiggled the vodka. “How’d you get this?”

Following me, she said, “My cousin got it for me.”

I put the vodka in the freezer and juice in the fridge. “Maranda?”

“No. I have another cousin who turned twenty-one a couple months ago. She needed help sewing a tear in her costume for some college party she’s going to this weekend, and in exchange, I had her buy the vodka.”

“Speaking of sewing and costumes, how’s yours coming along?”

“I finished it and Ethan’s today.”

I went back to the cookies and began transferring them from the tray to a cooling rack. “Mermaids, right?”

She smiled. “I’m going as an evil siren version of Ariel, and instead of falling in love with the prince, I drown him.”

I chuckled. “Let me guess, Ethan is the prince you drown?”

“Duh,” she said, and we both laughed. “What are the guys going as?”

I shrugged. “They wouldn’t tell me. They want it to be a surprise.”

She scrunched her nose. “Lame.”

Thunder boomed outside.

“It looked like it was going to rain when I was driving over here,” Isabelle said, sounding excited, and rushed to look out the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. “I love it when it rains.”

“It rarely happens here.”

“That’s why it’s exciting, and the rain makes everything smell good, too.” She put her hand up to the glass and took in my backyard. “If it ever rains during the day, you could sit on that swing with a good book and just relax to the sounds and smells.”

“I need to finish putting it together first.”

“What do you mean? It’s already built.”

I walked over to the glass door and looked out at my patio. Sure enough, it was assembled. I flipped on the outside light before unlocking the door and stepping out onto the patio. It wasn’t raining yet, but the wind was picking up and another clack of thunder rumbled.

I took a seat on the swing and smiled as it swayed perfectly.

Isabelle took a seat next to me. “I take it that you didn’t put it together.”

I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure Knox did, with the help of one or all of his brothers.”

“What if I make us some cocktails and we swing for a little bit until the rain comes?”

I nodded. I liked that idea. The cookies needed a little more time to cool and I wasn’t ready to walk away from what I felt swinging in my new swing.

We moved my coffee table off to the side and made a picnic with blankets and pillows on the floor in front of the TV.

“I think we need a few more pillows and another blanket,” I said.

“I think so, too,” she agreed as she assessed our work so far.

“Be right back,” I shot over my shoulder as I headed down the hall.

Flicking on the light in the spare bedroom, I grabbed two of the sham pillows and the throw blanket hanging off the end of the bed. The sound of whistling made me pause before leaving the room. I glanced at the window, realizing the sound was coming from there. Walking over to it, I saw right away that water was pooling on the windowsill.

I tossed the pillows and blankets back on the bed and ran out of the room to get a towel from the linen closet. When I came back, I wiped up the water. Standing there, the whistling was louder. At first, I thought it was due to the leak, but after further inspection I found the window unlocked and not closed all the way.

I pushed it closed and slid the lock into place. Instantly, the whistling stopped.

Fear bloomed in my chest.

Why is it open?

Why isn’t it locked?

“Shi, your phone is ringing,” Isabelle yelled from the living room.

Did Logan open it? I wondered.

Did the sheriff when he broke in?

When is the last time I checked this window?

“Shi?” Isabelle said, her voice sounding closer, and I turned around just in time for her to come into the room. She spotted me.

“Sorry, my window was open, and water leaked all over the sill. I was cleaning it up,” I said, doing my best to shove down my fear.

“Do you need help cleaning it up?” she asked, but before I could respond, my phone started ringing again. “This is the second time this unknown number is calling you.”

“Just ignore it. I think it’s Cassy or Amber trying to mess with me. They’ve been doing it for days.”

Isabelle glared down at the phone as it rang. She accepted the call and put the phone to her ear before I could protest. “Don’t you miserable cunts have something better to do?”

I stood there wide-eyed and made a note to never piss off Isabelle.

Isabelle suddenly gasped. “I’m so sorry, sir. I thought you were someone else.” She paused as she listened to whoever was on the line. “No, you have the wrong number. Uh-huh. No worries. I’m sorry again about that. You, too. Bye.” She hung up the phone, grimacing. “I suppose that was karma’s way of reminding me not to be a bitch.”

“Who was it?” I asked, reaching out for my phone.

She handed it to me. “Some guy looking for an Annabell Weston.”

I was surprised at the relief I felt. I had done my best to pretend that it hadn’t bothered me this whole time, but as each day had passed and the phone calls had continued, it had become easier for fear to seep in and doubt to fester. Like a nagging thought in the back of my head, I’d begun to humor the possibility that it might have been Mr. X. That he might have found me. I knew as long as he was out there searching for me, there would always be a chance he could find me. But the odds of that happening were slim. I needed to take comfort in that, or I’d go insane.

My thoughts went back to the window. It was unlikely Mr. X was the culprit. But something in my gut would not settle. Maybe the sheriff had planned to sneak in through that window while I was sleeping and hang me from a tree out back? Last night would have been the perfect opportunity. I had been alone and so tired. But why go through the window? And what about my alarm? I still didn’t know how he’d gotten past it the last time and Logan hadn’t told me what the alarm company had said.

There was a good chance I could be freaking about the window for no reason. Logan could have left it open by accident. It hadn’t been open enough to trigger the alarm, so there was a chance he’d thought he had closed it but forgotten to lock it?

It was locked now. The best thing I could do was go through the house and make sure everything was locked. I also needed to set my alarm. I had disarmed it when Isabelle had texted that she was on her way.

“Shi, you okay?” Isabelle asked as she came closer. “You look pale.”

“I’m fine. Why don’t we finish setting up?” I deflected.

Isabelle pointed at the pillows and blanket I’d tossed back on the bed. “Are these what we need?”

I nodded. Isabelle grabbed the pillows while I grabbed the throw, and we headed back to the living room.

“Would you mind finishing here while I make sure all my windows are closed?” I asked her.

“Sure, and I’ll make us a new round of drinks,” she said and took off toward the kitchen.

While she did that, I went to every window and door that opened and made sure they were locked. Lastly, I set my alarm.

Isabelle and I finished our tasks at the same time and got settled on the floor. She handed me my drink and I chugged it.

Isabelle chuckled as she watched me. “Want me to bring the bottle?”

I set the glass down after I swallowed every drop. “I’m nervous,” I admitted.

“About the movie?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to react to it. I haven’t watched a scary movie in a long time, and I live alone…” I trailed off, trying to figure out how to be honest without telling her everything.

“And you have nightmares, right? That’s why you take medication?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“We don’t have to watch this, Shi. I’d be fine watching anything. I know IT was the reason we’re having this girls’ night, but I’m just happy to hang out.”

My shoulders slumped as the pressure to do this eased and I was left feeling lighter. “We can still watch it.”

“Don’t push yourself. If you have to push yourself, you aren’t ready,” she said. “Let’s watch something else and save the scary movies for when we have the guys around. That way they can hold us during the scary parts, or we can send them to check behind the shower curtains for us if we have to pee.”

I laughed and she giggled along with me. “All right.” She was right. With the window thing, I was already on edge. This isn’t a failure, I tried to convince myself.

We debated over movies for a minute and decided on a romantic comedy. My phone beeped and I saw that Colt had texted.

Colt

Doing okay?

Me

Having a blast. Decided to watch a romantic comedy instead.

Colt

That’s perfectly okay. Just because you didn’t watch it tonight doesn’t mean you can’t try again later. There’s no rush.

I would definitely try again. But during a bright sunny day and after all shower curtains had been pushed back.