Chapter 21 #2
However, I wasn’t certain if I should consider purchasing wedding invitations. What we shared was entirely physical. Or was it? There was so much about the man I craved, longing to learn more about him. His likes. His dislikes.
What made him tick.
And it wasn’t about money.
I knew where he lived. I guess you could say I’d stalked the man, even driving by once or twice.
He had a nice house outside the city in a beautiful neighborhood full of trees, hedge landscaping, and tall fences used as private screening from the prying eyes of neighbors.
While I had a feeling the house itself was deceptive in size from how it looked when you drove by, I wouldn’t call it a mansion.
Nothing that I would expect a man like Stash to live in.
That alone had prompted more curiosity about him months before.
Just thinking about him had me tingling all over. He was a control freak, including with me. And dear God, I’d longed to find a man I could trust enough to enjoy being dominated.
That had to be pushed from my mind. This was business.
Tawny’s call bugged the crap out of me. I pulled the laptop closer, typing in her name. Her last name, Gaines, wasn’t exactly common, but it would take all night to weed through the number of pages on Google. Ah, her social media. I’d never paid any attention to her friends list.
I’d also never searched her pictures.
Thirty minutes later and I was more aggravated than anything. Why had I never paid any attention to the fact she didn’t have a single picture of her family? Not a Christmas picture. Not a birthday. Nothing. That was the same on all platforms.
Hissing, I shoved the computer away with Instagram still on. What was going on with her? Why did I have a very bad feeling?
My concentration was gone and I needed to finish the report. Stash certainly wasn’t the kind of man to provide me with an extension.
I sipped my wine, yawning after I did. The elusive finish was still nothing I was thrilled about. I placed the glass on the table and rubbed my eyes. Maybe I just needed to allow my mind to rest for a little while, breathe and clear the cobwebs away.
As soon as I closed my eyes, Stash’s face popped into my mind. Oops. Laughing, I squirmed on the couch again, finally getting comfortable.
The man knew how to wield a belt.
Was there anything he couldn’t do and do well?
* * *
“Aaahhh!” Jerking my head up, disorientation hit me hard.
So did a strange smell, the odor permeating my nose. What was that?
Blinking, I tried to figure out what I was looking at and why every muscle in my body ached. The light was dim, a slight hum echoing in my ears. My legs wouldn’t work. They were stuck under me.
Ah, shit. I’d fallen asleep. As soon as I yanked one leg from under me, I kicked something hard and a bright light appeared. My laptop screen.
Unfurling my other leg, the ache was pronounced. While rubbing my thigh, I located the source of the smell.
Pepperoni and sausage with something that looked like a malformed alien swirled over it. How long had I been asleep?
A quick glance at the screen and I had my answer.
It was after one-thirty in the morning.
Wow. I was very tired, more so than usual. Yawning, I stretched my arms out, doing my best to ease the tension from my aching muscles.
That’s when it hit me. Tawny. Oh, no. Had she come by and I’d been so asleep I hadn’t heard her knock? Mr. Possessive had stood outside the door until I’d used the deadbolt. Imagine what he would have done had I told him I’d thought I’d been followed earlier in the day.
I checked the phone. She hadn’t texted or called so maybe she was just running a little late, the fighters worth their weight.
After rubbing my other leg, I struggled to stand, stumbling toward the front door to check out the peephole.
Just in case. There was no one in the hallway, nothing that would indicate she’d been by.
However, I unlocked and doublechecked. There wasn’t a note on the door.
She couldn’t be long. Maybe I should be grateful I’d gotten a couple of hours’ sleep. The girl could talk. I grabbed the pizza box and my wine, taking everything into the kitchen, busying myself to try to wake up.
When I was done, I leaned back against the island, checking the time on the microwave. Why did I have a very bad feeling pooling in my stomach?
Maybe I’d see if she answered her phone. She could be on her way here. After grabbing mine, I moved to the window where I’d been standing before, frowning as soon as I noticed an empty parking spot. He’d gone home.
The phone rang and after the third chirp, I expected her voicemail to pick up.
It didn’t, the phone continuing to ring and ring.
And ring.
Now I was nervous. For whatever the reason, I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at the screen while the ring continued. I willed her to answer, unable to think clearly enough to be terrified, yet my flipflopping stomach was doing that for me.
It was entirely possible she was in a dead zone in the subway where calls didn’t connect even enough to go to voicemail. I’d experienced something like that before myself.
There was no reason to become alarmed.
Even though I paced the floor in front of the window, my thoughts remained rational.
Until they weren’t because another fifteen minutes had passed.
By now, the blackout zone would have passed.
The monotonous ring blipped softly in my ear, reminding me of some horror movie I’d seen only months before and didn’t want to remember.
The shadows created by dozens of lights of various colors and sizes appeared more ominous than usual, a reminder that even in a world so large and full of so many people, we were all very much alone. The morbid thinking had to go.