Chapter 50
fifty
PRESENT DAY
KATE
My body lurches with the abrupt stop of the elevator.
“Hopefully, yours?” I cling to the handrail with sweaty palms.
Tanner sighs again, but a whisper of a smile teases his lips.
“Can you blame me?” he says softly.
Blame him? Blame him?
“But—H-how? Those texts began before I even met you!” I say.
Tanner adjusts his sleek lapels, not meeting my eyes. “Let’s just say I got your number long before we met. Thanks to your dad going on about you at the hospital, it didn’t take long for me to form a little crush.”
He dares to throw me a flirty smile, as though he expects me to suddenly fawn over him. But then his rapture fades into something more pensive.
“But you kept refusing to go out with me. Vivian assured me she’d get to you.
That I would be the best man you’d ever be able to get.
So I thought I’d help the process along.
I tried to show you what it would feel like to be loved by me.
The compliments. The gifts. Then maybe you’d warm up enough to the idea of love to say yes.
That you’d realize that no one else would ever want you more than me. ”
The tenderness in his tone paired with a slight manic glint in his eyes makes my stomach curl. Tanner appraises me as I cling with trembling hands to the handrail. A slight uptick pulls the corner of his mouth.
Does he like what he sees? Does he enjoy seeing me like this?
Keep him talking.
“Wh-Why?” I croak. “Then why keep texting me while we dated?”
His grin is unperturbed, but he shrugs. “I saw how closed off you still were. How you stubbornly refused to return my love. Perhaps little doses of encouragement would have opened you up more. That you’d finally realize I was the best you were ever going to get.
” His jaw ticks. “I thought you’d return my sentiment earlier, but here we are. ”
He turns his body toward me, and I am suddenly aware of how small I am. How large he is. Why did I ever think him puny compared to Brandon? In this too tight space with too little air, I’m suffocating. My brain can’t think straight with this little oxygen.
“How did you get all those numbers?” I croak.
“You’d be surprised what technology is out there these days—spoofing numbers with the mere tap of a button.” He shrugs, but a slow smile broadens his face.
“Why come to Florida?” My mind clambers for more questions to keep him talking. “What were you hoping would happen?”
“I was hopeful that a chance meeting with you would sway your affections back to me. To us.” His voice darkens. “But it never happened, because of him.”
“Why text me from Brandon’s number, then?” I say. “Why involve him?”
“I can see how enamored you insist on being with him. I thought you’d agree to visit Navy Pier if he were there.
Only, I’d be waiting instead of him—with armfuls of flowers and my heart on my sleeve.
” He glows with adoration at his manic plan.
“I’ve waited so long for this moment, Kate.
For you to be ready to find out it’s me.
Now we can move forward, you know, and reconnect. ”
Tanner opens his arms, and I flinch as he approaches.
He shushes as if to comfort a terrified animal, and my instincts take over.
I fumble for my clutch, my pepper spray my only savior.
Except, I’m grasping at nothing.
I left everything on that loveseat beside that stupid text.
“Shhh…beautiful. Don’t be scared. I’m everything you want. Everything you’ll ever want.” His voice is silk, though that manic glint in his eye continues. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Never let them see you sweat.
“P-promise?” I suddenly stutter through a half sob. Hot tears stream down my face. “You promise I’ll want you the way you want me?” My lungs are nothing but a frenzy, trying to snatch more oxygen before I sink deeper into hyperventilation.
Play along.
His eyes are a sappy love song. “I promise, Kate. We’ll be so happy together.
Remember how well I know you. Your favorite cardio classes, your favorite trails through Jackson Park, and that cute little nose crinkle you do after taking a good photo.
How thoughtful you are to care for your helpless elderly neighbor.
It would be an awful shame if something were to happen to her… ”
Cold sweat trickles down the back of my neck, but I gnash my teeth behind a simpering smile.
“But let’s not waste this moment by talking about trivial things,” he says, drawing closer.
I coerce each muscle in my face to fill with rapture, as if Tanner is the Adonis I’ve been waiting for my whole life.
The emergency stop button glows red behind Tanner. If I can just press it… If I can just get the elevator moving again…If I could just alert someone…
“Come here, beautiful.” Tanner’s arms are still open. His smile is crooked but turning stale. “Don’t fight it any longer. I know how much you want me, too.”
Another whimper escapes me as I force my quaking legs closer. Closer to the arms of a man who has been harassing me, stalking me, for months now. I swallow an angry sob and keep smiling. Keep playing.
My skin crawls when it touches his, but the red button is so close now.
“We’re going to be so happy together,” he whispers across the top of my head.
I thread my arms beneath his outstretched ones. My fingers shake as I aim for the button, but I’m still a few inches short. I lay my cheek against his chest, subtly pulling us in a quarter turn. I force my arm further from my socket until the button is achingly close.
Tanner’s head snaps to the side. “Wait—what are you—”
He doesn’t bother to finish that riveting sentence before body checking me away from the button. I fly backward, tripping over the small train of my dress. My shoulder blades crash into the metal handrail before I thud to the floor. A fresh wave of tears smart as I cry out.
Something akin to horror skids across Tanner’s expression that I might be in pain.
What a psychopath.
He hovers stupidly over me, as if he can’t decide between helping me up or pushing me back down. Terror fills me with both prospects.
Brandon’s name forms on my lips, but I don’t dare cry out. I wish from the marrow of my bones that he was here right now.
I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking Tanner’s awkward hovering.
What would Brandon say if he could see me now? The memory of him pinning me inside the boxing ring thrums in my ears. “Oh, love. I’ve been fighting for you this whole damn time. But I needed you to fight for me, too.”
Fight.
I need to fight.
Oxygen saturates my lungs for the first time since I stepped in this elevator. I might not have my pepper spray, but I have my fists. Man alive, am I going to kiss the crap out of Brandon for teaching me to box.
Once I get out of this elevator.
If I get out of this elevator.
My eyes dip over my opponent. Yeah, Tanner is huge, but his awkward movements don’t exactly imply any type of fighting prowess.
But I’d be stupid to underestimate him.
Maybe if I maintain the element of surprise, I might be able to play this off.
Arranging my face into a mask of pain, I let out a cry I’ve been holding back. It’s raw, guttural, and I don’t even have to pretend.
The trick is paltry, but it’s enough for Tanner to choose sympathy. His brawny arms encircle my beaded waist before lifting me up.
“Beautiful, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to… Are you hurt?”
I force myself to stay slumped against his chest, biting the inside of my cheek until I taste blood.
“M-my shoulder. I think I heard a crack.” I’m boldfaced lying. The only crack I want to hear is my fist against his rows of tiny teeth. It was not on my New Year’s Resolution list to date a freaking psychopath.
A latent shudder racks my body, and I throw in a moan of pain for good measure.
Tanner gently holds out my body, his face pained. “Turn around, let me check your back.”
“I don’t want—”
“Please,” he murmurs. “Don’t be scared, Kate. I’ll take care of you. I’ll always take care of you.”
I resign my expression, and Tanner slowly withdraws his arms. Keeping my stance concealed within the sheath of my dress, I stagger my feet the way Brandon taught me. Eyeing the distance between us, I make sure that I remain close enough even if he bobs backward.
My pitiful expression hopefully masks the determination in my eyes as I slowly make a quarter turn to my right, pinching my core into a wall of steel.
Tanner doesn’t see my right hook coming before it’s too late.
His eyes blow wide as his jaw snaps to the side, but I’m rushing toward the emergency stop button before he can stop me.
I shove the button repeatedly with my aching fist as I glance over my shoulder in time to see Tanner fall. He tries to catch himself, and there’s a sickening crack as his head slams into the metal handrail.
Tanner lands in a heap on the floor, eyelids closed. He’s clearly unconscious, but the subtle rise and fall of his back tells me this reprieve is only momentary.
But re-pressing the emergency stop button is doing nothing.
I switch to the call button, slamming my fist against it. The feeble intercom sends staticky waves that make hope soar in my chest.
“Hello?” I shout. “Can someone hear me?”
Static waffles from the speakers before dying out. A muffled voice replaces it, but I can’t make out any intelligible words. I press the emergency stop button again and again.
“Please, help me,” I cry. “I’m trapped.”
Hot tears of desperation blur my vision, but I pound my fists against the mirrored elevator door.
A groan sounds from the floor behind me, and I whirl. I’m about to launch another attack at him as the floor beneath us lurches. Belts and pulleys whirring, the elevator screeches as it descends into the basement.
Tanner heaves into a sitting position, eyes pinched closed as he rubs his forehead.
My heartbeat slams against my throat, and I make a quick mental map of where the nearest stairwell is.
But the elevator is going too slowly.
Acid rises in my stomach, and I claw desperately at the doors to open. Even after the elevator bottoms out, the doors won’t budge.
I pound on them again, screaming, although I know it’s futile.
Tanner’s voice is groggy, his eyes pinched closed. “Kate, what happen—”
I’m about to aim a kick to his head as a hiss emits from the door behind me. A sliver of light slices through my terror like hopeful sunshine. I don’t wait for the doors to fully open before I wedge myself through.
I bolt down the hall, but I don’t get far.