Chapter 10
SAM
Sam turned another page as she sank deeper into the pile of pillows she had arranged on her couch.
With her nose firmly buried in her book, she had started the morning reading, occasionally jotting down notes as she did.
Although, her notes were sparse, as she had gotten absorbed into the story, deciding after only a few minutes to abandon the notes altogether until she finished reading.
She had specifically chosen this book because it was a bit shorter than the others that she had gotten with Charlie the day before, so she knew she could finish it more quickly.
With her appetite for reading, she often found that she breezed through books effortlessly.
Hence the growing collection on the bookshelf in her bedroom.
It had been a while since she’d actually sat down to read just because she wanted to.
The stress of trying to come up with another novel had weighed heavily on her, so much so that trying to do much else had felt like a chore.
But now, she decided that she’d take advantage of the cozy Saturday morning and enjoy herself a bit.
She’d managed to prop herself up enough to watch the sun rising in the distance earlier, cup of coffee in hand.
It had been one of the biggest reasons she’d even moved into this apartment building in the first place, the view.
When she’d graduated from college, she’d already published the first book in her series, so she was lucky enough to have the kind of money to afford a place like this.
It was a one-bedroom apartment, but it was vastly more expensive than most of the other buildings in the area.
She hadn’t planned on getting something with this kind of price tag, but when she had toured the apartment and been shown the view, she’d immediately run down to sign the lease.
The little box-shaped room she’d stayed in when she lived with her aunt hadn’t had any windows, so having a living room with wall-to-ceiling windows was the kind of upgrade she hadn’t known she needed until she’d moved in.
Then again, the place hadn’t exactly been a hard sell in the first place when Charlie had only moved in a few weeks prior in a two-bedroom apartment just a few floors above this one.
Sam lowered her book and looked out across the horizon as her mind quickly wandered to their outing to the bookstore the night before.
Heat immediately pooled in her stomach as she thought of how it had felt being encased by Charlie’s body as he had reached for that book above her. It had surprised her just how casual he had been about the whole ordeal, and a bit more surprised that her body reacted the way it had when he did.
She’d quickly made up the excuse that she had gotten an idea for a scene just so she could get away and walk it off.
What the hell was she doing?
Charlie had been more than convincing when he proposed this whole fake-dating thing between them, and she had been so swept up in it that she couldn’t say no. Especially when he’d asked to use it as an exchange to go as his date for the charity.
Even the memory of how it had felt just simply having his body that close, in this new context between them, felt dangerous.
She had long ago stamped her feelings for him down, the memory of the conversation she’d overheard between him and Peter echoing in her mind.
She’d accepted that she’d have to keep herself in check wherever Charlie was concerned.
Hell, it was the whole reason she went on that godawful date months ago, just hoping that there might be the faintest of faint hopes that she could get over this silly little crush of hers.
And now? She was going to have to work overtime to make sure that no matter what happened, that she wouldn’t mix her real feelings up with exploring this fake-dating scenario.
She was so lost in thought about the whole ordeal, in fact, that when her phone began to ring on the table, she didn’t think twice but to pick it up to answer. Not even bothering to check the caller ID in the process.
The word “hello” barely left her mouth when reality slammed back into her, the voice on the other end exhaling as if they had been holding their breath. “My god you have been impossible to get ahold of.”
Sam’s entire body clenched in on itself.
“Paul…”
“You keep ignoring me! I’ve tried texting you, calling, emailing, nothing gets through.”
She immediately went into autopilot as she acted immediately, using this opportunity to add something incredibly concrete to the folder.
Her hands shook as she quickly scurried to grab her laptop, throwing it open and hunting down the recording feature as she sought to put the call on speaker.
Hitting the recording button at the same time.
She placed the phone on the table next to her laptop where she thought the audio would come through clearly. “Because I don’t want to talk to you, Paul. I told you before that I want you to leave me alone.”
A hint of confusion came through as he laughed. “You don’t mean that.”
She didn’t fight the shiver as it raced down her back uncomfortably. “I really do, Paul. We had one date and that was it.”
“But,” he said more emphatically, “we had such a connection?”
What she would give to turn back time and decide against the whole date at the start.
“No, Paul. You spent the entire date talking about yourself and interrupting me anytime I tried to say anything. There were no sparks, no connection. I told you that I didn’t want to go out with you again, and you won’t take no for an answer. It’s that simple.”
“We are just meant—”
“No,” she said more clearly, fighting the tremble in her voice.
“I’ve lost count of how many times these past few months that I’ve told you that I have no interest in seeing you again.
I’ve already contacted the police to let them know that you are harassing me, and what you did to my car, so I’m begging you to please just leave me alone. ”
There was a short pause on the other end, and for a second, Sam feared she’d said too much.
What was it exactly she should say in such a situation, she wasn’t sure.
All she knew was that the past few months of his constant texts and calls, even after she’d blocked his original phone number and the dozens of others he used to try and get ahold of her, the number of times she’d had to change her own phone number just to avoid him, had been stressful.
She’d barely been able to focus these past few months, worrying that he was going to show up out of the blue, like he had back with the whole car incident.
How he’d known she was away for a book signing of her last release, she had no clue.
She’d already cut contact with him by that point.
But when she’d got back and found her car all but totally trashed, it hadn’t taken a genius for her to figure out who could’ve done it.
But because she didn’t have any definitive proof that it was him, with no cameras in that area of the parking garage, there was little they could do about it.
Charlie knew that something had happened to her car that made it basically unusable, but exactly what that was had been something she’d purposefully kept from him.
Even when she’d called him to come get her that night.
It had been in the shop so long that she wasn’t sure it would ever drive properly again.
A fact she tried hard not to think too much on, considering it was what little she had left of her parents.
“I didn’t do anything to your car,” Paul said sharply.
She couldn’t help but scoff. “I don’t know anyone else who would’ve slashed all four tires, poured sugar and God knows what else down the gas tank, and written… well, all of those awful things on it.”
“There are bad people in this world, Sam! All the more reason you need me around to make sure that you’re safe.”
“The only person I don’t feel safe around, Paul, is you. I have people in my life who make me feel plenty safe, so I—”
“Oh,” Paul interrupted, “like that tall guy yesterday?”
Her brows furrowed as she looked down at her phone. “What are you talking about?”
“Yeah, I know about him. Here I thought we had something special, something exclusive, but you’re out with some other guy. You were at the bookstore with him last night.”
Sam’s stomach clenched in her gut. “How would… You weren’t… Are you following me now, Paul?”
“I’m making sure to protect what’s mine. You are mine, Sam, and I will watch over you until you come to your senses and…” Paul said before Sam abruptly cut him off by immediately ending the call. She tossed her phone onto the couch, as if touching it would scald her.
A creeping fear, shooting up her spine like a lightning bolt, encased her entire body. It pinned her to the spot momentarily as she tried to learn how to breathe once more.
Realizing the camera on her laptop was still running, she reached a shaky hand up to end it. Saving the file with all of the rest in Paul’s folder.
It had been a fear of hers for a while that he would eventually start escalating more; she just didn’t think it would already be happening.
She’d developed the habit of double, triple, checking her front door every day.
An extra precaution just in case he did get to this level, but a small part of her had hoped that if she ignored him long enough, he would just lose interest. She’d thought it had been working, as it had been a week since she’d heard from him.
Until dinner the other night with Charlie, that is.
A naive hope now.
A little voice in the back of her mind told her to call Charlie, but she immediately silenced that. Charlie was already helping her with this whole thing with her book. The last thing she needed was to add additional stress with this whole situation as well.
She didn’t need help.
She could handle this.
She could take care of herself. She’d been doing it this long, after all.