10. Sarah
Sarah groaned when her phone started blaring in her ear. It was too early. Her alarm wasn’t scheduled to go off for another thirty minutes.
Bleary-eyed—thanks to barely sleeping after her date with Theo—she squinted at the caller ID.
‘Mum? What’s wrong? Why are you calling this early?’
‘Are you okay? Is everything all right?’
Sarah cleared her throat and sat up in bed, leaning back against the headboard. ‘Slow down, Mum. I’ve just woken up. What happened?’
‘I had a dream,’ Fran said, her voice breathy.
‘O-kay,’ Sarah replied slowly, hoping her mother got to the point quickly.
‘About him,’ Fran hissed into the phone.
Sarah’s body went cold. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. In two, three, four. Hold two, three, four. Out two, three, four.
‘Him?’ she asked when she thought her voice would sound normal and not filled with the hysteria she felt.
‘I couldn’t see his face, but it was definitely him.’
That was the problem Sarah had too. She’d never been able to identify her stalker. It was why the police hadn’t been able to do anything.
‘I think he’s going to find you,’ Fran said tremulously.
It had always been a possibility. Sarah had hoped he would have just given up and moved on when she moved out of her old apartment.
‘Calm down,’ Sarah said, speaking to herself as much as to her mother. ‘I haven’t seen him. I haven’t received anything in the mail or gotten any phone calls. There has been no sign that he knows where I am.’
‘That doesn’t mean he hasn’t stopped looking for you.’
‘It was just a dream, Mum.’
‘No, it wasn’t just a dream. You know I’m psychic. I’m telling you; he’s going to find you. We need to do something.’
‘What? What can I possibly do that I haven’t already done? I moved house. I changed my job. I got a new phone number, and I sold my car. What else can I possibly do without changing my name and having plastic surgery?’
Sarah didn’t mean to yell at her mother, but she was scared. She tried to play it tough, even though inside, she was quivering like a leaf. Why was she the one trying to calm down her mother instead of it being the other way around? Wasn’t it her mother’s job to be the one who got all protective and tough?
‘I’m just telling you to be careful,’ Fran said, her voice repentant.
‘Thank you, Mum,’ Sarah said with a sigh.
‘Where’s your brother? Let me talk to him.’
‘You will not tell Gabe anything about it,’ Sarah said.
The very last thing she needed was her brother shadowing her. Except… in reality, she doubted Gabe would care. He wasn’t exactly brother-of-the-year material.
‘He should at least know to be on the lookout for strangers hanging around.’
‘Fine. I’ll remind him not to talk to strangers. Now, I have to go. I need to get ready for work.’
Sarah tossed her phone on the bed and grunted. She wanted to scream, but Gabe and Bodie were asleep in the living room, and the very last thing she wanted was to have them barging into her room thinking she was being attacked.
It was just a dream. That’s what she kept telling herself. Fran’s dreams were even less reliable than her tarot readings. Sarah had nothing to worry about. Brisbane was a big city. She had taken precautions. She had changed where she did her grocery shopping and where she bought her morning coffee. The apartment was in a completely different suburb, and her phone number was private. She’d even stopped posting on social media. She used it for marketing for her salon, but she was never in any of the pictures. Sarah was doing everything she could, and her mother was just overreacting.
When Sarah walked out into the living room after showering and getting ready for work, Gabe and Bodie both stared at her.
‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ Gabe said, but he didn’t look away.
Sarah shrugged and walked through to the kitchen. If Gabe wasn’t going to admit that Mum had rung him and told him about the dream, then Sarah wasn’t going to say anything either. She’d never really thought Fran would keep it a secret anyway.
‘Are you okay?’
The deep voice belonged to Bodie.
Sarah turned, a wide smile on her face. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Are you sure?’
Bodie had always just been one of Gabe’s friends, but the way he looked at her now was… different.
‘I’m sure.’
‘Your mum…’
Sarah waved his concern away. ‘You know Fran. It was just a dream.’ She turned to pour herself a coffee, keeping her back to him.
‘How long has this guy been stalking you?’
Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She did not want to have this conversation with Bodie. She didn’t want to have it with anyone.
‘It started about eighteen months ago, but I’ve moved since then and changed my number. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.’
Bodie laid his large hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her around to face him. He was tall. Why hadn’t she noticed just how tall he was? He was looking at her with deep concern in his blue eyes, and his mouth was pulled into a tight line. His jaw ticked.
Okay. Hmmm. What?
Bodie had grown up.
Bodie was a… a man.
When the hell had that happened?
And why hadn’t she noticed?
‘Let me take you to work,’ he said.
Had his voice always been that deep?
‘It’s fine,’ Sarah said.
‘No. It’s not. Let me take you to work. I’m going that way anyway.’
‘Bullshit,’ she said.
‘I work just around the corner.’
That surprised her. ‘You work?’
The corner of his mouth rose in a crooked smirk. ‘I work.’
‘Huh. Do you think you could get Gabe a job?’
They both turned to look at her brother, who was already playing a computer game, Fran’s phone call forgotten.
‘Yeah, no,’ Bodie said, and Sarah laughed.
‘Fair enough,’ she said.
‘Give me a few minutes to shower,’ Bodie said. ‘Do not leave without me.’
Sarah sighed but nodded. Truth be known, she was grateful that he would be with her. She might not believe that her mother’s dream would come to reality, but she did feel better having someone with her.
‘So,when you said work, you actually meant a real job,’ Sarah said from the passenger seat of Bodie’s BMW.
He was wearing a suit with a tie and everything. He looked nothing like the high school friend Gabe had brought home all those years ago. In fact, if Sarah had run into Bodie at a coffee shop or a bar, she would never have recognised him. She might have even hit on him. Yeah, he was a few years younger than her, but what did age matter, really?
‘It’s a company car,’ he said. ‘But yes, I have a real job. I work in consulting. It’s a long, complicated explanation. Are you sure you want to hear it?’
‘Um… no,’ Sarah said and laughed.
‘I even get paid a wage too.’ He smirked at her.
Huh. Bodie had game.
If she’d met this Bodie a few months ago, she might have even been interested… although him being her brother’s friend would complicate things. But that was before Theo.
Theo.
Damn. All the excitement from her mother’s phone call had momentarily shifted her focus off Theo and their new arrangement.
She turned to look out the window and bit her lip. Should she tell Theo about her stalker?
No, probably not. She hadn’t even told Alexis about it. Her friend had been too caught up in all the drama with her father at the time. Sarah hadn’t wanted to burden her. And now, well, now she’d thought it had all been dealt with. It had been eight months since she’d moved, and there had been nothing from the stalker. Sarah had just begun to think he’d forgotten about her—she had just about forgotten about him—and then her mother had to go and ruin it.
Bodie stopped the car outside her salon, double parking and ignoring the horn blasts from the drivers behind them.
‘I’ll pick you up at six,’ he said.
‘No, Bodie. You don’t have to do that.’
‘I’ll see you at six,’ he said before pulling out his phone. ‘Here, give me your number and then text yourself so you have mine. Call me if you need anything. I mean anything.’
His blue eyes bored into hers, and she nodded. She’d need his number to tell him not to pick her up. She would catch the bus home, or maybe meet up for drinks with Alexis. Sarah did not need a babysitter.
She waved as he drove away and then turned to open the salon doors.
‘Who was that?’
Sarah spun around to see Theo glaring at her.
‘What?’
Slowly, Theo raised an eyebrow. ‘Who. Was. That?’
Sarah blinked a couple of times before her brain kicked into gear. She had never seen Theo angry before… was he angry? He certainly looked pissed.
‘Um, that’s my brother?—’
‘That was not your brother.’
‘How do you even know what my brother looks like?’
‘Alexis showed me pictures.’
Sarah exhaled roughly. ‘That was my brother’s friend. Not that I owe you an explanation.’
Theo stepped closer to her. ‘In case you have forgotten since last night, we are in a relationship. If I see my girlfriend getting out of the car belonging to a man I don’t know, I’m going to ask questions. How… why did he bring you to work?’
Theo could be intimidating when he wanted to be, and Sarah wasn’t sure how she felt about it. On one hand, it was kind of hot to see him jealous. On the other hand, with her recent experience with a stalker, it was a little creepy.
‘He spent the night with my brother at my apartment,’ she said. ‘He works around the corner and offered to give me a lift.’
Theo closed his eyes and blew out a breath before rolling his shoulders.
‘Sorry,’ he said.
‘So you should be.’
He widened his eyes and pouted. ‘Forgive me?’
‘If this is going to work, you need to trust me.’
‘Of course I trust you. But you can’t tell me you wouldn’t act the same if you saw me getting out of the car of some woman you didn’t know.’
Sarah searched his eyes. ‘Okay. You’re right.’
‘So… forgive me?’
Sarah smiled. ‘I forgive you. But why are you here?’
‘I haven’t seen your salon yet. I wanted to check it out and maybe get a trim?’
Sarah roamed a critical eye over his hair. ‘You could maybe do with a bit of a tidy-up,’ she agreed.
He smiled widely, and she had the overwhelming desire to kiss him. She didn’t. They were in public. But she still wanted to.
‘I’ll post it on my Insta,’ he said. ‘You might get a few new clients out of it.’
‘Is that your way of saying you’re not going to pay me for my services?’
‘Of course I’m going to pay you,’ he said seriously.
‘Well, okay then, just…’
‘Just?’
‘No photos of me. On your social media, I mean.’
‘Not even for your salon?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘You can take pictures of the salon and your hair, but none of me or my staff, okay?’
‘Okay,’ he agreed.
‘Let’s go, then.’