14. Sarah
The Teneriffe penthouse wasn’t one of the converted wool stores… but it was right next door. Sarah clung to Alexis’ arm as they walked into the apartment, not quite believing what she was seeing. Alexis might be used to penthouses and luxury apartments, but the closest Sarah had come was Levi’s apartment, and she’d only been there a couple of times. Sarah’s parents weren’t poor, she’d grown up solidly middle-class, but this was on a whole other level.
‘How much is this place?’ she whispered to Alexis.
‘Six mill,’ Alexis replied, also in a whisper.
Sarah gulped. Seriously? Theo was going to buy this for cash. That was insane.
Alexis had been weirdly protective of her since she picked Sarah up. She had even opted to sit in the back of Theo’s car with her—apparently the SUV was also a Porsche.
‘It is just over nine hundred square metres and has five bedrooms and five bathrooms,’ the real estate agent said. The guy was slick and looked like he’d been selling luxury homes for decades. ‘Four-car garage, zoned air conditioning, and an internal lift.’
‘Internal lift?’ Sarah asked quietly.
Alexis nodded and pointed to the glass doors of the elevator.
The apartment was spread over three floors and would probably fit three of Sarah’s flats on each level.
‘And of course, you can’t beat that view.’
They stepped out onto the balcony that had a fully equipped outdoor kitchen and seating for eight. The view was spectacular. It was right across from the river, and below them was a food and drink precinct.
Alexis and Sarah stayed on the balcony, looking at the view while Theo toured the rest of the place with the real estate agent.
‘I can’t believe Theo can buy something like this,’ Sarah said.
‘I can,’ Alexis replied.
‘Oh, I don’t mean I can’t believe he has the money, I just mean, well… this is like being in an alternate reality. How can this much money even exist? It makes my head spin.’
Alexis laughed. ‘You work with wealthy clients day in and day out.’
‘I know, but they are in my salon. Their wealth is not really real. Not like seeing this and knowing that Theo has the money to buy it today if he so desired.’
‘Speaking of Theo, he asked me to give you this.’
Alexis handed over a small package. Sarah looked inside and breathed a little easier. It was a new SIM card. She had expected Theo to buy her a whole new phone, even though she’d told him not to.
‘Thanks,’ Sarah said, immediately pulling her phone out and changing the SIM. She’d had it turned off all morning. Her clients didn’t call her private number, so she hadn’t been worried about missing any important calls. The only person who might call her would be her mother, and Sarah did not want to speak to her. Not yet.
‘Are you going to explain why you need a new SIM card?’ Alexis asked.
Sarah turned away from Alexis and watched the river as it flowed lazily past.
‘I have a… situation,’ she said.
‘A situation?’
‘I’ve kind of got one of your average friendly neighbourhood stalkers.’ Sarah tried to sound glib. By making a joke out of it, it didn’t sound nearly as scary as it was… or at least that’s what she hoped.
‘Sarah!’
Sarah turned to her. ‘For a lawyer, you are a terrible actor.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Theo already told you, didn’t he?’
Alexis sighed. ‘Yeah. He asked me to buy the SIM card.’ She elbowed Sarah. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to hear it from Theo?’
‘You had so much going on. Besides, I dealt with it.’
‘You still should have told me.’
‘You know now.’
Alexis made a low growl sound in her throat. ‘Not good enough, Sar.’
‘There’s nothing anyone can do,’ Sarah said, trying to sound reasonable.
This was why she didn’t tell anybody. They all wanted to fix it, but nobody could. And Sarah hated feeling like a damsel in distress. It was bad enough that she felt helpless, but the way everyone tried to make it better just made her feel even more so.
‘Let’s look around,’ Sarah said, tucking her arm through Alexis’. ‘It might be the only time we get to see a place like this.’
When Sarah got home laterthat night, her house contained another body. It was bad enough that Bodie had turned up outside the salon at six and then waited for her to finish. He refused to let her go home by herself, and rather than get into a fight on the street about it, she’d agreed. All she wanted to do was go home, have a shower, and spend some time alone in peace and quiet. Sarah was a people person—she couldn’t have been a hairdresser if she wasn’t—but sometimes, at the end of the day, she just needed space. Spending her life in other people’s personal space—and they in hers—was exhausting. But it wasn’t to be tonight.
‘Sarah!’
Sarah looked at the unidentified male in her living room. He seemed kind of familiar, but…
‘You remember Casey, don’t you?’ Gabe said, not even looking away from the television screen.
‘Hey, Casey,’ Bodie said, but his voice sounded strange. Maybe they didn’t get on?
‘Casey? Little Casey?’ Sarah asked, taking in the adult man standing in front of her.
Seriously, when did all her brother’s friends grow up? And why did Gabe still look like a fifteen-year-old? Or maybe he didn’t, and it was just the way Sarah would always see him.
‘Not so little anymore,’ Casey replied with a wink and a flex of his biceps, which she had full view of because he was not wearing a shirt.
‘I haven’t seen you for… it has to be nearly a year.’
‘Did you miss me?’
The fact that she hadn’t recognised him when she walked in should have been the answer, but Casey obviously didn’t think so.
‘So where were you?’ Sarah asked, avoiding the question.
‘Away. Working,’ he replied vaguely.
Bodie huffed behind her, and she could feel the animosity emanating off him. He really did not like Casey. Did she already know that? Had there been some falling out? Truthfully, though, she hadn’t really paid much attention to Gabe’s friends.
‘You’re back now?’
‘Yeah. I didn’t realise you guys had moved. It took me a while to find you.’
Why did that sound vaguely unsettling? Sarah shook it off. This was Gabe’s friend. He was not her stalker. This was the shitty thing about having a stalker without a face. Sarah looked at every man in her orbit as a potential criminal.
‘Well, it’s good to see you again. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a shower and change. It’s been a long day.’
‘Need some help?’ Casey asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Gabe smacked his friend’s leg. ‘Don’t talk to my sister like that.’
Huh. That was a surprise.
‘Thanks, but no,’ Sarah said breezily before walking out of the living room and into her bedroom. Thank God for having an ensuite.
She turned the lock on the door. Not that she didn’t trust Gabe’s friends… okay, maybe she didn’t trust them. But, again, that was because she couldn’t trust any man right now. Anyone other than Theo, that is. She knew he wasn’t the stalker. He had been sitting with her when she got the text. He could not have sent it. And she hadn’t even known him before. He hadn’t even been in the country when her stalker first contacted her. It was definitely not Theo.
She could probably rule out Levi as well. He did not seem the type, besides the fact that he was hopelessly in love with her bestie. No. Levi was not her stalker.
That just left practically every other male she had ever come into contact with. For all Sarah knew, it could be the bus driver, or an Uber driver, or…
‘Stop!’ she hissed out loud.
Ruminating on this would not do her any good. All she could do was go about her life as normal and take precautions. The building had a security camera at the entrance. Sarah would think about getting one installed on her front door too. She had a new number, which she would need to remember to tell her parents and brother about, and she knew Theo was watching out for her. He thought he’d been stealthy with his surveillance today, but she’d seen him in that cafe. She was surprised he hadn’t fought Bodie for the right to bring her home.
Her phone beeped, and for a minute, she froze. Her heart pounded, and her mouth went dry. She counted to ten and reminded herself that there was no way her stalker had already gotten her new number.
Slowly and not without a lot of trepidation, she picked up her phone and looked at the screen.
Theo.
It was Theo.
Theo:
Did you get home okay?
Sarah:
I’m home. Safe and sound.
Theo:
Good. What time will I pick you up in the morning?
Sarah:
Theo. No.
Theo:
Sarah. Yes.
She growled softly.
Sarah:
Bodie can take me to work.
Theo:
He’s still there?
Sarah:
Yes. Him and another of Gabe’s friends. I’m safe with them.
Theo didn’t answer for a long time, and then the phone rang with a video call.
She sighed but answered.
‘See? I’m fine.’
‘Oh, I know you’re fine,’ he said with a sly smile. ‘Are you in your bedroom?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘Give me a virtual tour.’
She laughed. ‘You’re an idiot.’
‘But I’m your idiot,’ he said.
‘I’m going to have a shower?—’
Theo’s groan made her stop, and she felt her cheeks heat.
‘Theo,’ she cautioned.
‘What?’
‘Goodbye, Theo.’
‘Call me after your shower,’ he said.
‘Are you going to hover like this every day?’
‘Since you won’t move in with me, yes.’
‘You don’t even have your own place, so your argument is moot.’
‘I bought an apartment today.’
‘You bought it?’
‘Yeah, why?’
Sarah sighed. ‘Goodnight, Theo.’
‘Call me, or I won’t stop calling you until you answer.’
‘Ugh! Fine. I’ll call you later. Bye.’
She hung up before he could say anything else. Secretly, she thought he was being sweet, but she didn’t want to encourage the behaviour. The last thing she needed was to feel smothered by her… boyfriend?… when her stalker was already making her feel suffocated.