Chapter 56
Chapter fifty-six
Annalise
Ihum under my breath as I close the door behind me, leaving it unlocked, knowing Mattey will be done with his shower and down here before I’m cleaned up.
My cheeks ache from laughing so hard, and my chest is light in a way it hasn’t been since the breakup as I drop my dirty clothes into a pile by the door.
I’m barely getting my hair lathered for the second time when I hear the door close behind Matt.
“It must be so nice being a guy. There was still mud in my hair after my first round of shampoo,” I call out to him. “Will you grab me a clean towel from my laundry hamper and throw it in here? I forgot to grab it on my way in.”
“Here,” he says a minute later, his voice muffled through the water as a towel is hung on the hook, ruffling the shower curtain.
“Thanks! I’ll be out in a few.”
I finish rinsing, double conditioning, and wringing my hair out before shutting off the water. The bathroom mirror is fogged over, the air nice and steamy as I wrap the towel around myself and step out. When only my hair is left dripping, I head toward my room to grab sleep clothes.
The room is empty. Matt’s gone.
I frown, grabbing a worn T-shirt from my armoire, and turn back toward the bathroom to get dressed. As I step over the threshold, the door behind me opens.
I jump.
“Where did you go?” I ask, my heart thudding harder than it should be, knowing he would be coming right back.
“Uhm, to shower?” Matt says, brows pulled together.
“Oh. Did you forget something?”
“Not that I know of? Was there something I was supposed to bring other than my charger?”
I shake my head, unease settling low in my stomach as I turn back toward the bathroom.
That’s when I see it.
A small, pink, plush pig sits right in the center of my bed, shiny black eyes glinting under the light. It doesn’t belong here. It doesn’t belong to me.
For a second, my brain refuses to accept what I’m seeing.
The great mood I was just in is long gone, drained from me like the blood was from the last pig I found in my bed.
“Lee, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I take a slow step toward my bed, my pulse starting to thud in my ears.
That’s when I notice the folded piece of paper pinned to the back of the pig’s head. Delicately, pushed along the seam like Lucas didn’t want me to ruin the stuffed animal he was using to fuck with me.
He’s been in my room.
My fingers shake as I reach out. The pig is so soft when I touch it, and if it weren’t from him, it would be the perfect animal to cuddle up with when I read.
I pull the typed note free.
He’s lucky you got bored of him when you did. We’re going to have our time together soon. I’ve already waited so long, you owe me.
My vision blurs. My heart skips, then starts racing so hard it hurts. I read it again. And again.
“Mattey! He was in the bathroom with me,” I sob. “I heard him. I thought it was you, and I asked him to bring me a towel. He was inches away when I was showering.”
“You’re not stopping me this time. He’s fucking dead,” Matt spits out.
“I’m with him on this, Faren. I’m on my way,” Tyr growls.
“SASHA!” Matt bellows. “SASHA! COME OVER HERE!”
“There hasn’t been any music. They must be staying at Antonio's place tonight.”
“Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have let you stay in here alone. Get what you need, and you’re moving to my room for the next week. Then he’ll graduate, and you’ll be safe again.”
“Tyr’s coming,” I yell to him as I get dressed.
“Put on a sweatshirt too, it’ll be cold outside. Ask Tyr if he’ll stay with you at the parade grounds while I take care of this.”
“Matt, you can’t,” I say, running out to where he’s pacing.
“Yes, I can! I love you, and I will not let him keep torturing you!”
For the first time ever, Matt yelled at me. I expect my body to do what it normally does and start to shut down, but it doesn’t. Because it’s Matt, and I know he’s right.
His voice breaks as he pulls me into a hug, “He was right next to you while you were in the shower, Lee. He could have seen you naked. He could have hurt you, and I wasn’t here to stop it.
“Please don’t fight me on this,” he begs.
“Okay,” I whisper, my eyes locked with the cute pink stuffed animal lying on my bed, beaming up at me with its stitched smile. Innocent and unnerving all at once.
“Everything is going to be okay. I’ll be back as quickly as I can to get you so we can go to bed, okay?” Matt tells me as we approach Tyr on the riding grounds.
“Mattey, I changed my mind. Please don’t leave, I need you safe.”
He scoffs, “We both know Lucas can’t do shit to me. The only reason I didn’t do this sooner was because I can’t stand you being mad at me, but I won’t let him get his hands on you again.”
Throwing my arms around him, I whisper, “Please be careful. I love you.”
Pulling back slightly, he looks down into my eyes, “I love you too. Stay with Tyr.”
I nod, even though my chest feels like it might burst.
“Keep our girl safe,” he says to Tyr before pressing a kiss to my forehead, then turning and disappearing back down the path.
The silence he leaves behind is deafening, but my mind won’t stop screaming with every horrible possible scenario.
What if Matt gets hurt?
He’s strong and strategic, but he’s furious right now, and that could be equally helpful as it could be detrimental. Lucas, on the other hand, has always been scrappy, but with how escalated some of his attacks on me have been, there’s really no way of knowing what he’s capable of anymore.
I picture Matt bleeding somewhere in the dark, alone, and my stomach twists violently.
What if he kills Lucas?
Matt doesn’t ever lose control, but tonight isn’t normal. None of this is. If he does, what then? Do they extend his sentence? Will they send him straight to prison, chains, and stone walls again for only the gods know how long? Or would they skip all of that and sentence him to death?
And Lucas—does he deserve it? After everything he’s done, everything he’s threatened? The pigs—both real and stuffed, the notes, the years of rumors and torment.
Tyr snorts softly, shifting beside me, “You are still thinking too much. I don’t know if there is anything humans could do to keep him away from you, Little Faren.”
Despite Tyr’s warm body radiating behind me, goosebumps take shape as my body shivers.
“Please, Gods, keep him safe. Bring him back to me,” I pray for the first time since they abandoned me as a child.