by Bella King
“You are as close as anyone in my life is going to get. I don’t want to fuck this up, but I think I already have,” Oliver said.
I could see tears forming in his eyes.
“I tried not to get involved with you. I watched you for longer than you know, and I became obsessed with you. I know that’s fucking weird and creepy, but that’s the truth. I couldn’t let James find out about it though, or he would stop giving me money. That guy’s a real whack job, you know?”
“I know better than anyone,” I replied.
Oliver breathed out of his nose heavily in what resembled a silent laugh. “I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side, which is why he can’t know about us.”
I sighed. “First of all, I have to decide if there even is an ‘us’ anymore after the shit you pulled. That’s a lot to process,” I said.
“The problem is, I think he might already know. I’m not his only set of ears around here. I did my best to hide what we were doing, which was the reason I dropped you off at home after we had sex, but I don’t think that worked.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“He’s coming,” Oliver responded, genuine dread flickering in his bright blue eyes.
“James is coming?” I said, my wave shaking as a wave of panic washed over me. My throat tightened so much I thought I might stop breathing, and my head started to feel light. I was on the verge of throwing up in Oliver’s cute little red truck. I doubted he would enjoy that.
“Pull over,” I demanded.
“You’re not running off,” Oliver replied.
I tugged on his shirt sleeve. “Pull the fuck over before I puke on your damn lap.”
Oliver hit the brakes, and his car skidded to a stop on a stretch of open road. There were no other cars around us.
I jumped out, dashing toward the ditch on the side and emptying the excessive amounts of iced coffee that I drank earlier into the dirt. The soil soaked it up graciously as drool hung from my lips. I spat the taste of bile out of my mouth and pulled up my shirt to wipe my lips.
Oliver got out of his truck and came around to help me. I felt a warm hand on my back, which I shook off. “I’m fine,” I said, standing up straight.
Oliver laughed. “You look like shit.”
I laughed with him. “Well, this isn’t exactly my best day. I assure you, I clean up well.”
“So I’ve heard,” Oliver replied coolly. “We need to keep moving, though. I don’t think anyone is following us, but you can never be too sure.”
I nodded, retreating from the ditch and climbing back into Oliver’s truck. I felt a little better after throwing up, but I was still shaken by the nightmarish reality that was unfolding before me. Everything that I thought had been a lie, and years of my life were now under close scrutiny. I wondered just how much Oliver knew about me.
“What’s my favorite color,” I shot at Oliver when he got back into the car.
He looked surprised but was quick to answer. “Aqua.”
I racked my brain for a harder question. “What kind of shampoo do I use,” I asked him.
Oliver smiled at me, figuring out what I was doing. “Darling, I’ve been watching you for too long not to know everything about you. You used to use this cheap strawberries and cream scented that they sell for 99 cents, but in March, you switched to a nicer one when you started experiencing dandruff.”
“Jesus Christ, you know me better than I do,” I said, letting out a huge breath. “Wow.”
Oliver shrugged. “Hey, it pays well to stay informed.”
I didn’t want to laugh at his tasteless joke, but it was funny in light of everything. “You’re a sick bastard,” I said with a goofy smile.
Oliver glanced into the rearview mirror. He was more paranoid than I was about being watched, but then again, he had to deal with James for two years. He knew how crazy that man was.
“I haven’t told you the whole story,” Oliver said. “There’s a little bit more to it.”
I didn’t think this could get much worse. I only had so much iced coffee I could throw up at any given time. I needed a refill.
“And I’ll be honest with you, Lydia. I could have lied about his part, but I’m telling you because I want to come out as an honest man. No matter what happens, I don’t want you to think about me as a piece of shit. I’m trying to be straight with you.”
“Go on,” I replied, reserving judgment for later.
“I already paid for all my grandmother’s stuff last year. I kept working for James because he kept paying me to. The money was too good.”
“Really?” I asked, not expecting Oliver to have stooped so low for a quick buck. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
“I didn’t know it would get this bad, Lydia. I figured I didn’t have any excuse to keep creeping on you if I wasn’t getting paid, but at that point, I was already in love with you.”
The story just kept getting wilder and wilder, but of all the people to fall in love with me, Oliver was probably the most handsome and most definitely the best in bed.
“So, what now?” I asked. “You stop stalking me, and James comes up here to murder you now that he knows you stole me away from him?”
Oliver grimaced. “You might be being sarcastic, but that’s pretty much what’s happening.”
I groaned, slapping my hand on my forehead. “God, why are you so fucking stupid, Oliver. For a man as handsome as you are, you sure don’t have much in the way of critical thinking skills.”
“I have straight A’s,” Oliver said, sounding hurt.
“Grades won’t keep us from keeping killed by my psycho ex-boyfriend.”
Oliver sped up the truck, barreling down the interstate now, heading west.
“Where are we going?” I asked, looking at the passing signs.
“I need to find a motel for us to sleep in for the night,” Oliver said, scanning the signs that we passed. “We probably need to move a little further out.”
“If you make me drop out of school, I’ll be the one to murder you,” I said grimly. “I didn’t work my ass off to get sent away for skipping all my fucking classes.”
“Did James ever send you any messages? I told me he was coming us, but he sounded angry about it and didn’t tell me anything about when he would be here or where exactly he was going.”
I remembered the frequent emails from him on my phone. I pulled it out of my pocket, waving it at Oliver. “He sends me emails all the time. I never read them, though. He sent one today.”
“Open it,” Oliver urged. “We need all the information we can get.”
I was reluctant to open the email. I knew that if I did, then all the memories of his abuse would come flooding back. My finger hovered over it in the email app, but I didn’t bring it down to tap on the little unread email icon.
Oliver had been somewhat cruel to me, but it paled in comparison to what James had done. I was sure that Oliver felt terrible about the situation, judging by his expression and the way he was driving, but I would be quick to forgive him if we came out of this alive. Nobody could be worse than James.
Maybe it was wishful thinking that Oliver and I could still work things out after all this, but I was clinging to a glimmer of hope when I hit that icon to open the last email that James had sent me. It was the only thing that gave me the courage to face James again.
Chapter 21
FINAL WARNING
Lydia, you have managed to avoid me for three years, fooling yourself into thinking that I would abandon you amongst the degenerates at Briarwood University. You’re wrong, though. I would never leave you there alone. We were meant for each other, and even if you don’t believe it, I still do.
By now, you must have met Oliver. Yes, the man that has been trying to take you from me is actually one of my many spies turned rebel. That’s unfortunate because he was one of the best.
You have saved yourself for me for three years, and I commend you for that, but you have crossed the line by
getting involved with Oliver. I see everything that happens, so I also know what happened between you two on Saturday night. Quite frankly, this had made me doubt ever having loved you, but with time I think I can forgive you.
I’m coming up to visit you now that the restraining order you filed against me has expired. See you soon!
- James
I put my phone down in my lap, the body of it hot against my sweaty hand. “We’re so fucked,” I said.
“What did he say?” Oliver asked, glanced at me worriedly.
“I put a restraining order against him a while ago when he started threatening me via email. I stopped reading his messages after that, and I felt safe knowing that he probably wouldn’t be coming up to try to visit me,” I explained. “But now, fuck. The restraining order has apparently expired, and he said he’s coming up to see me.”
Oliver nodded. “Yeah, he and I have been meeting halfway. He never told me why he wouldn’t meet closer to school.”
I hated Oliver at that moment. I wanted to wring his stupid goddamn neck and bash his thick skull through the windshield, but I kept myself contained. I looked like a sacred girl with my hands in my lap, but I felt like I could kill if I had to.
“So, James knows basically everything. He even knows that we had sex,” I said. “I think we should go to the police.”
“No way,” Oliver said. “You want to get me thrown in jail?”
I didn’t exactly want that, but it wasn’t like Oliver was innocent, and I felt like I was in danger. “We don’t have to tell them about your involvement. I’ll deny everything.”
Oliver chuckled. “Lydia, you’re a beautiful person, but I don’t exactly trust you. I can tell that you’re pissed at me, and no offense, but you would totally snitch if it meant getting out of this situation easily.”
“You can’t keep me from calling the cops,” I said, lifting up my phone.
Oliver’s hand shot out, wrapping around my phone and jerking it out of my hands. “Yes, I can,” he said, rolling down his window and chucking my phone out onto the freeway.
My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe that he would do that. “Oliver, you better stop the fucking car right now and let me out.”
“I can’t do that,” Oliver replied coldly. “You’re not calling the police.”
“Okay, I won’t. Just let me go, please,” I pleaded.
Oliver shook his head. “James would scoop you up in a heartbeat. I need to protect you.”
“You could protect me by letting me call the police, not kidnapping me.”
“Is that what this is?” Oliver asked, gripping the wheel angrily. I could see the color rising to his face. “You think I’m kidnapping you?”
“You literally are,” I replied. I already missed the feeling of my phone in my hands. I felt weird without it.
“I guess that makes me a criminal then. One more reason not to have you call the fucking cops,” Oliver spat. “We’re staying at this motel,” he said, pulling off the freeway violently.
My ass slid a few inches in my seat as centrifugal force took effect. The turn could have been gentler, but Oliver looked like he wanted to wreck something. I just hoped he didn’t drive the truck through the motel building or something.
“I’m thirsty,” I complained when we finally pulled into the motel parking lot. My mouth was now dry and still tasted faintly of bile.
Oliver got out of the car and opened my door for me. Grabbing my wrist and pulling me out. “I’ll get you something in the motel,” he grumbled.
We entered the lobby, and Oliver paid cash for the room, pulling out fresh hundreds. I wondered if those were from James. For a second, I thought that Oliver might be leading me into a trap. What if James was actually in the motel room waiting for me. I shuddered to think what he would do to me if we were locked in there alone.
I had to trust Oliver or make a run for it. I wouldn’t make it far on my own, so I decided to stay. Besides, I didn’t think that Oliver had it in him to turn me over to James. He had just professed his love for me, after all.
Oliver spoke briefly to the man at the front counter before retrieving the dirty keycard to the motel and leading me out roughly.
We got to the room, where there was a cheap plastic bottle of off-brand water waiting on the counter in from of the TV. I rushed over to it, cracking open the lid in a single twist and gulping down half the contents.
Oliver closed the door and turned the bolt, locking it shut loudly. “Nobody is leaving this room tonight,” he stated.
“You want me to drink from the sink or something?” I asked, swirling the remaining water in the bottle around before finishing it.
Oliver shrugged. “I don’t care where you drink from, but we’re not leaving until I’ve figured out what to do about James.”
“We could kill him,” I said, half-serious.
Oliver laughed. “I wish. How are we going to deal with this guy?”
“Call the police,” I reminded him.
Oliver let out a sigh so large that I could feel his breath from across the room. “No, because I don’t want to go to jail,” he said slowly.
“Maybe we could catch him doing something illegal,” I suggested. “Trap him.”
Oliver walked over to the single bed and sat down on the worn sheets. It groaned under his weight, the old metal springs clanging inside the mattress like a symphony of drunken chefs using pots and pans to make music.
He rubbed his strong chin, the sound of stubble prickling up against his hand, ringing out into the dead silence. I walked over to him and sat down beside him, placing my hand on his thigh to think with him.
“I know what we’re going to do,” Oliver said finally.
I squeezed his thigh with my manicured nails, watching my fingers sink into his powerful muscles. I wanted to squeeze him so hard, drop to my knees, and suck him off in this seedy motel room for no reason other than I was fucking horny from the thrill of everything that had happened. Perhaps tonight, I would be fucking him. I had no way to know what his true intentions were.
Oliver looked at me, nodding his head and pursing his lips. “I’m going to tell him where you live, and then we’re going to call the police if he tries to break in.”
“Oh, so now you want to call the cops. Great,” I said sarcastically.
Oliver laughed. “Why would I call the cops before he’s done anything illegal. I want him in jail for breaking and entering, not in court, testifying why I helped him harass and stalk you.”
I saw his point. The crime had to be different. We wouldn’t get him on stalking charges without taking Oliver down with him. What a fucking shame that I like Oliver enough to cover his ass after everything he had put me through.
I could talk to myself all I liked, casting guilt like a net riddled with holes, unable to catch myself in my own shame. It wouldn’t work now that I was infatuated with the massive hunk of man that sat on the bed beside me.
Oliver sprung up off the bed. “I have a burner phone,” he said as he began to pace back and forth in front of me. “I’ll ditch it later so that I’m never found out. We’ll play stupid. You never knew that he was actually coming up here, you got it?”
I nodded, admiring his serious face. He looked especially handsome when the lines on his forehead were creased in concentration. I had trouble focusing on what he said, but I tried anyway. I didn’t want to seem like a complete dolt in the face of such a serious situation.
“I don’t have a lot of cash on me. I’ve converted most of it to Bitcoin. They’re not going to find anything if James tries to pull me into this,” he said.
I nodded. “Did you already tell him where I lived?”
“I still have to do that. He’ll probably come to campus looking for you, but if I give him your address, we can catch him if he tries anything criminal.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Then what are you worried about? If he is unwilling to break into your place then I don�
��t think he’s going to murder you.”
“I hope he does break in so I can shoot the bastard,” I said, my teeth clamped down hard in my mouth. The words hissed through my lips like vapor.
“Calm down there, Lydia. Nobody is getting shot,” Oliver said. “You won’t even be in the apartment. Neither will Mia.”
“Fuck,” I exclaimed. “What if he comes after her?”
Oliver stopped walking and slipped his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. “I’ll call her and tell her to come here. I’ll get her a separate room.”
“I can sleep with her,” I said.
“You’re sleeping with me,” he responded, not giving me room to protest.
“Fine,” I said, acting like it would be some kind of a huge chore to share a bed with him. I was getting my wish, in a way. I had tried to do this before, but he brought me back home. This time was different.
Chapter 22
Oliver explained everything to Mia, who ate it up like ice cream on a summer afternoon. She loved the drama and the danger, knowing full well that she wasn’t at much risk. I was.
Oliver got another room for her and made her sleep there for the night, keeping me locked away in the first room while he went out to talk with her. He came back in and ordered a pizza for us.
“I’m assuming you’re hungry,” Oliver said after he hung up the phone to the pizza place.
I nodded eagerly. It had been a while since I had some real greasy junk food. I had grown too used to the awful school dining experience. Pizza sounded like a dream right now.
Once the pizza man arrived and delivered our food, Oliver and I feasted on the bed, laying across from each other as we shoved melted cheese and sauce into our hungry mouths.
I looked up at Oliver, who had a string of cheese running from his mouth from the slice he had just taken a bite out of and giggled. “You’re a messy boy,” I teased.
He raised an eyebrow and swallowed his bite. “I’m going to make a mess out of you if you keep talking so cute to me.”
I blushed at his words, but it was what I wanted. I craved to have his body sober so that I could feel everything to the fullest extent. Drunk sex was great and everything, but it paled in comparison to having it sober. I wanted to feel the heat of his skin and the pain of his grip on my delicate body. I wanted him to ruin me.
