A dull ache filled my insides. I didn't know how to fight this. That woman seemed to sense my greatest fears and then worked to make them come true. I thought when we'd gotten the extra security on the property, it might put her off. Maybe she'd just been acting on impulse. But I didn’t think so. That woman had a systematic plan to destroy me.
Hannah had talked about going public with our relationship but that would just expose me to more of these crazies. If those few photos posted on the internet had made people hate me, I couldn't even imagine what it'd be like if Tex and I were publically dating.
I thought of calling Hannah and asking her advice but she wasn't my friend, not really. Sure, she was nice enough to me but ultimately she was the band manager and her interests were in their future not mine. Tex was the one who should've been in this with me but he’d just been a prick about it. He kept telling me that people did these kinds of things but it didn't mean anything.
The best thing for me to do would be to walk away altogether. Leave Tex, leave this life and disappear. But could I do that? I'd promised Tex that I'd be with him. And what would I be without him? That guy had infiltrated my life to the extent that I couldn’t imagine life without him.
There had to be a way for the two of us to be together without having to deal with the weight of other people. The time was fast approaching when we had to talk through what we wanted from our relationship.
The sound of a car in the driveway startled me. My first impulse was to run and check the door was locked. When I looked out the window though, I saw Lizzie walking toward the studio.
"Since the guys are going to be rehearsing all day, I thought we might do something together. Lunch, shopping, that kind of thing."
Normally that girlie stuff freaked me out but, after seeing the photos of me inside the studio, getting out of the place sounded like a good idea. I kept feeling a prickling like someone was watching me.
"Okay, but nowhere too crowded or busy," I said.
"You're strange," Lizzie replied but with a smile. "I know a great place on the way back into town. It's very quiet and cosy. And you really look like you need to talk."
I could imagine I looked like a mess.
"Go have a shower. Actually, first show me this shower van thing that you and Tex were raving about."
I took her out to the shower van. I wondered if that woman had seen me going in and out of the van.
I froze. She had watched me. I’d been doing just regular, everyday stuff and she’d watched me. Even with the fences and the extra security. I’d never be safe again. Anyone could get in, any time.
Lizzie grabbed me.
"Are you okay? Maybe we shouldn't go... you seem to be feverish."
She put her arm around me and led me back inside. I sat down with a tightness in my chest.
"I'll make you a cup of tea," Lizzie said. "You look like you need one."
I nodded. I should tell Lizzie. I should ask her opinion but the words weren't in me. I couldn't say them. I opened my mouth and, before I could say anything, the black lumps of dread filled me up so I had to gulp for breath.
Lizzie put the warm cup into my hands and told me to drink up the tea. It was very sweet but I sipped at it and tried to relax. I didn’t want to look like I was a complete flake. It wasn’t Lizzie’s job to babysit me.
Finally, I asked her to get my laptop from the bedroom. It would be easier to show her than try to tell her.
She took a look at the photos and then put her arms around me. I hated being hugged but I felt secure with her there and could no longer hold back my tears.
"Don't worry, Ruby," she said. "I'll stay here with you until Tex gets back. Or we can go out. Whatever you prefer."
"I don't know how she took the photos. The property is all fenced and we have the back to base security. Surely they'd have seen her. Actually, how did you..."
"Brownie has a gate key."
Of course. Tex had given both Devon and Brownie keys to the big gate at the end of the driveway so they could get in for rehearsal. Just in case they needed to rehearse here. Like an emergency rehearsal meeting. That meant the only other key was Devon's but he wouldn't be careless with it, surely.
Lizzie was looking at the photos on the laptop again then turned to the window as though checking something.
"You've had that blackout curtain up since the incident?" she asked.
I nodded. How had that woman taken photos inside the studio?
"She took these before. Even before the back stage ones. If you look carefully at the ones taken from outside, well, don't look, I'm going to delete them from your computer but I'll make a copy first. Anyway, if you look at the trees in the photos, they are all bare but they have been in bud for the past few weeks. Also the ones showing the house, they are definitely at least a month old. It's still creepy but she's not been on the property recently."
That made me feel a little better. She'd still been creeping around though.
When I finished my cup of tea, I made myself take a shower. I didn’t want to be a drama queen but I asked Lizzie to keep a watch out while I was in there. I felt safer with Lizzie around but I couldn't have people with me all the time. Not with Tex rehearsing somewhere else. Still, when I was in the shower, I was at my most vulnerable.
By the time I'd showered and dressed, I felt a little better.
"What would you do if you were me?" I asked Lizzie. "Hannah thinks Tex and I should announce our relationship. He wants me to go with him to Award night and that'll make it all official. But I'm not a red carpet kind of girl, you know. I'd just hate having people looking at me, discussing me. That is so not my kind of thing."
Lizzie shrugged. "I can't really say. You have to work it out for yourself. But I'll be there and you know I'll support you. I really want to encourage you to do it because I'm pretty nervous myself and I'd love company but that's for my own selfish reasons."
She grinned and it made me feel a little better. I couldn’t believe she was nervous about it. Lizzie always seemed so confident.
“That’s the one thing that would help, having you there. And Tex, of course. But he’d be off performing on the night so I’d need some support.”
“And it’s a good excuse to dress up.” Lizzie grinned. She really did seem like the type who would love that. I’d not even know where to start. “I got something this week. It’s not long now.”
She showed me some photos she had on her phone of the dress she’d bought. It was gorgeous.
We chatted for a while but I didn't want Lizzie to feel obliged to sit around all day looking after me. I had to toughen up about this some time and deal with things on my own. It wasn’t really Lizzie’s problem.
Just having her chat to me with her practical common sense had taken the edge off the dread I’d felt.
"I'll be fine, really. I'll lock the door and settle myself in to do some work. Once I get caught up in programming, the outside world goes away. Anyway, Tex won't be that late getting back. Hopefully."
Eventually I convinced her I'd be fine. I settled down to work. I hadn't done a lot of programming recently because I'd been caught up in Tex's world but Mum had given me an idea. She wanted an app that would connect them with other nomads. I didn't think it'd work because you'd need to have a critical mass of people using it for it to have any benefit but I told her I'd create it for her. It wouldn't be that much work for me, and it'd keep her happy.
I'd figured out the basic framework for it and needed to flesh it out. I'd probably get it done this week and then I could get Mum to beta test it. Maybe it'd work for her and a few of her friends but I didn't see any advantage over just using a regular chat program.
A while later, I decided to stop for a snack break. I made a sandwich but the bread was a bit stale and it wasn’t appetising. Still, there wasn’t much other choice.
I'd been so involved in my work that I'd forgotten all about the creepy stalker girl. The world had faded away for a while. I st
upidly checked my phone without thinking.
There was a message from Tex. He wanted me to meet him after rehearsal for dinner.
I wanted to text him back saying that we didn’t need to go out. I was more than happy to cook something for him. We could have a romantic dinner at home. But then I’d been trying to be more outgoing for him and outgoing meant going out.
It was just a restaurant. It was just dinner. That wouldn’t be so bad, surely. It’s not like I’d have to socialise with a heap of people or anything. Just Tex and I, eating food, the same as we did at home.
And, to be honest, without work to distract my attention, I really didn’t want to be sitting around the studio on my own. It took all my restraint not to go to the window to check if anyone was out there. I’d used up all my focus for the day and now the nerves were creeping back in.
I chucked the stale sandwich in the bin.
I put on my cute dress and did my hair. I even put on some makeup. Tex and I had never been out for dinner, just the two of us, before. I hoped it wasn’t anywhere too fancy.
Chapter 18
Denise
I didn't actually think she'd be stupid enough to turn up. I mean, I’d sent her that message to look like it’d come from Tex but wouldn’t you at least message him back? Hell, I’d be messaging him 50 times a day when he was my boyfriend.
So, I didn't actually have a plan for what I'd do when I met her.
Then it hit me. I was the stupid one. Stupid, stupid me. Once I confronted her, she'd have proof that I was the one who'd sent the photos and done all that other stuff. She'd go running back to Tex all teary-eyed and manipulative and I'd end up looking like the bad one. Girls like her do things like that. I had not planned this well. It’d just been an impulse when I’d worked out how to hack Tex’s number from work.
I'd organised to meet her at Tony's. Of course, the place was closed. His sister was getting married and he had to go out of town for the weekend. I'd told him, "Tony, Sunday is a high demand day for pizza," but he just said every day was a high demand day for pizza but he only had one sister. It was his business, so I guess he could close it when he wanted. Luckily, he'd given me the keys. Well, the spare set had just been hanging up in the kitchen not being used and sometimes I got peckish when I wasn’t working. He had all that tiramisu in trays in the back fridge.
While I was waiting for her, I figured I might as well help myself to some of that sweet tiramisu. It wasn't even homemade. Tony just bought the slabs in from some wholesaler but then he poured extra booze over it to make it taste less mass-produced and sold it as homemade. Either way, I didn't care. Free dessert was free dessert.
In the background, music played. FORSAKEN, of course. I did a little dance in the kitchen.
When I finished, I went outside to wait for her. I wanted to make sure she was alone before I revealed myself so I hid myself in the alleyway across from the pizza shop. That was pretty smart of me. Although the alley smelt of piss and garbage and I thought I could hear critters scurrying nearby.
She turned up right on time. Pulled up in a taxi. Then got out and shielded her eyes while looking through the window of the pizza shop. The cab had driven off, thank goodness. There were people sitting outside at a cafe down the other end of the street but the buildings nearby were all empty. This was a pretty crummy part of town. Half the shops were boarded up with faded "for lease" signs in the window. Some of them were dodgy-looking insurance offices, probably a front for something else, and then there was one place that had a sign out for piano lessons. I'd never seen even one damn kid go in there for lessons though. It looked like a piano lesson you'd never come back from.
I’d left the door unlocked and set up the shop like it was open for business. Still she seemed a bit hesitant about going in. It wasn’t like I could make fake customers to sit around.
Then she finally walked in. I raced across the road before she realised the shop was empty and came back out.
I slammed the shop door behind me. She was in my territory and she wouldn’t be leaving until I had things sorted out. Up close, I wanted to spit in her face. Did she realise how much pain she'd caused me?
She was all dressed up with makeup on as though she thought she could make herself pretty. That just made her foolish because she’d never be pretty. That dress didn’t suit her and it showed too much of her legs.
As she span to face the door and she saw me, that “rabbit in the headlights” look came over her face. She staggered back a little, reaching out for something to steady herself but she stood in the middle of the shop with nothing within reaching distance.
I leaned against the door. But I smiled. I needed her to trust me.
“What’s going on? Where’s Tex?” Her voice was little more than a mouse squeak. Even her pasty face twitched, all rat-like.
"I just wanted somewhere to talk to you quietly," I replied. "We have things to sort out."
Her gulp echoed around the room. She might be a witch but she had no power over me. I was the one in control. She’d willingly walked into my trap and I wouldn’t let her out of it until she agreed to get out of Tex’s life.
“But what’s going on? Tex…”
She’d started sweating now. A sweat of guilt, I reckoned as the realisation of her evil life choices hit her.
“I borrowed his phone so I could text you. If you’d got the message from me, you’d have never turned up.” That was an awesome lie. One of my best. But I’m sure if I’d asked him, he’d have agreed.
She looked at me like I was crazy but she agreed to stay. It wasn’t like she had much choice. She glanced around as though expecting a lynch mob to come flying at her from under the tables or something. But there was nothing and no one in the place. Just the usual pizza shop crap – a drink fridge and a counter and a couple of cheapo tables with plastic gingham table cloths. Still, she kept her arms folded and clutched onto her bag. It wasn’t like I was going to hurt her. Well, not unless she opposed me.
"What do you want from me?" she asked. "I've done nothing to you."
Nothing? Nothing. How could she stand there, looking all fake-innocent when she'd stolen the most precious thing of my life. She was most definitely an idiot. A problem I'd have to erase.
"You took what's mine. You took Tex."
"You're insane," she said in a quiet voice. "You really are insane."
That was rich coming from her. After all, she was the one who'd had a breakdown, not me. You could tell there was something not right about her, the way her gaze kept darting around the room.
She flinched as I walked towards her and put her hand up as though she needed to shield her face. Then she ducked around me and bolted for the door. She had her hand on the door handle, ready to flee. That would do her no good. She turned the handle but, of course, the door didn’t open. The door auto-locked. Deadlocked.
I heard her whimper as she turned back to me, her whole body trembling.
“Please let me go,” she pleaded.
"I know I can't have him," I said, lowering my eyes. "But he's all I've thought about for years. The only one who's sustained me through the hard times. We are destined to be together. Hear me out and then you can go."
"Okay?" She didn't sound convinced.
I sat down at one of the crappy tables and indicated for her to sit down too.
"Do you want some tiramisu?" I asked. "It's really good. We can talk. Just hear me out and you can be free from me forever."
The idiot actually believed me and sat down. Well, she huddled on a chair, looking out the window as though there was something out there for her to see.
I got her the bowl of tiramisu and a Coke out of the fridge. I sat them down in front of her. She had moved her hand down to her lap, under the table.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Nothing."
I grabbed her hand. She had her phone clutched tightly but I twisted it from her. She dropped the phone and ran.
I checked
the phone display. She'd tried to call a cab but the call hadn't connected. The cab company hold music leaked out of the phone. At least she hadn't called Tex.
I approached her but she ran for the back of the shop. Not that she'd get out that way. It was all locked up as well. I pulled the blinds down at the front of the shop so people would realise it was shut.
I could hear her pounding on the back door. That was deadlocked too. Was she so stupid that she didn’t realise a business like this would need tight security? All kinds of deadbeats would try to break into a pizza shop. The windows at the back were security locked too and the whole place had an alarm system. Tony wasn’t stupid. He knew his shit.
"You can't get away from me. There's only you and me in this whole pizza place and I've got all night."
I walked through the shop, not even bothering to look for her. I put her phone in my back pocket. I didn't want her getting that back.
Footsteps echoed in the kitchen. She was coming toward me.
"I think we should talk," she said. She tried to sound calm and reasonable but I could tell she was upset by the way she kept her hands in her pockets. She didn't want me to see how much they were shaking.
My plan would work. I'd drive her over the edge. Already the cracks appeared. By the time I finished with her, she'd be fully broken down. I'd delete any evidence of her having ever been at the pizza shop and deny I'd ever been here. After all, no one knew I had keys.
She'd look like she was even more wacko if she tried to accuse me of anything. After all, the message had come from Tex.
One way or another, she and Tex would be history when she left this shop.
"You want to talk? Well, tell me this, why is Tex dating you? You came between us. You destroyed what we had. Don't you feel guilty about that?'
She stood up straighter and glared at me.
"He doesn't even know who you are. Remember that night when you came to our place with the pizza? He had no idea that night. And after the gig, I asked him and he said you were just some fan. I don't know what you think or what little fantasy you've created in your mind, but you’re really screwed up. You mean nothing to Tex."
Cry For You Page 11
