Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
That’s what made me finally hurl—the thought of losing him.
I can’t lose him. I just can’t.
I use some of Trav’s mouthwash and splash my face with cool water.
The keypad to the panic room beeps and the door opens. I tense because it could be anyone.
“Harley?”
Brix.
“Bathroom,” I croak.
“Oh, fuck, what’s wrong?” He appears beside me.
I throw my arms around him. “You’re here. You’re … What happened?”
He runs a hand through my sweaty hair. “Shh, I got you. Are you okay?”
I hold him tighter. “I am now.”
“I have good news and bad news,” he murmurs into my hair.
“Good news?”
“I got the guy.”
I pull back and frown. “Bad news?”
“He refuses to talk … unless it’s with you.”
“No,” I blurt but almost immediately want to take it back.
“Done. The cops can handle him.”
“W-where is he?”
My boyfriend smiles. But it’s not a normal smile. All the jokes about kill lists and neutralizing people seem like facts when he smiles like that. “He’s … a little tied up at the moment.”
“Tied … up.”
Brix nods proudly.
“Do I really want to see this?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“A little, yeah.”
Brix holds my hand. “I’ve got you.”
He leads me toward the living room, and there’s my tormentor.
My stalker.
Bound with his hands and feet tied together with zip ties behind his back, his face is squashed against the floor. He struggles against his restraints, wiggling like a caterpillar on speed.
My memory of him from the night he broke in is hazy now. Has been ever since it happened. He appeared so dominating in my vision.
Then when I saw him at the courthouse, he looked like a remorseful college kid who made a mistake.
Now, he’s almost unrecognizable with his bared teeth, his flushed face, and pure anger flowing from him.
“Let me go,” he says.
“Hmm, nah,” Brix replies breezily. “Here’s Harley. Say what you want to him while you’ve got the chance.”
“You ruined my life,” Webber mutters.
“Uh, I did what now?” Did he really just fucking say that to me? “You break into my home, you terrorize me, and I’m the one who ruined your life?”
“My school found out about the conviction and took away my scholarship.”
“How did you find us?” I ask.
“Why don’t you ask your pretty little assistant.”
My heart sinks. “J-Jamie?”
“Your bodyguards are so fucking dumb. They run circles around you and don’t watch her.”
Brix and I turn to each other.
“She’s not blind,” Brix says. “She would’ve noticed you following her for three hours. So, how did you know where we were?”
He huffs. “Can’t give away all my secrets.”
Brix narrows his eyes and storms out of the room, leaving me alone with the crazy person.
I don’t know how smart that is, no matter how contained the psycho is.
I kinda feel like kicking Webber. I won’t, but I want to. I can see those headlines now.
Harley Valentine Charged with Assault for Kicking Home Invader.
“It was an honest mistake, you know,” he says quietly.
“Breaking into my home, threatening me with a pipe bomb, or following me up here?”
“The first one. The pipe bomb was fake. I didn’t want to hurt you. I just wanted to scare you.”
“Why?”
“You’re famous. You’re rich. You have everything, and yet you took my future from me. After you rejected me and had me arrested, I wanted to take something from you.”
I grit my teeth. “Here’s some advice. One, never think someone else has more than you just because their success is measurable.” Brix taught me that. “And two, if you don’t break into people’s homes, you won’t get arrested … Dumbass.”
Brix reappears from the hall with Jamie. She looks so small next to him. Especially with his beefy hand gripping her arm tight.
“Jamie …” I want to go to her, but it’s clear Brix doesn’t want me to. He scowls at me and shakes his head.
He pulls her over to us so she can see Webber’s face.
“You know him?” Brix growls.
“Yeah. He’s Harley’s stalker.”
Webber smiles. “Hey, iPhone34QZXB1.”
That triggers something. She pales and her mouth drops open.
“What?” Brix asks.
Her lip trembles. “He … he looks different. He had his hair different and wore glasses, but …”
“Who is he?” Brix asks.
“He fixed my phone a few months ago. Like, right before you went on tour. He’s from Rent A Geek.”
Webber laughs. “Okay, there goes the rest of my secrets.”
“He’s been in her phone,” Brix says.
“Cloned it,” Webber says. “It’s amazing what information you can get from an iPhone. Places you’ve been. Touring schedules. You can record phone calls with a simple app. Find out the user’s current location …”
“Wait, before the tour?” I realize something. “You didn’t follow me home from the concert that night, did you? You weren’t even there.”
Webber laughs some more, and it’s either me or it’s starting to sound maniacal. “Oh, I was there.”
“Honest mistake, my ass,” I mumble.
“I asked about your precious Evah. I asked about your plans now the tour was done. I asked you a million questions in that VIP room, and yet you still didn’t recognize me when I was in your kitchen. You don’t give a shit about your fans.”