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Everything feels unsafe now.
“Why do you have access to that footage?”
“You don’t need to worry about that now.”
“I do,” I say. “And I think you know why.”
I watch him, waiting.
Will he trust me with the truth?
He takes my other hand, so now he has both of my hands in his. He looks into my eyes. “Ivy. I think it’s fair to say that neither of us expected this to happen.” He gestures between us. “We thought it would be a week-long fling. An adventure.”
I nod.
“And now we know that it’s a lot more than that.”
My heart pounds so hard I can hear it. I knew I was falling for him, but I didn’t know that he was feeling the same way about me.
“Yes. It’s a … lot more than that.” For want of my own words, I echo his.
“There are things … many things … that we agreed upfront not to tell each other, so that we could enjoy an uncomplicated week of pleasure.”
“But things have changed.”
“They have.” He stands up and goes to the window, watching the clouds gather again. “We need to think about what we want from each other and from this relationship. And I think the beginning of that will be an open discussion about ourselves and our respective pasts. Once you hear about my family, you may want to walk away, and I will respect that. But for now, for right now, we need to do what it takes to protect you. We need to talk about Jeffrey Bates.”
Ugh. Just hearing Alistair say his name brings acid crawling up my throat. I close my eyes, waiting for the urge to vomit to pass. A glass of cold water appears in my hand.
“In the interest of saving time, I’ll tell you what we do know. We know that you have a restraining order against him, and we know he has a criminal record. As you can imagine, that was enough to make us double down on your security. What we don’t know is how dangerous he is. If your life is at risk.”
The way he says that makes my heart leap. The danger in it, and the love.
“My life at risk? I wouldn’t have said so, but he’s never had a gun before. And he’s never broken into my flat.”
“As far as you know,” says Alistair.
“The car that was following us, following Henderson and me. The Renault. Was that him?”
“We suspect so, but without plates it’s hard to confirm.”
I take a deep breath, trying to process this terrible new information. I thought I was rid of the bastard, I really did.
“He found you at The Raven,” says Alistair. “He booked a room on the floor below us.”
My blood runs cold.
“We found a uniform in there, one that the room service waiters wear.”
“Oh my god.” I have to put the glass down, I’m shaking so much.
“I’m not trying to scare you. I just need you to know the risk so that you’ll be careful, and so that you allow us to protect you.”
I can’t help wondering where I’d be without Alistair. Tied up, gagged, and in Jeff’s trunk? Fuck!
“It sounds like you know a lot more than I do,” I say. “I dated Jeff for almost three years. We met at a climate crisis meeting and we had the same interests. The environment, yoga, books. At the beginning, he was lovely to me. He rushed me into moving in together, and then started relaxing his facade. Underneath the do-good exterior, he was an awful human. Really. So manipulative. Controlling. He has the emotional IQ of a child, always losing his temper and throwing tantrums. If the flat wasn’t clean, if his laundry wasn’t done, if he couldn’t find a charging cable.”
My hand travels to my throat. I remember the cable incident all too well. Once he found it, he accused me of hiding it, and punished me for it.
