UNKOWN
Photo-(Ember and I kissing on her doorstep last night.)
Such a little slut. Does he know the little slut gave away her baby?
Sleep tight, babygirl.
Photo-(Me on her doorstep holding the bag of groceries and cup of coffee on the doorstep)
This fuck is back again? Might need to get rid of him.
Don’t forget. I’ll always be in your life.
My teeth clench together, jaw flexing. Ember walks in, surveying my body language.
“What is it? Is everything okay?” She reaches for her phone instantly, worry spreading across her face. She reads through the messages, not giving any reaction to the messages like she had last night.What the fuck?Why is she not freaking out?Maybe the alcohol?
“I thought something was wrong with Aria or Atlas,” she says, walking past me into the kitchen. Reaching for the cabinet with the cups, she pulls it down and lets her head drop, facing the countertop. She’s just standing there, before I walk closer to her, tryingto gauge her.
“I don’t necessarily think he’d hurt me physically, but he gets off on the mental torture,” she says, meeting my eyes. I don’t believe that for a second, not after seeing the people search record.
“Ember, assault, battery, rape, public intoxication, driving under the influence. None of that sounds like a man in control,” I plead to her. Her eyes grow wide, and I continue. “And based on the amount of messages you’ve gotten just in the eighteen hours since I walked back into your life, it is enough to let me know he’s getting restless.”
Ember doesn’t say anything. She almost looks like she’s in shock. I lead her back into the living room and pull her down onto the couch. “Ember?” I don’t know what I said. Unless she didn’t know about the charges.Surely she knew.She puts her head in between her hands, starting to breathe heavily.
“Assault? Battery? RAPE?” she whisper shouts, eyes wide, filling with tears. “I’ve just kept going. Ignoring all the messages and pestering, and he’s been doing shit like this? I’m so fucking stupid.”
I grab her hand, not wanting to overstimulate her, but wanting to help keep her grounded.
“You’re not stupid. You just didn’t want to think he could be this bad.” I stroke her hand. She leans on my shoulder. “He’s stalking you, Ember,” I say softly. I don’t know if she realizes that yet. “Last night, I paid for a people search,” I tell her, leaning my head down. I pull up the download on my phone and hand it to her.
She doesn’t take it immediately. She looks at it like she doesn’t want to. “Ignorance is bliss.” She smiles hard, looking defeated, before reluctantly taking my phone from my hand.
She takes her time reading over the first few pages, no reaction from her. Just absorbing the facts. I feel nervous, not knowing what I should be doing.Should I leave her alone? Does she want me here?I’m lost inthought when she sucks in a breath, hand covering her mouth. I see she’s stopped on one of the pages with the rape charge.
“I was seven months pregnant.” Her voice cracks, and she brings the phone down in her lap, letting out a sob. It rips through me.She didn’t know about the rape charges. Fuck.My heart breaks for her. I reach my arm around her back with my right hand, using my left to bring her head into my chest, cradling it as she lets out sobs. I let her mourn the safety she thought she had.
“I knew he’d been with other girls,” she says, her hand covering her mouth as tears stream down her face. “That’s what my final straw was.”
“I’m so sorry, Ember.” It’s the only thing I can think to say in this moment.
“The night I went into labor, Katelyn called to tell me that her brother had confided in her that Dean, Andrew, and his wife had a threesome, and they never told me. We were all friends, or at least I thought we were, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.” She sits upright. “I called and told him I was fucking done. He started texting threats that night, and I had the proof to show the staff at the hospital. That’s how I was able to keep him from being at the hospital.”
“I know he’s stalking me, but he hasn’t done anything to physically warrant the police to protect me.” Ember sniffs. “And even if Ididput in for a restraining order, he clearly doesn’t mind breaking the law.” She has a point, and as much as she’s right, I still don't like it. I don’t like her being unprotected. I wipe the tears from her face and plant a small kiss on her forehead.
“I was thinking of getting a security system installed.” She gets up off the couch so fast I barely process her next words. “That way I can at least see if he’s creeping around the house. That could be some sortof proof that I could take to the police, right?” She takes off down the hall without waiting for my answer. I don’t know how much proof she would need if she wanted to take it to the police. In that moment I remember he’d sent two photos from in front of her house, so it wasn't a bad idea and would give everyone peace of mind.
Standing with my phone in my hand, I search for the best security system we can install today. There are a few we can grab from BestBuy. I want to order them so that all we have to do is pick them up, but I don’t want to make the decision without her. Considering I really am nobody to her at this point, I'm not sure how much involvement she wants on my end.
Ember comes down the hall, wearing an ash grey hoodie that reads Forks, WA, a black quilted vest, a pair of black leggings, and her Converse. Throwing her strawberry blonde hair into a ponytail, I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’s not wearing a bit of makeup, but she’s stunning.
Tearing my eyes away, I grab my leather jacket off the back of the couch. “You’ll need to take the ponytail down, but you can put it back up when we get there,” I tell her. “And do you have a little heavier coat to go over that?” I eye her hoodie that looks like it’s on its last leg of life.
“Why can’t I wear my hair up?” Ember glances at me, walking over to the closet I hadn’t seen near the front door. She combs through, grabbing a long coat. “And why do I need a thicker coat?” I smile at her and usher her out the door.
In the driveway, behind her car, sits my matte black Honda CBR 600RR. Sitting on the seat, my matte black helmet waits. Ember stands there, jaw dropped, and I can’t help but let out a low laugh.
“No, we can take my car, it's fine,” Ember says, grabbing her keys off the key ring hanging next to the door.
