I turn around and my eyes connect with Atlas, and she sees the seriousness written across my face.
“Hey Rawley, can you come inside with me?” she asks without an ounce of worry in her voice. I walk Aria over to her, and stand at the edge of the ladder. Atlas quickly shuffles behind Rawley.
As soon as the door clicks, I look up and call to Harley. “Babe, do you see that Nissan at the end of the road?”
Harley’s eyes snap to mine before looking towards the street. “God DAMMIT!” he roars with rage in his voice, and I wince at the anger.
“Ember, get in the house. Lock the door and call the cops. Now.” I start to argue, but he cuts me off. “NOW, EMBER.” And I rush inside, securing the lock.
Not even a second passes before I hear steps making their way across the roof.
“Harley told me to call the cops,” I tell Atlas.
“Do it,” she commands without hesitation.
I call 911 and an operator comes on the line, asking the basic questions for a report to get an officer out. As I answer questions, I watchout of the little peep hole and see Harley take off down the road. Asher follows after him, close behind.
Just before they leave my line of sight, I see Harley reach behind his back and pull a gun out from his waistband. My stomach drops. Not because I've ever been scared of guns—I've even considered the classes myself—but the weight of the situation sits heavily on my chest.
The operator gets all of the information and informs me that an officer is going to head out and should be there within ten minutes. She stays on the line with me until I see red and blue lights pull up.
Atlas takes Aria and Rawley into the little man cave that Asher has set up in the spare room. She turns on a movie and intentionally turns the volume up on the TV.
Atlas comes out of the room, pulling the door. “I hate to do this to you now,” she says apologetically, “but I think we should call Rawley’s parents to let them know what’s going on and see what they want us to do.”
My body goes still. I know she doesn’t mean the whole story, at least not right now. My mind is going crazy nonetheless. I gave him up to give him a better life away from this shit. I don’t realize I'm crying until Atlas gets closer and pulls me into a hug.
“I’ll tell them we noticed someone watching the house so we called the cops out of precaution,” she says as I hand the phone to her.
I’m not ready for any of this, but I don’t want Rawley to be unsafe. I need him safe, and in order to do that, his parents should know.
I listen as Atlas calls Rawley's mom and explains the situation, leaving out some of the details until she gets here. I hear her frantic voice over the phone while Atlas answers her questions. Her eyes connect with mine.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and on instinct, my body tenses. I pull it out and see Ensley calling. I reject the call and slip it back into my pocket.
Atlas hangs up with Rawley’s mom. She steps over and wraps her arms around me, embracing me in a hug. “I’m here okay,” she tells me softly. “We don’t even know anything for sure.” She’s trying so hard to comfort me, but nothing can calm the storm in my stomach.
We walk outside when we see Harley, Asher, and a cop get closer to the end of the driveway.
I walk over to Harley, my arms crossed over my front.
“I don’t know the name of the apartment complex, but I can give you directions or take you there,” he says, clearly avoiding eye contact with me. “He was sitting outside her house one night, and I followed him home.”
Fucking news to me.
The cop looks at me. “We’re looking at our options. It’s clear he's stalking you,” he says, writing in his pocketbook. “Do you have cloud storage with proof of his being at your house?”
“Yes, sir. I don’t know how much storage, but they’re fairly new so there shouldn’t be an issue,” I tell him.
“I have them all saved to my phone. I can show you,” I hear Harley say in a low tone.
What the fuck? How does he have video footage from my house camera?
I know it's not the time or place, but my mind is running ninety miles per hour. Just as my mouth opens to question him, a red Equinox pulls onto the street, and a dark haired woman jumps out of the car.
“Atlas! Where’s Rawley?” she asks, not giving me a second look. She’s frantic, and I can’t help but feel worse than I already do.
“Hey Charlee, he’s inside,” Atlas assures her, giving her a hug she clearly needs. My heart crumbles.
