At 5 AM I give up on sleep and go for a run. The Seattle streets are empty and dark, rain coming down hard enough to sting my face. I run until my lungs burn and my legs ache and I can’t think about anything except the slap of my shoes on wet pavement, the rhythm of my breathing, the cold seeping through my clothes.
When I get home, I shower under hot water until my skin turns red. My phone beeps while I’m toweling off and I lunge for it thinking it’s Juliette.
Three more texts from a new number. All Sienna.
You can ignore me all you want but I’m not going away.
Does she know about me? Does she know you lied to her?
I could tell her. I could find her and tell her everything.
My blood goes cold. Ice in my veins despite the hot shower.
Stay away from her. I’m serious, Sienna. Stay the fuck away.
Or what? You’ll call the cops? Tell them your ex wants to talk to you? That’s not illegal, Romeo.
Harassment is illegal. Leave me alone. Leave HER alone.
Just give me one more chance. One more coffee. Just talk to me.
No.
Then I guess I’ll have to talk to your girlfriend instead. I’m sure she’d love to hear about how you’ve been meeting up with me behind her back.
I stare at that message with my heart pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat, taste copper in my mouth.
She wouldn’t. She can’t.
But I know she would. I know she’s unhinged enough to track down Juliette and tell her god knows what twisted version of events she’s concocted in her head.
I haven’t been meeting up with you. We had ONE coffee because you ambushed me in the parking lot.
That’s not how I remember it. And I have the Instagram messages to prove we’ve been talking. Wonder what your girlfriend would think about those?
She’s lying. We haven’t been talking. I blocked her.
Unless—
Fuck. The DM she sent. The one I saw and deleted. Did Juliette see it before I got rid of it?
I pull up Instagram with shaking hands and check my DMs. The conversation with Sienna is gone. Deleted. I made sure of that.
But maybe I didn’t delete it fast enough. Maybe my phone was unlocked on my nightstand. Maybe she saw it before I could erase it.
I block Sienna on this number too, then go through and block every social media platform I can think of. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, everything. My thumbs fly across the screen.
My phone immediately buzzes with a new number.
Blocking me isn’t going to work. I’ll always find a way to reach you.
And if I can’t reach you, I’ll reach her.
I’m shaking now. Anger and fear mixing together until I can’t tell which is which anymore, just this hot sick feeling in my gut.
If you contact her, if you go anywhere near her, I will get a restraining order. I’m not fucking around, Sienna.
You won’t. Because then you’d have to explain to her why you need one. You’d have to tell her about coffee. About how you hid it from her. About how you LIED.
