AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His next question takes me by surprise. “Why are you so calm about this?”
I put some soup in the microwave and set it on mouth-burning hot. I turn to him. “I’ve had a month to get used to it.”
“This has been going for a month?” He throws all caution to the wind, his voice hard. No longer is he walking on eggshells around me. “What the fucking hell, Agatha?”
My lips thin into a line. “I didn’t know it was a stalker at first. I thought the flowers and everything were from an admirer or something. Anonymous gifts don’t scream stalker to me every time.”
“So, what? Did you plan to wait him out?” Ian practically shouts at me.
I growl at him. “I did try to tell you! I called you that night, you asshole! And you brushed me aside like an insignificant insect. I was scared out of my fucking mind! Don’t you dare turn this around on me!”
Ian stills and then breathes out slowly. “That’s what you meant when I came to see you today.”
He stares at the bottle in his hand, and I narrow my eyes at him. “Don’t even think about throwing that against the wall.”
He slowly puts the bottle down on the coffee table beside him. “Who else knows?” I rub my hands over my face, suddenly feeling the strain of the day catching up.
“Zayn. He came to pick me up that day I called you.” Recounting details make it even more real and I see the fury amass in Ian’s eyes, alongside a creeping fear, as I tell him bits and pieces about the figure outside and the kind of gifts. “Zayn dragged it out of me today. I have to call Philip and tell him.” I sit down on the long couch that faces the flat screen television, feeling the beginnings of a headache. “Before you lose your shit at me, just know that Zayn already yelled at me. I was going to call Henry. I didn’t plan on putting myself in danger. I’m not stupid.”
When Ian doesn’t say anything, I become more wracked with nerves, and keep trying to fill the silence. “You guys would have insisted I move in with one of you, and I don’t want that. I hate being dependent on other people, even if it’s you all.” Ian is still silent, and his silence puts me on edge. “Say something, dammit!”
“Well, you clearly have a handle on this. I don’t see why you even need to tell us about it.” His voice is cool.
“Excuse me?” I stare at him. “You have no right to be—”
“Angry?” he interrupts, his eyes flashing with rage. “You are being harassed by a stalker who knows where you live and where you work, who’s been following you around, but your pride comes before your safety! You have four people in your life who would drop everything if you just ask, but you can’t do that, can you? Because God forbid Agatha McCoy ask another human being for help!”
I gape at him, but he doesn’t let me get a word in. “So I was a dick. I get it. You want to rub my face in it a little more, be my guest! I deserve it. But what about Fergus who thinks of you as his little sister? Or Philip? He actually is your brother! Even Zayn had to force you to tell him. Would you have preferred we wake up to the news that you are dead in your apartment or that somebody broke in and hurt you? Would that have satisfied your ego?”
The cruel blows rain on me, one after the other, and for the second time today, I feel the tears brimming in my eyes. I lower my head because I don’t want him to see me cry.
He is right.
I know he is. I should have told them when I had suspected something was wrong.
I feel the couch sink with his weight as he sits down next to me and pulls me into his arms, begging softly, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. You’re already going through… Please don’t cry.”
I try to pull away. “You didn’t say anything wrong. I should have—”
He curses when a tear falls down my cheek. “I wasn’t trying to make you cry, Agatha.”
In a quick movement, he has me in his lap. Feeling strangely raw and vulnerable after such a tumultuous day, the way his fingers untie my braid and run through my hair, it makes me feel shy. I try to get up, but he isn’t having any of it.
“I’m tired of being on the outs with you. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t work. I’m sorry for being a coward. But I won’t run away anymore. I love you, Agatha.”
His words are something I have longed to hear for so long but right now, I can’t bring myself to put my faith in the heart he is offering me. He must see the doubt on my face, as he forces me to look at him, saying seriously, “This isn’t something I’m just saying, Agatha. I mean it. I’ve loved you for a long time. You’ve always been special to me; I just never had a name for all those feelings. And now I do. The risk of losing you taught me what I need to know. I love you. And I can say it as many times as you want ‘til you believe me. These past few days have been hell.”
I force my tears back.
I am not a crier.
But it seems that is all I was doing today.
“I’m still mad at you,” I tell him, my voice thick.
He leans down and brushes his mouth against mine, his lips curved up slightly. “I know.”
The taste of his lips is rejuvenating, and the electricity that flows through my body at the mere touch has me shuddering.
