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“I’m not sure. I only know what the newspapers have been saying. Have you talked to your boss yet?”
“No, not yet. You’re the first one I called. Can you let everyone else know that I’m okay and that I’ll be in touch when Jasper’s heat is over?”
“Yeah I can do that,” Sidney replied. “How's the heat going?”
“I feel like I’ve been climbing mountains.” I laughed quietly. “Everything hurts, but I’m glad I ended up being here for him.”
“Good. Take it easy when this is all over. I’ll let you get caught up with your boss and get back to your pack. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I sent a quick text to Miranda to update her so she wouldn’t keep worrying.
I dialed Patricia next and hit her voicemail. “Hey Patricia, it's Nicky. I’m so, so sorry that I haven’t been in contact. I totally understand if I’m fired over all of this, but I swear it wasn’t on purpose.”
I gave her a quick rundown on how I had ended up in my situation and hung up, hoping that I’d still have a job at the end of all of this, but with the library in the state that it was, who knew if we had any jobs to go back to. Losing my little sanctuary would devastate me, and my stomach heaved at the thought.
If Alphonse had done this to get back at me…
I shook my head and set my phone aside. I hadn’t had enough rest to sit through all of the messages that awaited me. I left out some extra dry food for Roscoe and filled him up a fresh bowl of water. Poor little thing had been a bit neglected during all of this. At least Spud was with Sidney and Allie. He’d have been screaming outside Jasper's door the entire time if he’d been here too.
My skin started to itch being out of the nest, so I gave Roscoe one final pat and made my way back to the stairs.
“Nice whorehouse you’ve gotten for yourself. Do you pay for the luxury here with sex?”
I spun in place and froze, my heart pounding, panic buzzing in my ears.
Alphonse stepped out of the dining room.
“What the fuck?” I crossed my arms over my bare chest, wishing I’d grabbed a robe to come down here. “What do you want?”
“I thought I’ve been very clear about that. And don’t bother covering up. It's nothing I haven’t seen.” He sighed, his voice unnervingly soft. “Nicky, be reasonable. I know that you love me. You waited for me to come back until this pack brainwashed you. If you would come with me, we could talk: clear your head from their influence.”
My skin crawled.
“How did you find me?”
Alphonse shrugged. “You showed me right where you were. I followed you from the grocery store. One of my friends works there and told me when you came in, though it took a while to figure out how to bypass the security for the community. They should really invest in a better alarm system for their home. I’ve been waiting for you to come down so we could go together.”
My brain tried to process what was happening, but I was tired and hungry and dehydrated. Of course he decided to show up when I was at my worst, when I didn’t even have a stitch of clothing on. One instinct from childhood burrowed to the surface—call 911 in an emergency—and I tapped 911 on my phone, hitting the call button. I couldn’t speak to them without alerting him, but maybe they would get here in time?
“To think you were right next door to my own mother all this time.” His body became rigid. “She’d been talking about you, calling you Kiki for some fucking reason. I didn’t realize it was you. I could have saved you from these people sooner if I had.”
“So youdidbreak into my apartment? Why?”
I heard a quiet voice from my phone and turned down the volume so Alphonse wouldn’t notice.
“I had to besurethat it was you. Your lock wasn’t very secure. You had pictures everywhere, and that confirmed it. I’ll admit I got a little out of hand in there, but you have to understand how much you’ve hurt me with your behaviour, Nicky. What was I supposed to do when everything I offered you was rejected so you could degrade yourself for these people? You’re not well. You need to get some space from them.”
“Get out,” I snapped, panic making my voice squeaky.
He tutted. “That's not very welcoming.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be, jackass.”
Alphonse stepped towards me, and I backtracked into the living room, hitting my ass on the couch and bringing myself to a stop.
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten quite that snappy.
