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With that, Sam ended the call, but a few moments later, I heard the phone buzz again. I looked at Wick, even though he was driving, waiting for him to give me what he knew I wanted.
“Fine,” he sighed, after a few minutes. “You can pull them up on the console screen.”
I did exactly that, opening up the text thread with Sam after Wick keyed in the numbers that unlocked his phone. For a second, I just stared, not fully processing what I was seeing, but then a blunt wave of nausea hit me as the image focused.
Pictures.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of pictures of me, lining the walls of Asher’s apartment. I could tell just based on my hairstyles that some of the pictures were older, but others were very,veryrecent. Not promotional shots, or images taken from my social media. Clandestine shots of me at the grocery store, at the gym, from a gap in my curtains. Racy pictures I’d sent to Kellen back when we were still on good terms. Shots where I’d flashed the camera, shots where I’d… pulled my panties aside. Pictures that were only ever meant for my husband’s eyes, and now…
“I’m going to be sick,” I said aloud, and Wick immediately pulled over, even though we were nearly back at the house. I barely had the door open before the contents of my stomach relieved themselves from my body. With my head still hanging, I stepped away from the car, trying to take in gulps of fresh air.
After a few moments, I felt Wick’s hand on my back, but I was so mortified that I stepped away, shaking my head.
“Monica… I amsosorry. But Sam is lead on this now – he took over the whole thing. He took those shots to send me, so that we would know the full scope of this, but if I know him – and I do – he’s making sure no one else seesthesepictures.”
I scoffed. “What, he’s gonna destroy evidence? Is that what you’re saying to me?”
“I’m saying that he’ll make sure you aren’t further violated, yes. Cops make shit disappear all the time. Nobody will blink about this. I know that doesn’t make it okay, but… I hope it at least… I don’t know. Tell me what to do.”
Just the fact that he wanted to make it better almost brought a smile to my face, but I was still so disgusted that it wouldn’t surface. Just knowing that Asher had intentionally surrounded himself with those images – my personal,privateimages – every single day…
“Let’s get you to the house, okay?” Wick asked, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to lead me back to the car. There, he pulled a bottle of water from a compartment in the armrest, and I used it to rinse out my mouth before accepting the gum he’d offered.
I appreciated that he didn’t say anything for the rest of the short drive home. His mind was racing – I could just tell – but whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.
There was a Range Rover – Kay’s – in the driveway when we pulled up, but Wick didn’t immediately seek her out. He took me to his room first, running a bath and settling me into it before he left me to myself, to soak, and to… think.
But I didn’twantto think.
What I wanted was to not think about any of this, forallof it to go away andstayaway. Earlier, I’d considered all of this to be overwhelming, but that was nothing when compared with…this. Those pictures… that had been the thing that launched me over the edge, whereas before, I’d just been toeing the line.
Where did he even get them?
That was the question plaguing me now. And the other shots… had he been following me?Stalkingme, like Sam had suggested? Whatever the case, it occurred to me now the danger I’d been in without knowing. I’d been alone with Asher countless times, and the only time he’d indulged his apparent desire had been that night in the hotel.
But he’d seemed so apologetic, so ashamed of himself afterward.
Had that just been a test?
Was he simply gauging my reaction?
I pushed out a deep sigh, and closed my eyes. I was feeling sick to my stomach again, and I’d already brushed my teeth twice before Wick put me in the bath.
There was no sense in making myself queasy over someone else’s actions, when I had enough other things to be stressed about. Instead of running it over in my mind any further, I kept my eyes closed, and focused on pushing away every thought.
When I opened my eyes again, the water was cold.
As I woke up, my body reacted to the frigid water with violent shivers, so strong that I barely pulled myself out. I silently thanked Wick for the heated floors in his bathroom, and the towel warmer he’d draped my robe over.
I let out a long sigh as I wrapped myself in the heated terry cloth, then looked around, realizing that there was no longer any daylight streaming in from outside.
Was I really in the tub that long?
My heavily pruned fingers and toes said yes, but I was still skeptical as I pulled open the door to the bedroom. Surely Wick would’ve checked on me before now, not letting me stay in a cold bathtub for hours. But… the clock beside his empty bed told the same story as the darkened sky.
Something had to be wrong.
When I opened the door to his room, the hallway, and most of the house, was dark. There was a light on behind the door that led to Kay’s room, and behind the door to Wick’s office. I chose the office.
