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“Nothing,” I say insistently, but I can’t look him in the eye. He’s going to know it’s bullshit. “It’s… an old thing from forever ago. It just freaked me out.”
He doesn’t believe me, likely because of my terrible attempts to hide how scared I am. “Let me see it.”
“No, it’s-”
He doesn’t listen. He’s got this whole super-powerful thing about him that makes him forget sometimes where boundaries are, like when he went ahead and took care of my hotel room for me without asking my permission. He means well, but he doesn’t know when to stop. He snatches the note up and reads it, and that’s when I notice the writing on the back.
Wait till tomorrow.
Before I read that, I might have been able to convince myself that it wasn’t from Tony, that it was just a regular threat. ‘Don’t scream. You’re next’ could be from any kind of stalker. It could have just been a coincidence, but no, it’s not. He must’ve dug deep in his memories to pull out the exact words that would affect me the most.
I gotta get out of here. Out of this restaurant, out of ABQ, out of New Mexico- hell if I can find a way out of the US, I’m going. “I have to go. I’m going to-”
Rhett looks up at me with a fury I’ve never seen on his face before. “What is this? Who sent this to you?”
The room is getting smaller. I can’t breathe. “It’s nothing.”
“Hey, Pres, I- What’s going on?”
Oh god, there’s someone else here now. My vision is blurred by tears so I can’t see the man speaking, but there are too many people in this tiny breakroom and I couldn’t breathe before, so now it’s just getting worse.
“Look at this,” Rhett says to the other guy. I wish he wouldn’t. They’re blocking my way to the door, or I’d take off and let them read it without my presence. I’d let them read it a million times if it made them feel better, as long as I didn’t have to be here.
“What the fuck? Who sent this to you?” the stranger asks.
My legs buckle and I slide down to the floor. “I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know how he’s doing this.” Tony is supposed to be in prison for a while longer. This can’t be happening.
“Are you in danger?” His voice is so deep and angry and it’s scaring me even more.
“I don’t know.” I don’t think so. I shouldn’t be.
“Has this guy hurt someone before?” He has so many questions! He sounds like the fucking police investigators.
“Yes, but he shouldn’t be able to find me. He can’t be here.” He’s not supposed to be able to find me, to know where I am, and I don’t know how he could get to me. He’s in prison, how the hell would he get a note to me from prison?
“Take her to your place, Skids, until we figure this out,” Rhett says, automatically making orders like he always does, but it’s not his life. He has no idea what’s going on so he doesn’t get to just make decisions.
“No, no.” I can’t just leave with a stranger I’ve never met. I can take care of myself. I always have. If they would just quit blocking my way to the exit I could get the hell out of here and move on to the next place. It’s not what I want- I like it here and I’d like to stay, but I can’t.
Rhett walks over and kneels in front of me. “Phoebe, Josiah will protect you. He has a safehouse. There’s so much security there even I couldn’t even get in without him letting me in. You’ll be safe there.”
“He found me.” It’s real. My boss is offering me a place in a fucking safehouse because I’m actuallynotsafe anymore outside of it. Ican’ttake care of this myself anymore. Somehow the worst person I’ve ever crossed paths with has found me and gotten a note to me. Whether he wrote it or not I can’t know, but he either got out of prison early without me knowing and dropped it off for me, or he convinced someone to do it for him.
Would someone have warned me if he escaped prison? What if they don’t know yet that he’s missing?
Josiah approaches me slowly, nudging Rhett out of the way and holding his hand out to me. “We’ll go through the back so nobody sees you,” he tells me in a softer voice that encourages me to trust him, but I don’t think I’m capable. “At least there you’ll be able to calm down. Then you can leave, okay?”
“I don’t know you.” I’m still unable to clear my vision and get a good look at him, but I know that he’s not Tony, which is about all I can hope for I guess. Still, he’s a complete stranger and if it wasn’t for the idea of a safe place to catch my breath, I’d tell him to go fuck himself and to stay out of my business.
“My safehouse was built to keep bad people out, not keep good people in. You can leave whenever you want. Let me protect you from the bad people on the outside.”
“Josiah won’t hurt you,” Rhett adds. “Get out of here.”
Josiah pulls me from the ground easily and looks down at me. "Let's at least get you away from here, okay?'
Away from here, where Tony could be? Yeah, I need to go there. I barely restrain myself from rushing into his arms. I'm spinning out of control. Iamin danger and I don't know how to get out of it.
Safety is what I need, and I can't provide that for myself. I trust my boss. I've seen him and his lawyer girlfriend here several times. I don't think he would take any risks with me. A safehouse with tons of security? I want to at least see it. I’ll catch my breath, maybe relax for a minute, and then leave. No big deal. It’s a generous offer, and one I’d be stupid to turn down right now.
