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“Will he be okay?” Anxiety fills my throat.
“He will be okay. Don’t worry,” Matt says. “Good night, Parker.”
“Good night.”
He climbs back into the car and I watch as he disappears out of the drive and heads back to Hampton Bays, before I turn around to the house.
If I remember correctly, there’s a key in the angel water fountain just ahead. I go over to the fountain and place my hands into the cold water, and move the large stones around before I find the key.
I walk up to the house and climb the porch. When I shove the key into the lock and open the door, a strong scent of jasmine fills my senses and I smile because I know it’s my mom’s perfume.
Everything is clean and warm inside. It’s as if it hadn’t really changed since I had last been here and it means my mom still comes here now and then.
I switch on a few lights and even though I’d love to take a walk back into my childhood memories, I find my way to the living room and drop onto the beige couch before falling asleep. One thought keeps on playing in my head over and over like a nightmare.
Everything between Hudson and I is over before it even began.
Epilogue
Parker
I wake up to the sounds of birds chirping happily along with my phone ringing unnaturally loud. It rang a few hours ago, but I ignored whoever was deciding to be a pain in the ass at such ungodly hours.
My head is spinning and whatever peace I had for the last few hours is now over.
Turning over, I force my eyes open and grab my phone. When I switch it on, I see several notifications bombarding my phone screen.
There’s over twenty missed calls and fifty-five new text messages from Hudson. I feel like laughing and crying at the same time.
Clearing his notifications, I see new calls from my mother, Lex and my father and one new missed call from a number I don’t recognise.
I couldn’t just disappear for a few hours and be alone? Taking a deep, shaky breath, I call my mother first.
She answers on the second ring. “Parker? Are you okay?”
I sit on the edge of the couch, massaging my temples. “I’m fine, mom. Why wouldn’t I be okay?” She doesn’t care to call any other day, why does it concern her now?
I can hear her exhale a sigh of relief. “Because Hudson called us early this morning and told us that he took you to the Hamptons for Spring Break. He also told us that you were acting crazy and disappeared last night. He sounded really concerned. What is going on with you?”
I was acting crazy? He sure had some balls.
“Oh, he did? Yeah, I’m fine Mom. Thanks for the concern, but I’m fine. I’ll be back in Manhattan tomorrow and I’ll call you then. Love you.” I end the call before she can tell me anything else.
I really don’t have any patience for anyone this morning. I don’t want to call Lex. I don’t want to speak to Hudson most of all, but I am curious about the new number, so I call it back.
The dialling tone stops and the call is answered. But there’s just static silence on the other end of the line.
“Hello?” I say. “Who is this? You called me.”
There’s more silence until a female voice finally speaks.”I was curious about who he was fucking now. You look like you’re the new victim.”
There’s a funny nauseating feeling that fills my gut. “Who the hell is this? If Hudson put you up to this, gladly fuck off and tell him to do so too.”
The woman laughs as if it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “No, he didn’t. And I, I was just like you, until he decided he didn’t want me anymore,” she says. “You see that’s the way it works with him. You know how we all have our hidden demons, with Hudson it’s quite different.”
I stay silent, my strong heartbeat pounds in my ears like a violent drumbeat.
The woman continues. “He will suck the life out of you. Everything that makes you happy will be gone. And you will never escape until he decides he’s had enough. It’s as if he has a devil within him because he doesn’t work the same way as we all do. He is a monster. I’ll be in touch Parker.”
