AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m fine.” I square my shoulders and manage a smile. “It’s just a little…unnerving, you know?”
Diane knows about the fake CPS call, but she doesn’t know about Dad trying to harass me into giving him Amy. It’s something I don’t want to concern her with. Maybe I’ll tell her once things have died down and Dad and Megan have backed off; it’s certainly too much for me, and I’m involved in the mess.
“Well, let’s get inside, and then we can get back to work.” Diane gestures at the back of the car. “Help me get this stuff out, will you?”
“Sure.” I join her and help Diane drag one of the cases out. “If only we could hire a strong young man with muscles to move our equipment around. It would make things a lot easier.”
“We could ask Trevor for help,” Diane suggests. “If you fancy having him chat you up again?”
“Not a chance. I’d rather do my back in than have him help me out with the expectation of something in return.”
Diane laughs.
“I’ll see if we can get a hot young guy to be our personal assistant and muscles. I’m sure we can stretch the budget.”
The hilarity makes me feel a little better, and it helps me concentrate on getting things out of the back of the car. At least we don’t have to take things up stairs, otherwise I would be giving in and asking Trevor for help.
I prefer to keep him at arm’s length after what he said to me.
We carry the first case over to our studio door, and Diane unlocks it. Lucia holds it open for us and we stagger inside.
“Where did Trevor go?” Diane asks as she puts the case down with a gasp. “I thought you guys came here together.”
“I don’t know. He said he needed to check something and went off somewhere. I don’t know what he’s up to.” Lucia turns as the door opens again. “Where have you been?”
“Sorry.” Trevor enters the studio, unzipping his jacket. “I thought I’d follow that weirdo and see what he was up to.”
I stare at him.
“You actually went after him? What were you planning on doing?”
“I don’t know. He was acting really oddly, and I saw him go around the side of the building instead of going towards the parking lot.”
“So you decided the best thing to do was to go after him?” Lucia shakes her head. “God, you’re such an idiot.”
“Well, two lovely ladies work here alone.” Trevor gestures at Diane and myself. “I want to be sure they’re safe.”
“And this isn’t going to get them to drop their panties for you, Trevor,” Lucia shot back. Then she nods at the camera in Trevor’s hand. “Where did you get that from?”
“He saw me following me and ran, but he dropped this.” Trevor’s expression turns grim and he looks at me. “There are a lot of pictures of you on here, Elle.”
I blink.
“What? Of me?”
Trevor holds out the camera, which I take and look through the memory card. As I click through them all, I feel dread settle in my stomach. Sure enough, the pictures are of me. I’m in the foreground in all of them. Sometimes, I’m with Amy, and in others I’m with Luke, who has his arm around me. We look like a little family.
But this frightens me. Someone has been following us. If that was Dad who had run away…
“Elle?” Diane is at my side. “You okay? You’re as white as a sheet.”
“I…I think I need to sit down.” I can feel myself swaying. “This…I…”
“Okay, darling, come and sit here.” Diane leads me over to a stool and helps me sit. Then she takes the camera from me, flicking through the photos herself. Her eyes get rounder and rounder. “Holy…someone’s been following you around for a while.”
I can’t answer. I just nod. Lucia looks worried.
“Should we call the cops?” she asks. “What if he comes back?”
