Page 76 of Always Watching

Looking over my shoulder to make sure he’s not coming out, I tiptoe to the closet and pull it open. His door creaks, because the house is old, so I have to inch it open. Since I’m such a small guy, I only need a small gap to slide through.

Once inside, my eyes roam around as I try to locate where he may have hidden my phone. Most of his clothes are on hangers and his shoes are lined up perfectly against the wall. After checking inside his shoes, I look up at the boxes where he keeps his important papers. The lid of one of theboxes is slightly off center. I smile. Olly isn’t that bright. Then again, he probably didn’t expect me to come in here to search for my phone while he’s in the shower.

I grab at the edge of the box and pull it down carefully, not wanting to mess up how he has things arranged. I don’t want him to know until after dinner that I found where he hid my phone.

Opening the box, I expect to see my cell among a few important documents or folders or something inside. But what I see makes my blood run cold.

A teddy bear is nestled in the box. A wheat-brown Build-A-Bear with a blue sweater that has Olly’s name sewn on it.

With a shaky hand, I reach into the box and press the paw of the bear to hear its song. ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’ blares around me. I gasp and drop the box, stumbling back into the room.

“You see why North’s brother wouldn’t be my type?” Olly asks in a sinister voice from his bedroom door.

I whirl around with wide eyes, but freeze in my tracks. Olly has a gun pointed at me, the chrome muzzle sending fear skirting down my spine. “Olly. What are you doing? What is this?”

He keeps the gun pointed at me as he steps closer. “I thought you’d see me, Ranen. Of all people, I thought you’d see that it was me all along. I was the person who was right for you.”

“Olly,” I murmur, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“I love you, Ranen. I’ve always loved you. I thought after all the letters and gifts I left for you, you’d come to me for protection. You’d want me to be your knight in shining armor and I’d make you love me too.”

I feel the blood drain from my face. Everything feels cold and unreal. “You… you did that? Everything?”

My eyes snag on his and I see it. They’re the eyes that I’d stared into as I was getting the shit beaten out of me. The eyes that swam in my nightmares and would give me anxiety attacks out of nowhere. The eyes of the man who put me in the hospital… made me fear going home because I thought he’d be behind every closed door.

To my surprise, he smiles. And it transforms his face from the face of my best friend, who I’ve known for years, to a sinister man I don’t recognize. “Oh, yeah. Everything. When you were in the hospital… I thought then that you’d see we belong together.”

“You beat me up,” I whisper.

He nods. “Only to get you to come to me. But that fucking North had to intervene. How did he know I was there?” He asks the question almost to himself. “Doesn’t matter. You’re done with him. You and me? We’re going to be together.” Olly motions with his gun. “We’ll go away. I have a place for us, a place I planned to take you to while you were healing from your injuries. It’s all set up. We won’t have to leave for weeks. I’llget you to see that we’re perfect for each other. Me and you are meant to be. Not you and that—”

I take the chance to rush at him, pushing him out of the way so I can try to run. Olly goes down, but I go down with him. The gun flies out of his hand, skittering across the floor. I use that opportunity to push away from Olly, and try to run for the door.

His hand snaps out and grabs my ankle and he pulls hard. I lose my balance and fall to the floor, hitting my head roughly on the hardwood.

I’m disoriented from the hard knock I just took, and it costs me seconds.

Olly turns me over and straddles me. He backhands me across the face, making my head snap to the side. He does it again on the other cheek, and my head snaps in the other direction. “You already know you can’t win a fight against me, Ranen.”

I whimper, my hands going to my cheeks.

My head feels fuzzy, my vision blacking around the edges. “Please don’t hurt me,” I whisper.

Olly sighs, touching my jaw gently. I jump at the contact. “I would never hurt you, Ranen. Those hits? They were to get your attention. All of this was to get your attention. Once you’re mine, you’ll see I would do anything to make you happy.”

How do I get out of this? How do I call for help? How do I call for North? Olly has my phone and I told North I’d call him when I was ready.

I should have given him a specific time to pick me up. He won’t know for hours that I’m in trouble.

I have to fight. I can’t allow him to take me away from here. If I do, North won’t be able to find me and Olly might kill me. He almost succeeded when he broke into my apartment all those months ago.

How could I have been so stupid? With Mr. Barlowe being so creepy, I thought we had the right man. I thought Northkilledthe right man. But now I see the man that I should have been worried about was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Olly had me fooled. I felt so safe, so protected around him. If I’m honest, I would have gone with him so he could take care of me if North hadn’t been around. He’s always been so good to me, never showing any signs that he would hurt me so badly—not just physically, but emotionally.

My heart is shattered. Olly was my best friend, the only person in my corner before I had North. He was there for me after my grandpa died, spending countless nights comforting me when I woke up in tears or couldn’t function through my grief.

I look up at him, my eyes wet with tears. “Why didn’t you just say you wanted us to be more than friends? You never said—”

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