Page 177 of Creep

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Mael had to leave early.

I knew that.

He had said so the night before. Something about following up on his next target. I didn’t ask for details, and he didn’t offer any more than that.

But I was still disappointed when I woke up alone in bed. Granted, it was pushing noon. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until I woke up, and the sun shone brightly through the apartment window.

I got up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out. A thin blanket of pure white snow covered New York.

Even still, I could see people moving about on the street below, hitting me with a pang of yearning for my own normalcy. I hadn’t been back to the coffee shop. I was sure I had been fired from the place, not that I blamed them. Though I figured I had a pretty good chance of getting my job back, considering Mael was the fucking owner.

The thought didn’t make the fact that I was still trapped here any easier to take in though. It wasn’t like I could go back to work now. And it wasn’t like I was so passionate about my barista job that I wanted it back.

But at least while I was working at the coffee shop, my day was filled. Now I felt like a lost puppy, just waiting for Mael to come home every night, and worried sick out of my mind that he might not.

I shook away the thought before it could take root. Mael was capable. And strong. He was going to come back home to me, no matter what.

I walked away from the window and to the bathroom to get ready for my day.

I might not have a job right now, but there was something I could do. With that in mind, I felt a little better.

* * *

The elevator door pinged open,and I got up from where I had been sitting on the couch to greet Theo standing there.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly.

His facial expression didn’t change when he responded with an even “Hi.”

“Thanks for coming. Mael’s busy, and I… I didn’t know who else to call.”

I didn’t know who else I could trust at this point, and since Mael trusted Theo, I trusted him too, even if I didn’t know him all that well.

I didn’t want to think about the fact that there were only two people I could trust in this world: my former stalker and a man I didn’t know very well.

“You don’t have to thank me, but are you sure you want to do this? Have you talked about it with Mael?”

“Mael’s not the boss of me, and yes, I have thought about this. No matter how our friendship ended, I still have to tell her about Leo… and my father.”

I had decided when I woke up today that I needed to see Victoria. She wasn’t answering my calls, so the only option was to go to her. Luckily, I knew where she worked.

“All of it?” he asked. There wasn’t any judgment or reprimand in his voice. He simply sounded curious.

I shook my head. I was still trying to wrap my head around the truth about the two men I had grown up loving and trusting with everything in me.

I didn’t know how to put all that into words, let alone tell another person about it.

He nodded once, as if that was all he needed before we were off.

I snuck glances over at Theo for most of the ride there. He was quiet. There was something calming and cool about him that just contrasted with Mael that I couldn’t help noticing.

And they didn’t look the same, despite being brothers. His light-brown hair was cut short, almost like a buzz cut, and his nose was much more delicate than Mael’s. His frame was tall and lean, whereas Mael seemed to build up in bulk, though Theo wasn’t by any means scrawny. He looked like he could take care of himself, which made sense, considering how he and Mael had grown up. But his eyes…

He had Mael’s eyes.

And I hadn’t realized it until Mael told me who Leo was to him, but they both had Leo’s eyes.

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