Page 43 of Tempt My Heart

"I didn't mean to—I tried my best and—"

"Your best isn't good enough. What am I supposed to do with the shit you sent me? Are you still trying to stall me like before? Because I promise I won’t let you off so easily this time and it won’t just be you who pays the price.” He was panting and spittle flew as he yelled, making her shy back.

Mouth running dry, she croaked out, "No! Look, I'm sorry I'm not a professional photographer, okay? I did what I could."

He watched her with a strange vacant look in his eyes and when he stepped toward her she stumbled back. "The consequences,” he said softly, “are on you. Maybe it will help motivate you totrya little harder next time."

She didn’t know what else to say and he seemed to be done talking, shoving his way past her without another word, his shoulder knocking into her so hard that she knew she’d have a bruise.

He’d seemed more unhinged than usual, and it made her wonder what exactly he was mixed up in to need the money from the photos so badly. Then there were the drugs he’d somehow managed to have planted… It all added up to a worrying picture—worse, he’d managed to drag her and Christopher into his mess too. She hurried home, anxious about what she might find when she got there. Any semblance of calm had been stripped away as her brain worked to conjure up the worst-case scenarios possible. She paced back and forth in her apartment as her breaths left her in rasps that bordered on a wheeze and she didn't know what to do. What had he meant when he said the consequences were on her? What was he planning?

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she’d seen him, but her legs ached from pacing so vigorously and her jaw hurt from clenching it. Dark spots danced in her vision and she knew she needed help when she sank to the ground and couldn’t move.

Her fingers felt numb as she scrolled through her contacts for Christopher's number. Everything felt far away as it rang in her ear and Christopher's voice seemed tinny when he answered. "Hello? Ali?"

She couldn't seem to get her voice to work or her lips to move as fear kept her paralyzed. Was Jared going to hurt her? Or her mother?

"Are you at home?" She heard Christopher ask faintly and she managed to get just one word past her chattering teeth.

"Yes."

"Stay there. I'm coming."

The phone slipped from fingers that felt stiff with cold and she barely noticed as it thumped to her living room floor.

What could Jared be doing right at that moment? What if he was on his way to her place right then? What if he got to her before Christopher did?

She fell when she tried to stand and staggered into the chairs surrounding the dining table before she managed to get past them and into the kitchen. At least Freya and Jesse were both out, Jared wouldn't be able to hurt them if he came for her.

All of her memories of him smiling and laughing with her were now overlaid by the smug smirk on his face when he'd looked up at the video recording, and the calm with which he'd said he'd hurt her at the burger joint. He’d seemed strung out when he’d confronted her on the way home, but she’d never seen him like that before or seen him doing drugs when they were together.

She grabbed one of the biggest knives in the kitchen she could find and hurried to her bedroom. She needed to call her mom.

The phone rang for what seemed like forever, Ali's breaths sounding back at her through the white noise of phone static until it picked up with a click.

"Mom?"

"Oh hey, kiddo. I was actually just about to call you—"

"Mom, you need to listen to me. Take Caleb and get out of town. Just for tonight, okay?"

There was a pause and then she said slowly, "I'm already out of town, honey. I had tickets to the show in Richmond, remember?"

A tear dripped down her face as relief overwhelmed her. "Okay, good. That's good. I-I have to go. I'll call you later okay?"

"Wait, Alison—"

She hung up and then jumped at a thump at the front door. The lamp in her room was on low, so she closed the door and crept out into the darkness of the living area, crouching down by the sofa to peer at the door as someone tried the handle.

Her fingers curled tightly around the hilt of the knife until she felt sure she would have the imprint of it etched into her palm forever. The door rattled as someone pounded on it.

Surely Jared wouldn't knock?

"Ali? Are you okay?"

The knife clattered to the ground as she ran to the door and unlocked it, flinging it wide and then swaying when she saw Christopher standing on the threshold.

"You came," she whispered and he reached for her as soon as he stepped inside the apartment.

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