Page 74 of Lost on Ice
“Poor guy.”
Something in me, though, recognizes the look of a man who’s just had his world unexpectedly rattled by a woman.
Chapter Twenty-Four
ABBIE
I stare downat my phone, my heart twisting in my chest and my blood running cold. It happened again. He won’t go away.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Unknown: I’m running out of patience, Little Lamb.
This is the first text I’ve gotten since the stalker wrote his message to Jake on my sliding glass door last week. I knew he wasn’t giving up or anything, but seeing him reach out again like this is heart wrenching.
I start to shake and hope up from my desk, rushing to shut my office door so Dr. Westbrook doesn’t happen to walk by and see my distress.
Swallowing, I quickly take a screen shot of the message and send it to Detective Peterson so he has it for evidence.
Just as I hit send, my phone starts to ring, startling me so badly I nearly drop it. When I see that it’s Jake calling me, I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Hey,” I answer, quickly doing mybest to mask my fear so he doesn’t pick up on anything. “What’s up? Are you on your way back home?”
“I am,” he says, his deep voice sending heat pulsing through me immediately. “You okay?”
Fuck. This man’s way too perceptive.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I try to reassure him. “What’s up?”
He hesitates and I can tell he wants to push, but he seems to think better of it. “I had a thought that I wanted to run by you.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“I want to take you on a proper date tonight. What do you think?”
I can’t stop my smile, my heart leaping in my chest. A date? He wants to take me out on a date? Mr. No-Commitment, Only Hook-Ups, wants to take me on a real date?
“Yes, I’d love that!” I tell him.
There’s a moment of excited silence. I swear, I can feel him smiling through the phone. Then, remembering the text, I feel a pinch in my gut. I should tell him now, so we can keep it all positive on the date. With a deep sigh, I say in a more somber tone, “Well, first off, though… there’s something I should tell you, though. I got another message from the stalker.”
“What?” he growls. “What did he say?”
“It doesn’t matter. I sent it to Detective Peterson.”
“All right.” His voice drops before he hesitantly continues, “Maybe we should just stay in tonight then…”
“No!” I gasp, my heart twisting. “I mean, no, I… I don’t want to live my life in fear of this guy. Sooner or later, he’ll slip up and the police will catch him. Besides, I feel safe when I’m with you.”
I hear his sharp intake of breath through the phone. “Oh? Well, I mean, I suppose if you feel safe with me, then we could probably go out and it will be fine.”
He sounds pleased, though he’s trying to hide it and that makes me beam.
“Great,” I murmur. “I’m looking forward to it.”
We hang up and I’m still smiling. Just talking to him makes me feel more at ease. Pulling up the security camera app on my phone, I check the apartment - the front door, the balcony, the living room - and am relieved that everything seems peaceful and quiet. I tell myself it’ll be okay - I can go out with Jake and have a good time. The apartment is secure. There’s still a police patrol that drives by the building throughout the day, and Detective Peterson has the stalker’s latest text.
I’m safe. I can enjoy myself and have a good time, so I’m going to take the words I said to Jake to heart.
I’m not going to live my life in constant fear. That would just be letting the fucker win.
