Page 59 of Discord
“Hmm.”
“Again with thehmm.”
“You’re telling me this guy took you to Italy and tried to keep you there, so you had to run away from him.”
Well, it sounded bad when Chris put it that way. “I guess.”
“After he found you out, he tricked your family into letting him stay at your house and that’s before he unofficially moved you intohishome?”
“Sort of.”
“And when you tried breaking things off, he got leverage on you and started showing up unannounced in the dark to keep an eye on you.”
“Uh huh.”
“And you have an IQ of 155?”
I gritted my teeth. “151. What’s your point?”
“He’s the one stalking you.”
Chris’ laughter ensued while I clenched my teeth, called him ajerk, and hung up. However, Chris’ words swarmed my mind.
He’s the one stalking you.
I always wondered how Brandon would react if he found out why we coincidentally ran into each other at that bar in Nice. Would he go off the railing and accuse me of trapping him like Carmen did with his father? There was credit to his accusation since my stalking technically led to the situation.
Though I doubted Brandon would parrot his feelings once he saw me in a new light, I now had to wonder if there was validity to Chris’ words?
Had the stalker become the one being stalked?
Suddenly, the answer on how to alleviate Brandon’s apprehensions—so we could pursue a normal relationship—hit me like a hurricane. It was so simple I was shocked to have overlooked it.
Chris claimed Brandon was just as fucked in his pursual of me. If Chris was correct in the assumption, then instead of being petrified of being found out for my past stalking habits, it was my greatest asset.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I opened my laptop. I started typing an email to Brandon—a long one—disclosing every one of my shortcomings, along with my misdeeds.
My growing obsession with him over the years.
Stalking him at various spots he frequented around the city.
Stalking him in Nice.
Vehemently, I insisted that I had not set him up the first time we met, but I wondered if he’d believe me. Nonetheless, I came clean, ending the email with the biggest truth of my life.“There can never be anyone else because I’ve always been yours.”
I sent it.
And then I waited.
Brandon never drove off until I turned off all the lights in my room. His car was still parked outside, and he’d receive my email any minute now.
It was a gamble.
In the best-case scenario, this email would be the reassurance Brandon sought in our relationship. My email was proof that there was no need to manipulate me into being with him.
Alternately, Brandon might view my past as betrayal for setting him up, just like Carmen. I saw the way he treated her at the beach. He gave her a broomstick when they ran out of mustard and asked if she could hop on it and fly to the nearest store for more.
I checked my phone for a text or call from Brandon. He must have read it by now. I kept a look out for his car while awaiting a response to my email. My heart sank when the black Mustang jumped to life. The engines roared as Brandon drove off into the night, this time without slowing down under my window as he passed.
