Page 80 of The Burdens We Share
He extends the phone to me. “Look, she called and hung up two seconds later.”
I grab the phone from his hands and see the timestamp. She called and hung up just like he said. I feel Harvey’s gaze burning into the side of my face as he voices, “What are the odds that she did that on purpose?”
Slater confidently replies, “Likely odds.”
I give up on finding the stalker’s IP address and switch over to Aria’s IP address. Only seconds later I smirk, this is mucheasier. “I found them. They’re at the movie set.”
Ivory
ICE SPREADS THROUGH MYveins and all the way to my heart. Brody’s frantic blue eyes find mine. I rest my hand on top of hers and whip my head around to face him. As my eyes land on my stalker for the first time, I suck in a sharp breath. I recognize this man. He’s the man I saw in the photo with Connor. The one who made my skin crawl with his pasty skin and intensive blue eyes of ice. Now, as he stares at me with a mischievous grin on his face, his platinum blond hair tousled and unkempt, his name comes back to mind. “Calvin,” I whisper. I remember seeing his name when I was online stalking Connor. So he knows Connor. Is Connor in on this whole thing? Was it part of their plan for him to be arrested?
His head cocks to the side, “You know my name? My my. Has my darling girl been doing her homework on me the way I have her?”
Is he insinuating thatIstalkedhim? I scoff, “No actually. Connor Mulligan. You just so happened to show up in a picture with him. How do you know him? Is he in on all this?”
Calvin smiles but I don’t fail to notice how it never meets his dead eyes. “He’s my cousin and no my love, he is not ‘in on this.’”
Calvin and Connor are cousins. “So you framed him?” I question, my eyes narrowing at him.
He takes a step closer to me and I take an instinctive one back, but the back of my knees hit Brody and my ass is practically in her face, but I don’t move. I refuse to not act as a shield between her and him. Calvin shakes his head as he begins to pace the area he stands in, “I guess if you would like to call it that.”
“You’re sick. Framing your own family,” I raise my chin in defiance, my voice laced with bitterness.
Good job, Ivory. Buy time.
He chuckles, “I had to do what I had to do for you. Forus.”
I spit, “I wouldneverbe with you.”
Brody groans behind me as if to tell me to shut up and not rile him up.
His smile falls and his soulless eyes light up with rage, “That’s because that piece of shit Carter has gotten in your head and poisoned your mind.” He closes the distance between us before I can retreat, but even if I could, I wouldn’t. I refuse to expose Brody to him. He’s only inches from me, his hot breath on my cheeks as he raises his hands and gently grazes them over my cheeks. My heart races with fear and the breath barely escapes my lungs.
Calvin’s fingers caress my skin, commit it to memory and I feel nauseous. I want to vomit right here all over him because it feels so incredibly wrong to be touched by him. Selfishly, all I want in this moment is Dallas. I want him more than anything to shield me from this the way he always has. “I can’t believe I’m finally touching you,” he whispers. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to touch you.”
Buy time. Buy time.I remind myself. “Dallas didn’t poison my mind. He didn’t have to. I never would’ve wanted you,” I seethe, hatred clear in my voice.
I watch a flicker of something in his eyes and a split second later, he’s overtaken by that rage again. Clearly, he’s volatile, unhinged. His moods are subject to change at every second. His hands fall from my cheeks and land on my throat where he squeezes. My eyes widen and I try to suck in a gasp, but my air is cut off. His hands are so tight around my neck I’m already feeling the lack of oxygen in my head. I grip his wrists so tight, trying to pry his hands off me, but they don’t move. He holds me so firmly that my feet are barely touching the ground. Brody groans and shrieks behind me.
Fuck. I knew this would happen. I knew he was insane and yet, I still egged him on. I fucking knew he would kill me.Three go in, three come out. I remind myself.I can not die today.
He lowers his face to mine, “Do not ever lie to me again.” Well, I would say I’m surprised by how delusional a person could be, but I’m not. I knew he was deranged before all of this.
Spots start to dot my vision and I feel my eyelids growing heavier. Seeing this, he loosens his grip but keeps his hands on me. I suck in as many breaths as I can.
Come on, Aria. Where are you?I start to panic. She needs to act on her part of the plannow. A second longer and he could’ve killed me.
I need to start playing by his rules if I want to buy more time. “I’m sorry,” I force regret into my voice. Well, the irony here is that we’re on a movie set. It’s only fitting that I start acting.
He smiles once again, his volatility making another circle. “It’s okay, darling. I forgive you. It’s him who’s to blame. He took you from me, he got between us, he poisoned your mind. It’s what he does.” Why does he speak about Dallas as if he knows him? I don’t think much of it, not questioning the delusions of a mentally disturbed person.
I nod rapidly, “I know. You’re right.”
His fingers caress my collarbone and my skin feels dirty immediately. His gaze falls to the gash in my chin and his thumb comes up to caress it. I wince at the sting and watch as he pulls his thumb away, coated in my blood as he brings it to his pale lips. I wince as I watch him suck my blood from his finger.
Calvin’s eyes never leave mine through the action. “Calvin, please let Brody go. For me?” I ask, batting my lashes at him.
He cocks his head at me and grins, leaning down to kiss my cheek. I shiver under his touch and feel bile creeping up my throat.
