Page 16 of Has-Been
AfterCammyfoundthosemessages, she did the one thing I really didn’t want her to, and called my brother from her own phone. When he stepped into my room, she passed the phone to him, and that’s when the yelling started.
He was absolutely furious and ordered us to follow him to Reacher’s office. He showed the phone to Reacher, who sent out some kind of message on his own phone, and started peppering me with questions. Who sent them, how long had it been going on, had I had messages like this before? All that sort of stuff, and what did I know? Nothing. Not a damn thing.
I was damn near hysterical by this point, my night of no sleep making it impossible to cope with anything, and so the yelling finally stopped, and the questions stopped, and Reacher asked for some water for me.
Tommy tapped on the door, and poked his head in, offering a few bottles of water and catching my eye as Seth took them from him.
“Oh, Elise, love, are you okay? What happened?”
“That’ll be all, prospect.” Reacher’s tone was enough to send Tommy back out of there, which I personally thought was incredibly rude, but bigger things were going on here.
“Talk to me, sweets. When did this start?” Seth’s voice was gentle this time, and he crouched in front of me as they guided me into a chair on the other side of Reacher’s desk.
“Last… last night. I… I don’t know who it is.”
He reached up and swiped the tears from my cheeks.
“We’ll find out, don’t you worry about that. Some of the messages sound like it’s someone who knows you from outside the club. Has anyone hassled you anywhere outside of here? Did anyone bother you back at home? At college?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You know as well as I do that my college work was mostly done online, and I was at home, remember? You didn’t want me around anyone who could deflower your virginal little sister.”
Seth grimaced and passed a hand over his eyes.
“Jesus. I deserved that. Look, I’m sorry for wanting to keep you safe, but this? This is exactly the kind of thing I never wanted you to go through.”
Cammy tutted at him. “You talk like this is normal, Stitch. Most people you meet out there aren’t psychos and perverts.”
He stood up and jabbed a hand at my phone on Reacher’s desk.
“Well, this fucker clearly is!”
I stood up again, clenching my fists as I tried to compose myself.
“Are you suggesting I did something to encourage whoever the hell this is?”
My brother turned to look at Reacher, and was frowning when he looked back at me.
“Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s not what I said, sweets. I’m just trying to work out where you might have crossed paths with this prick.”
“Nowhere! You know I never go anywhere! And now I’m trapped in this place, and I can’t… I was so… so scared… I don’t feel safe, Seth. I couldn’t… I sat up all night thinking he was going to get into my room somehow.” I dissolved into tears again, and Cammy held me and soothed me, while Reacher and my brother muttered among themselves.
A brief knock on the door came a split second before the door opened and Has-Been stuck his head inside. Oh my god. I wanted him to be the one holding me. I knew I’d feel safe in his arms. I think I actually tried to move in his direction, because Cammy suddenly tightened her arms and hissed at me to stop.
“What the fuck happened?” Has-Been demanded, taking a step in my direction before he caught himself and stopped. Ice followed him through the door, and Seth kicked it shut, barking some snarky comment at them as he did.
Eleven
Shelookedlikeshe’dbeen crying all night. Had someone hurt her? Had some fucker put his hands on her? I’d kill him. I’d kill him so fucking slowly and agonisingly that he’d beg for death.
“The call to arms?” Ice barked, stepping past me while I struggled with my urge to move closer to Elise.
Stitch handed him a phone.
“We need to know who the fuck is sending these, and we need to know now.”
I fought the urge to snatch the phone, and leaned over his shoulder to read a whole barrage of incredibly disturbing texts.
Unknown:I enjoyed tossing off while I listened to your fear.
