It didn’t matter what my reasons were, I had to pull my head out of the sand.
“What else has happened?” Gabe asked.
I thought about all the stuff that had happened after I first found my way to the deep web. That was different than the dark web. The internet was multilayered; the deeper you went the scarier it became. On the surface, you had the nice places to visit where you could watch cute kitty videos and post about your fake life on social media. Then you went a step down and you found information—things like leaked medical research, hacked bank accounts, and credit cards. Criminal activity but in the grand scheme of things these crimes seemed petty in comparison to what you found when you descended into the vile and twisted underworld of the dark web. A place where you could literally buy anything. Any. Thing.
Five months ago I would’ve been shocked such a thing existed. Now it didn’t surprise me. And I was no stranger to the ugliness that lurked in this world. But I hadn’t fully understood the level of depravity. Criminals negotiated freely on the dark web. Humans and drugs were bought and sold unhindered. It was truly scary what went on out there in the abyss of the internet.
It was the wrong place for a person like me to be. I knew it, yet I stayed down in the dregs looking for…what? What was I looking for exactly?
A confession?
God, I was stupid sometimes.
But I didn’t tell that to Gabe. Instead, I told him about the next mishap.
“Right after the car thing, I wound up in the hospital.”
“Hospital?” Gabe grunted.
Damn him and his growl that gave me a crazy case of the shivers every time I heard it.
“Yes. I’m allergic to peanuts. There are a few places I order lunch when I work in the office that I know are safe. Anyway, my lunch came and by the second bite, I started feeling funny. It had been a long time since I’d had an allergic reaction. I pulled the bottle of Benadryl I always keep with me out of my purse and took a slug. But not even a minute later my throat was scratchy, which is not a good sign. I gave myself my epi shot and waited another minute. I called emergency, explained what was going on, and gave myself a second dose. Thankfully, that worked but I still had to go to the ER. The weird thing is I couldn’t smell the peanuts.”
“Smell them? You mean taste?”
“Both. But I can smell a peanut a mile away. I know it sounds a little crazy but I’ve had the allergy my whole life. I’m like a bloodhound; the smallest amount and I can sniff it out. And as far as taste, normally as soon as any peanut product touches my tongue I can taste it. When I was younger it actually made me throw up almost instantly. But I didn’t smell or taste the peanuts in my food that day.”
Gabe was studiously staring at me but instead of wanting to squirm, I wanted to jump on his lap and curl into him.
Down, girl.
“That makes sense about being able to smell them. What else?”
The peanut incident I could pass as a restaurant error but this next one I wasn’t so sure I could explain away.
“My car caught on fire.” Gabe’s eyes blazed damn near as hot as the flames had. “With me in it.”
“Say again?”
Oh, boy, he looked pissed.
“Thankfully, I was stopped at a red light. But I heard a pop. Not loud like an explosion, but a pop, then all of a sudden smoke was billowing from the front of the car. So much I couldn’t see anything. So maybe it didn’t catch on fire as much as it smoked. The police and fire department showed up and there were flames but not big ones, I mean it didn’t engulf the car.” I knew I was rambling but there was one more thing Gabe needed to know so he didn’t think I was a total nitwit. “My car was towed and the mechanic said the reason for all the smoke was because oil had sprayed under the hood.”
“Blown head gasket?”
I shook my head. “Mechanic couldn’t pinpoint the reason.”
Gabe was silent for long moments and I took the opportunity to think back over the last few months. Those were the big things that had happened. The car, the allergic reaction, and the fire.