I was so excited about something. Actually, I can. I get that excited anytime Weston is around.
Perhaps that’s the attraction. It’s the excitement, the taboo of it all, the sneaking around. I feel like I’m a teenager again. He makes my heart race.
I sip my shake and stare at Ethan’s uneaten McNugget. He loves it here. We come here about once a week. It’s tradition. I usually get a Big Mac or a Junior chicken, and he loves the nuggets with sweet and sour sauce.
I check my phone out of pure boredom. Nothing. Thankfully, there are no more texts from Samuel since I’ve blocked him. No emails from Weston either. He’s not much of a texter. He’s very old-school. Sometimes I forget that he’s about ten years older than me. That’s almost a whole decade. I’m a millennial, and he’s Gen X. Or is it Gen Y? I should Google it.
After what seems like hours, Ethan finally tires out and we head home.
We walk to Orchard Heights, hand in hand. It’s a long slow walk, but the exercise is good for the both of us. He’s exhausted when we finally get home. I’m carrying him in my arms as I toy with the door lock, but strangely enough, it’s not locked.
“No bath tonight.” I lead him to the washroom. “But we need to do the three things. What are the three things, Ethan?”
“Pee, hand… and brush teeth,” he cheers proudly.
“Good boy… you remembered.”
I help him brush his teeth and wash his hands, and then following a little encouragement, he does a big pee for me. I carry him to his bedroom and take off his clothes. He’s practically sleeping already as I slip on his pajamas.
I kiss him goodnight and smile all the way to my bedroom. He might not be having a bath, but I sure am. It’s been another long day.
I flip the light switch, and my whole body freezes.
Samuel is sitting on my bed.
30
My heart hammers as I try to process what I’m seeing. I want to move, get the hell out of there, but I’m rooted to the floor.
“You left me no choice, Gretchen. You blocked me on your phone. You won’t show up at group. I needed to see you.”
I feel suddenly very dizzy. “How… d-did… you get in here?” I finally manage.
“Easy peasy. I have my ways.”
The man is a security expert and has a history of breaking into residences and businesses. Of course he has his ways.
He rises from the bed and moves toward me.
I bolt. I run in Ethan’s room direction, but before I can reach his door, Samuel grabs a hold of me. He slaps a hand over my mouth. “Be quiet.”
I struggle to free myself, to no avail. Samuel is a large man, much bigger than me.
“Stop wiggling or I’ll hurt you.”
My limbs tremble. They feel like putty. And I finally settle down. My brain is whirling, struggling to come up with an escape plan.
“Now we’re going to walk back to your bedroom,” he breathes into my ear. I’m dizzy with confusion. How can this seemingly normal man be doing this?
As soon as we’re back in my bedroom, he closes the door and locks it.
“Help!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
He grabs me again, and covers my mouth. “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
My pulse speeds up as my gaze darts around the room for weapons. The red vase, the bedside lamps, the glass jewelry box.
“Lay down on the bed,” he barks. “If you make another peep, I swear I’ll strangle you.”
I’m still frozen, still struggling to process the situation. It’s more than my brain can handle.
“Now,” he scoffs.
I’m breathless as I obey him and scurry to the bed. I shake uncontrollably as I imagine the worst. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a rope.
My stomach turns to stone. I can’t let him tie me up. If he does, I lose all control. I bounce from the bed, and he grabs me again. I squirm. I put up a good fight. We both struggle on the floor. “Help!” I scream again. “Someone help!”
I manage to escape his grasp and I slither on the floor. I reach for my bedside lamp. In the flash of a second, I’m brought back to the day Donovan and I chose the bedroom lamps. We’d argued endlessly about them. I thought they were too heavy, too medieval, but he argued that they would man-up the room, and he’d made a good point.