“It’s okay. It’s not like, ‘What to do when the stalker gets serious,’ is listed in the agent’s playbook.” I sent a smile to Steve, who was leaning against the doorway, arms folded over his broad chest, and watching the two of us. “And Steve saved me.”
Steve shook his head. “You were well on the way to saving yourself.” He turned to James. “Did you know that she dislocated her right hand to get out of the handcuffs? Cut her own bonds and she was waving a knife at him that she pulled out of her own leg.”
My agent turned to look at me with new respect. “I’ll be damned. The cuffs! FromA Very Bad Idea,right?" I laughed and nodded. "You are a warrior, Aura! I’m so proud of you.” He leaned in to give me an impulsive kiss on my forehead, and I noticed over his expensively suited shoulder that Steve frowned at the action. We sat and talked, catching him up on what happened and getting more details from them about how my psycho pharmacist got to me.
“I found his car parked about a mile and half down the road,” Steve said, “he’d parked it in a group of trees and hiked in. I think he trashed your engine by wiring a charge that would be muffled under the hood when it exploded, and slid into the house when you went out for the mail.”
“How did you manage to come back in time?” I asked, shaking my head.
“I heard your scream,” his face sobered, “I could smell- I heard you. So, James, what were you saying about the medications?”
My agent bristled. “I had Steve send your meds out to a lab this morning. I called in a favor so they'd test it first when they opened today. Hargreaves was dosing you with a different anti-anxiety medication. He used a triple dose of Midazolam instead of your mild prescription for Alprazolam. That reverses the intended effect of the drug and increases your anxiety. But it got worse - then he mixed it with DXM, which is a powerful dissociative drug. That’s why you were confused.”
“I was losing time!” I shook my head. “Twice I started out running on the main road and ended up in Steve’s yard hours later instead.”
The two men shared a look. “Then I’m going to assume your subconscious knew where you were safe,” James assured you. I shifted a little, embarrassed by the grin that arrogant blond lumberjack was giving me.
Said lumberjack leaned over me, pulling up the quilt and getting me to drink more water. “Can you sleep, sweetness?” He said the endearment was low enough that I didn’t think James could hear, but I still flushed.
“Yeah, that would be good. Are you guys okay?”
Steve smiled, coming in for a lingering kiss before standing up and heading for the door. “Yeah, we can keep ourselves busy while you sleep.”
Steve…
"So, Steve. Was I right?"
Looking through the open bedroom door, I chuckled softly. "You were. She's perfect. I'll take good care of her."
James leaned against the wall. "She looks a little too good. You didn't...?"
"No," I shook my head. "Just enough to heal her, that cut was really bad. She'll just feel ... healthier." I looked over at James. "I don't get it. Aura really is perfect. Smart, beautiful, courageous..." my head tilted back."Sofucking sweet."
James laughed. "Her pussy or her blood?"
"Both. I can't wait for her cycle," I shuddered, "how could you resist that?"
"She's fragile," my friend said, straightening his shirt cuffs. "I have something else going right now."
Used to James' dark plans, I shrugged. "Well, she's mine now. Let's go downstairs so we don't wake her up."
Looking out over the forest on the deck running the full length of the house, James pointed his finger at me. "Remember our agreement. She keeps writing. It's almost a shame I can't use finally catching the stalker for publicity for her new release."
"No. You won't.” I said coldly, “You're not going to traumatize her again for publicity."
Unperturbed, James chuckled, "Already so protective. It's sweet."
"You hungry?"
He shrugged, "I could eat."
I led him through my kitchen to a heavy oak door, banded with iron hinges. With a dark little smile, he watched as I unlocked it and led him down the basement stairs, clicking on the single light bulb, hanging just over the head of the man chained to the floor, IV tubes in his arm with a saline drip, a rough bandage over his torn shoulder.
Hargreaves opened his eyes and began to whimper as James' grin grew to feral proportions, jaw elongating to show the row of ridged, spiked teeth. With the door to the basement closed, no one could hear the soon to be gruesomely dead man's agonized screams. Certainly not my sweet Aura, sleeping contentedly in the master bedroom.
Epilogue
Steve…
