“Can you put weight on it?”
I try to do so. “Yeah, it hurts a little, but I can walk. See, you didn’t have to carry me.”
“You’ll have to push through the pain.” His eyes hold concern and something else that I can’t identify. Is he talking about my ankle?
I hobble inside and pass Abi.
“What in the world?” Her eyes grow big.
“I twisted my ankle jogging.”
I sit on the couch and rest my leg on it. Victor grabs a bag of frozen peas and places it on my ankle.
“She’ll be fine.”
“Alek will totally freak out if he sees you, Tia. I’m not telling him a thing.”
I laugh. “That’s right. No one talks or else.”
Victor joins in laughing.
Abi stays for dinner and helps Victor with food prep. I eat on the couch. My cell phone dings, and Victor grabs it from the countertop and brings it to me while talking to Abi about her classes.
My heart stops as soon as I see an unknown phone number.
Chapter Thirteen
Unknown number: I like the black shorts and blue shirt you had on today.
My bottom lip starts trembling.
I set my phone face down on the couch and try to pay attention to Abi and Victor’s conversation. Charlie is stalking me. He was here. Again. I blink a few times, but the black spots I’m seeing are not disappearing. I’m open to attack and vulnerable.
As soon as Abi leaves, Victor comes to my side and sits next to me, placing my leg on his lap. He’s massaging my ankle slowly, and the touch sends jolts up my leg to my core.
“Why are you so tense?” Concerned eyes are studying me. Now that we are alone, Victor is back to touching me.
I shake my head.
“I want to try something,” Victor says.
“Oh?”
He knows how to distract me from my misery.
“Close your eyes, Tia.”
“I probably shouldn’t.” My voice trembles.
“Trust me. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”
Aha. That’s the problem.
I close my eyes because I have a hard time refusing this guy, because the magnetic pull to him is powerful, and because I want to be around him. What really bothers me is how easy it is for me to follow his command to close my eyes.
I should open them right now.
But the first touch on my shoulder jolts me, and I let out a heavy breath. His finger brushes my arm, then tickles the inside of my forearm and makes torturous circles on my palm. He repeats the same movement on my other arm.
