I didn’t try to hurt Rory if that’s the case. And it means I won’t hurt Henry. All those other times I woke up at Rory’s, I never had a knife in my hand. Then I think back to that name, and why am I only realizing this now?
I wasn’t at Rory’s that night. It didn’t look like his house in any way, and yet all this time I convinced myself it was. Rory wasn’t the one I followed and waited for that night. He wasn’t the one on my mind while I was sleepwalking. It was Hunter. I was going to kill him, wasn’t I?
That’s what I’ve been doing all this time. Eliminating the threat. Subconsciously, I know what I did back then is on its way to destroy whatever it hasn’t taken from me yet. If only I could remember what I did that night. If only I could fucking remember everything I need to.
A loud honk comes from behind me, causing me to swerve, and some asshole in a red car cuts in front of me, sticking his hand out the window to flip me off. Ignoring it, I move into the next lane and take the next exit I come across. As I’m pulling into the nearest gas station to stock up on more Red Bull and Monster, my phone goes off. Henry is calling me through the app and when I answer he seems in distress.
My heart sinks and I forget about what I was meaning to do before, putting all my focus on him. “What’s going on? What happened?” It better not have anything to do with his stupid ex. I have no idea what his new address is, but maybe I’ll find it out on purpose and lay off the energy drinks for a day or two to see if my disadvantage can actually be of use to me.
“I . . . fuck. I don’t know how to say this.”
“Are you hurt or something? Is this some kind of emergency?”
His eyes circle the room as they hold a blank stare. “Not your usual one. Not one that requires an ambulance. Not yet at least.”
I jerk in my seat. “Honey, I’m going to need you to tell me what the problem is before I send the cops over for a wellness check.”
He sucks on his lower lip, eyes watering. It hurts my heart to see him this way, but if he keeps delaying this, then it’s going to take me longer than necessary to fix the problem he’s having. Oh, and I will do everything in my power to fix it.
“This is embarrassing . . . maybe I should have called someone else. Normally I’d call my best friend but she’s visiting family and . . . and . . .”
“Shh, it’s okay . . . take a breath and tell me what you need.”
“I really shouldn’t have called you,” he stammers. “But I don’t have anyone else and I’m stuck.”
Attention sparked, I lean back. “Stuck how?”
He sucks in a breath and pushes it out. “I . . . I was experimenting with new toys. My ex . . . he said . . . the reason hedid what he did was because I was never up for trying new things and was so boring in bed. Very vanilla.”
My cock twitches as I think of all the ways he could have gotten himself into trouble. “What did you get stuck?”
More heavy breathing comes from the other side of the line. “My cock.” His face is flushed when it comes into view. “In the cock cage I was supposed to throw away.” He takes a quick breath before continuing. “I put it on to prove something to myself, I guess, but then I dropped the key and I’ve been crawling all over trying to find it. I’ve been searching for hours.”
My jeans grow tight and I bite the inside of my cheeks before saying, “Well . . . I’ve never helped someone with something like this before, but I’d like to try my best here. Move the phone around you. Let me see all areas of the bed.”
Doing as I ask, he circles the area and catches a little of himself in the lens. A sliver of his milky white thigh and the tips of his pink toes. My eyes grow hungry for more, but all he keeps giving me are more views of the bedding and pillows.
“I’m not seeing it.”
“Fuck, this is so embarrassing. I feel so stupid.”
“Hey, listen to me. Don’t do that. Everyone needs help getting themselves out of tiny messes sometimes, and I can promise you that’s all this is.”
His eyes dart around. “This is way more than a tiny situation, wouldn’t you say?”
“It can be whatever we make it, and since I know we’ll find that key soon, the problem is what I said it was. Tiny.”
He squeezes his eyes shut, rubbing his head. “Maybe I should show you the floor? That’s originally where I assumed it fell.”
“That’s a good idea. You should wiggle the blankets too. See if it’s buried somewhere.”
“You don’t have to keep doing this.” His face distorts, the camera lens dropping down to the pulse point in his neck.
“You called me to be your eyes and that’s what I’m going to do. Now, let’s check the floor and then we can shake the blanket off next if we have to.”
“Okay. Thanks for this, Raf.”
“You’re welcome, Honey.”
