Chapter 15
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Anthony Young was amonster. A sick, delusional monster. That was the first thought Lexi had when she regained consciousness.
He’d done the thing with the towel and water two more times. The second time, he only stopped because he ran out of water. The last time, he came back with a full bucket and had continued pouring until finally, blessedly, her brain shut down from the lack of oxygen, and she passed out.
Her second thought upon waking back up was that she’d never be able to look Trevor in the eyes again...if she managed to not die today, that is.
She couldn’t believe she’d misread things so badly. The moments they shared—albeit not many—had been incredible to her. Magical, even. Hearing him say he didn’t love her was a crushing blow to her heart.
She could hardly believe it when he told Young they barely knew each other, after spending the past few days doing nothingbutgetting to know each other better. Well, that and making incredible, sweet love.
God, she felt like such a fool. A hopeless romantic fool. She’d always been a romantic at heart...her whole life she’d dreamed of not just being a successful chef, but also having someone to love and share a life with. Now, she was going to die without having achieved either.
Lost in her own self-pity, she almost didn’t notice the man return to the room. She was relieved to see he hadn’t brought another bucket of water with him. Thank God for small favors, her mother used to say.
That thought had just passed through her mind when she noticed the large, shiny knife in Young’s hand.
“Time to start giving your boyfriend the final act of the show.” He came toward her.
“No,” her denial was instant and came out much stronger than expected. She fought against her restraints, even though she knew it wouldn’t do her any good. “Trevor was right...Lisa wouldn’t want this, and you...you don’t want to do this.”
“You don’t know what I want!” He rushed to her and pushed the tip of the knife into her side.
Lexi screamed against the pain. “Yes...I do.”
“Oh yeah?” He paused his movements, his voice full of sarcasm as he held the knife in place. “And what would that be, Miss I Know Everything?”
“You want Lisa back,” she said quickly. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. “You want to be able to see her. Touch her. Hold her in your arms and tell her how much you loved her. You want to be able to say everything you ever wanted to tell her but never got the chance to.”
Tears from both her physical pain and emotional sorrow fell from the corners of Lexi’s eyes and into her damp hair. She fought against the pain, continuing with what she knew to be the absolute truth.
“You want five more minute to just sit and look at her face...her vibrant,aliveface as she looks back at you and smiles.” Then, Lexi whispered, “And you want to hear her say she loves you, too. You’d giveanythingto hear those words, just one more time.”
Lexi blinked and was shocked when her vision cleared and she saw tears in Anthony Young’s eyes, too.
“Idowant that,” he whispered back. “I want all those things.” His eyes hardened, and his voice became stronger. “But I’ll never get them. Thanks to your boyfriend.”
Young pushed the knife a little deeper, and Lexi screamed louder. He pulled it out of her side and turned away, walking to the keyboard once more.
With her insides feeling as though they were on fire, Lexi hoped to hear Trevor’s voice again. Young’s fingers hastily clicked the plastic keys, but nothing happened.
“Maybe he’s gone,” she grunted against the pain.
She tried to ignore how quickly her blood was soaking the side of her t-shirt or the way it was beginning to pool into the grooves in the dry, wooden tabletop below her.
“He’s not gone,” Young argued, still facing the screen. “He wouldn’t leave his only access to you. Not now.”
Lexi could tell the man was trying to convince himself more than her, so she played into his insecurities. It was the only move she had left.
With a weak laugh, she said, “You heard him. He doesn’t love me. We’ve never even been on a real date.”
