I can still navigate around it, but I’ll have to figure that out tomorrow too. Pulling up Arlo’s number, I don’t hesitate to call.
“Rina?” he answers almost immediately. I can already hear the worry in his voice, and I lose it, barely able to get the words out.
“Please come,” I gasp out. “I’m at the workshop.” It’ll probably freak him out more, but I can’t talk through the borderline hyperventilation.
“Shit, okay. I’ll be right there. Stay with me on the phone, okay? Are you hurt?” I hear shuffling around in the background, and I know he’s rushing like hell to get to me.
“Not hurt,” I say through the tears.
“Okay, that’s good. Can you tell me what happened?” His calm tone immediately centers me, but not enough for me to tell him what I walked into.
Shaking my head, I realize I didn’t verbally give him an answer. “N-n-n-no.” I put the phone on speaker and set it on the floor so I can wrap my arms around myself.
“That’s fine. Are you safe right now? Is there any threat there?” One day, I’ll think about how good under pressure he is and appreciate his entire demeanor in what feels like one of the worst moments I’ve had since my parents died.
“Safe. No, I don’t think so.” Basic answers seem to be the only thing I can do through my panic.
“Good, that’s good, Emmerdeur. I’m less than five minutes away. You’re doing so good.”
I nod again, incapable of anything more. The rush of tears takes over again as I think about the bunk bed that was almost done, the coffee table sitting off to the side waiting for pick-up, and the picnic tables.All of them gone.Not one scrap looks recognizable. I randomly think about how I slept through most of this destruction, and it freaks me out more than I’d like to admit.
How do you just sleep through this? Sure, it’s not super close to my house, but I should have heard this. I should have been able to stop it.
Truck tires barrel down my driveway, but I don’t look up. I’m hypnotized by my livelihood being ripped to shreds. I turn my head to look at the space where I keep a smallish table that holds all the things, like plans and contracts, and I see something odd. What looks like blank paper covers the tabletop, and I frantically get up off the floor to figure out what it is. Maybe the asshole that did this left something.
Somewhere in the distance, I hear my name being called, but I don’t detour from my mission. It takes all of ten steps to see there’s something written on the papers.
I warned you. You are mine, and you’ve been very bad by allowing another to touch you. Remember when I said you couldn’t always ignore me? This is just the start.
I’ve got eyes everywhere, Marina.
XO,
Yours
“Rina!” Arlo yells and wraps his arms around me.
The tears flow freely and a chill sets in. The words replay in my mind even though he’s dragging me out of the building.
What the hell is happening? And why me? I keep to myself; no one in town would do something like this, so how is this happening to me?
Arlo rubs his hands up and down my arms in an attempt to soothe me, saying words that I don’t hear but that are presumably to try to calm me down.
“What the fuck happened?” a voice not belonging to Arlo yells, and I jolt away from Arlo’s warmth.
Ledger is stomping away from his truck toward us, looking between us like we’ve both grown two heads. I don’t miss the question in his eyes, but I don’t have the brainpower to even consider talking to him about what’s going on between me and Arlo.
“I just got here. I know as much as you,” Arlo calmly tells him. “Let me get her inside the house. Can you call Oakley and see if he’ll comedown here too?” he asks—or rather orders—Ledger, and it’s ridiculous considering the circumstances, but I have to hold back my laugh.
Arlo walks me back to the house using the walkway I have between the two, and once we’re inside, he immediately cups my jaw in his hands.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. No. I have no fucking clue. My whole workshop, Arlo.” My bottom lip trembles as images flash through my head.
“I know. I’ll figure it out, okay? I’ll make it all okay.” It’s not something he can promise. I know that as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, but damn, I want to believe him.
I think I nod as his thumbs wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Can you stay here, go take a bath or just cuddle up in bed? I need to really look through everything, and it’s probably going to take me a while. I’ll check in periodically, though.”
