Page 63 of The Addict

Why did he seem afraid for me, but not for himself?

I had too many questions, but was fine with having none of them answered. My half asleep mind was whirling with uncertainty. It wasn’t like I would ever see Noah Hansen again, I thought bitterly. Besides, I had no desire to seek him out knowing that Silas might be close by.

I felt a rough chill go up my spine, the kind that tingled up the neck, bringing forth a jolt of my muscles. I rolled over to face my window. It was as if someone was watching me from behind the glass, their eyes glued to my half-clothed form.

Was this just a side effect of my traumatic experience, or was there really someone outside?

Staring at me?

I rose slowly from my bed and crept to the window. It was shut tightly, I noted mentally, and the sun was edging its way into the sky. What was there to fear?

RING. RING. RING.

I jumped and spun around to see my mom’s home phone lit up in green, ringing louder than it ever had before. My mom had never really wanted to get rid of the thing, despite having a cell phone, and we rarely used it. It took me a second to catch my breath and let my heart fall back down to its normal rate.

Unknown Caller, flashed on the tiny screen.

I glanced at the clock and wondered who could be calling at six in the morning.

I decided that whoever the caller was could just leave a message. To call someone this early was ridiculous, and unless it was an emergency, they could just leave a voicemail.

I sighed and started to dress for my early college class, anxiously waiting for the last ‘ring’, wondering if the caller would leave a message or just hang up.

My mom’s same standard professional tone came through the speaker:

“Hello, you’ve reached the Marsh Household. Leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you as soon as possible.” Then my voice followed by laughter, “Or not!”

BEEP.

Silence.

I groaned and walked over to her phone, its light flashing red as it saved nothing. Now I was going to have to delete a useless message. Jerks.

“What a cute little greeting you have there.”

I froze.

Him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not coming after you or anything, sweetheart. The trade has been made for your safety.”

I sucked in a breath. So Noah had...

“And what a trade it was.”

I cringed.

“Just, think of this as...a warning.”

My knees trembled. This wasn’t a warning.

This was a threat.

“Stay away from Noah. He helped you once. You have no need for his company or luxuries any longer. And you will not tell him about this message.”

My whole body was petrified. Should I pick the phone up? How in the world did he have this number? Half the time, I couldn’t remember this house number to save my own skin, so how did he manage to get his hands on this information, and so quickly?

I looked back out the window, my eyes wide. Did he know where I lived as well? The fear of my family’s safety now flashed through me.