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“Yep,” she said with a casual air, trying to remain relaxed.
“What the hell, Charlotte?” She heard shuffling on the other side of the line. “What are you talking about? Who? Since when?”
“I’m talking about someone following me around, sending me weekly flower deliveries, breaking into my home. I don’t know. Since moving up here.”
“You sound way too calm about this.”
“Trust me, I’m not.”
It took great effort for her to rattle off the bullet point summary of the actions the man had taken against her in a calm, steady tone.
“Hang on,” Blaire said.
Charlotte’s phone started making noises signaling a FaceTime call. Serious conversations always called for video. At least that never changed between them. Part of her almost wished it had.
She braced her forearm on her knee and accepted the video request.
As soon as her friend’s heart-shaped face filled the screen, tears filled Charlotte’s eyes and spilled over her cheeks.
“Oh, Char…” Blaire sniffled, trying to hold it together for her. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
She detailed everything. How she thought someone followed her, saw someone, the calls, the break-ins, and now the dead bird. By the end of the explanation where Blaire sat silent with a horrified expression on her face, Charlotte felt exhausted.
“Do your moms know?”
“Absolutely not, and you can’t tell them. I can’t make them worry more than they already are about me being up here.”
“But Charlo—”
“No.” She swiped her cheeks and sat up, crisscrossing her legs, and giving Blaire her most intimidating stare. “You say nothing.”
“Fine. But what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ve made a couple police reports.”
“Charlotte, you need to come home.”
She grumbled. Now Blaire sounded like Aiden.
“Aiden’s staying with me until they solve the case, so I’ll be fine. Or at least that’s what he said.”
Blaire tucked her long hair behind her ear. “If he said it, he’ll do it. You should know him well enough by now to know that.”
She wasn’t wrong. Charlotte had spent more time talking to Aiden than she had her own best friend since Blaire joined Blackthorn Academy last April. It seemed surreal.
“I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t come back home. I would have packed everything up and hopped the first bus south the first time I knew for sure.”
She didn’t doubt it. She knew the only reason Blaire didn’t make a run for it when her stepfamily made it their mission to control every aspect of her life was because the Wilcox family had too much power. Her life was in danger if she left.
The thing Blaire didn’t understand, though, leaving Athens put everyone Charlotte cared about at risk. Anyone she associated with might fall prey to the stalker. He’d never expressed what he wanted with her. She didn’t know how far his delusions went. Who they might extend to.
Then there was the attack she witnessed in the alley.
It benefited everyone for her to remain put. Everyone except Aiden. She hated putting him in the crosshairs by being near her.
“I want my life to be normal. I want to make this work. The police will catch this guy soon, and if I up and leave, he might switch his sights on someone else. At least now I have someone with me. Who knows, maybe the guy will leave me alone if he sees me with Aiden.”
Stalkers gravitated toward people who lived alone, right?
