Conrad
I arrived at Maya’s place a little later than planned because I got held up at work, but I texted her. She hasn’t texted back, but she was probably busy making dinner. I was dreading telling her about what happened at lunch. I will wait until after dinner. I don’t want to put a damper on the night too soon.
I knock on the door. She would have it locked, so there was no point in trying to open it. She always locks it when she is home alone. I wait a minute and hear her come towards the door. I stand in view so she can see it is me through the peephole.
Maya opened the door, and the second my eyes landed on her, I knew something wasn’t right. She quickly pulls me inside, closing and locking the door again. When she turns back to me, she wraps her arms around me, buries her face in my chest and starts to sob.
“Maya, what is wrong? What happened?” I panic.
“Callum found where I stay.” She whimpers.
“What? How? When? What happened?” I ask, trying not to tense or get too angry while I hug her in case I startle her.
Maya glances up at me, tears and fear in her eyes. She pulls away, takes my hand and leads me towards the kitchen. She nods down at the trash, and I notice flowers and a note. I take the note out and read it. When I do, I can’t hold my anger back anymore. My fists and jaw clench.
“How fucking dare he?” I hiss, a strong urge of wanting to hurt him taking over me.
“They were delivered this afternoon when I was at work. My neighbour took them in. When I first saw them, I thought they were from you until I read the note. Conrad, how does he know where I stay?” she whimpers.
“I really don’t know, sweetheart. I am so sorry it has come to this.”
Where the hell is he finding all her details? It isn’t like Maya puts her personal information, like phone number and address, online anywhere. He has gotten them from somewhere. I need to find out how. The only thing I can think of is he has been following her, and we haven’t noticed. I thought we had gotten rid of him, but I should have listened to my gut; that was telling me it wasn’t over. I should have done a better job of talking her out of coming back so soon. I should have kept her at my place where I knew he couldn’t get to her, no matter how hard he tried. I want to kill the fucking bastard.
“Why won’t he just leave me alone.”
“I wish I knew. I should have talked you into staying at mine. I should have protected you better.” I sigh and hug her tightly to my chest.
“None of this is your fault, Conrad. He must have been following me more discreetly. Which means he may know where you stay too. I am so sorry, Conrad.” She says between sobs.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I don’t care if he knows where I stay; he won’t get anywhere near my place. You need to come back to mine, angel. You can’t stay here, not until we get to the bottom of it.”
“Okay, but can we have dinner here first and then I will pack some things to take with me?” she asks softly, looking up at me through her tear-filled eyes.
I would rather we have dinner at my place, but we can have it here. If he is following her, then he has probably seen me come in and will likely stay away. If he does, it will be something he will regret. I will make sure of it.
“Okay, beautiful, if that is what you want,” I say, wiping her tears away.
She nods, “But I am going to shower first. I planned to get one when I arrived home, but after receiving the flowers, I couldn’t, not while here alone.”
“You go take a shower. I will finish up with dinner.” I smile.
“Everything is ready. I just need to put it in the oven for a little while.”
“I can do that. You go shower.”
I kiss her forehead, and she disappears to the bathroom. I clench my fists in anger again, tear the note into loads of little pieces and toss it back in the trash. I put dinner in the oven and pace the apartment.
There is something I can’t understand; even if he has been following her, how did he know her apartment number? There are many in the building. He must have followed her inside at some point to know or got the information from somewhere else. The idea of him being in this building alone with her sends a shiver through me.
I pour a glass of wine and stop pacing before I make myself dizzy. I hate that she is too scared to take a shower when she is here alone; it shows how terrified she is of him. She shouldn’t be scared in her home. It breaks my heart and makes me want to hurt him even more. I think I will keep to myself what happened at lunch for now. Maya has enough to deal with, enough things stressing her out. I don’t want to add to it.
I need to keep a closer eye on her and her surroundings. I think it is time I hire someone to be around when I am not. It scares me what Callum is willing to do for her sake and I still don’t know the entire story. Maya may not like the idea, but I am out of options. I can be around twenty-four-seven, no matter how much I wish I could be. I will find someone I know I can trust.
I take a large drink of my wine, finish it, and pour another glass. I will get a car to come and pick us up, or we can get a cab to my place. I can’t drive, and Maya still doesn’t have another car—something else I need to look into. At least in her car, she will be safer getting from one place to another rather than walking. She insisted she didn’t need me to send her a car to pick her up from work anymore. But now, I will if I can’t pick her up, at least until I get her a car of her own again.
I head through to check on Maya. I find her in her bedroom, sitting at the bottom of her bed in her own world. I can only imagine what she has going on in her head right now.
“Hey, angel, are you okay?” I say softly, not wanting to frighten her by creeping up on her while she is lost in her thoughts.
She looks up at me and shakes her head. She is crying again. I stroll over and kneel in front of her.
“Maya, I promise you will be safe, beautiful. I will make sure of it.” I promise.
She nods. I am not sure if she believes it completely. Yes, she knows I will protect her, but I can see she is still worried Callum is going to get to her.
I stroke her wet hair away from her face, “I got you, sweetheart.” I smile and kiss her forehead.
She closes her eyes and smiles, “I know you do.”
“I better check on dinner. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Please do. I would rather not have burnt mac and cheese.” She giggles.
“No, no one wants that.” I chuckle.
I kiss her softly and disappear from the bedroom to leave her to change. I take dinner from the oven and get everything sorted out for us. It looks and smells so good. Once we are done eating, though, we will be heading straight to my place. I will make sure she packs enough for the next week at least, so she doesn’t need to come back here too often.
I just wish I could do more to help her and find a way to get him away from her once and for all. He needs to be gone.