Chapter 15 "Help me. HELP ME"
Daniel's POV:
I drove with both hands locked on the steering wheel like it might fucking fly out of my grip.
Traffic lights blurred past me. I dont even remember stopping at a red light. They could suck my dick. I needed to save my life. Who the hell cares about those damned lights anyway?
Red. Green. Yellow. What is this, a colouring class? I didn’t remember stopping. I didn’t even remember starting my car either, let alone care about speed limits.
My phone buzzed again on the passenger seat, lighting up with another notification, another message, another nail in my damned coffin.
I didn’t look. If I looked, I feared I might actually lose my mind.
My chest felt tight, like something heavy was sitting there, pressing down, not letting me breathe properly. I rolled the window down, cold air slapping my face, but it didn’t help. Nothing helped.
This wasn’t coincidence. People didn’t just wake up one morning and lose everything. My jobs. My partnership deals. My scholarship...my damned reputation!
No. This was deliberate.
My thoughts kept circling back to Celene and that man, Jeffrey. My mind flashed back to when he said he worked for somebody, and I shouldn’t bother finding out who it was? Little girl Celene had a boyfriend and a guardian? Or was the boss her real boyfriend?
Fuck! Jeffery had warned me. He warned me and I didn’t listen.
The way he stood too comfortably in front of my house. The way he spoke, like he already knew how the conversation would end. Like he wasn’t asking me to do anything. Like he was telling me what would happen if I didn’t listen.
Stay away from the girl. Who the fuck says that to a fellow man? Girls are just walking counts for fucks sack. Pun intended.
At the time, I’d laughed it off. I had just thought that he was some idiot trying to scare me off a girl who wanted too. Now my phone wouldn’t stop screaming.
I checked my mirrors. And right there, a black car sat two vehicles behind me.
My pulse jumped and skyrocketed. I slowed down slightly, and the car slowed too.
"Dont be stupid, Daniel. New York was full of black cars. This means nothing." I said to myself. Fuck, it had to mean nothing.
Still, my fingers tightened on the wheel.
Was he trying to tell me bot to confront Celene? Fuck that. Why did he come for me then? Why destroy my life? Huh? Why? He should have known that I would go back to ask her. He should have known that Celene is no match for me. And if I go down, she goes down with me.
As I neared Celene’s neighbourhood, my mind was completely going crazy. Did I really go and play with the hornets nest this time? Was i really going down the drain because of a woman? The thought made my stomach twist.
Celene always liked pretending she was above things. Like she didn’t care. Like she wasn’t affected by everything i did to her. But what if she was lying and decided to date someone that could bully me into submission like a wet puppy. She replaced me with a bully? Anger flared hot and sharp, cutting through the fear.
After everything I gave her? After everything she took from me? No. She didn’t get to walk away clean while my life burned.
My phone rang again. I glanced down before I could stop myself. Unknown number. I ignored it.
The buzzing stopped. Then started again. I hit decline.
My hands were shaking now. I wiped one on my jeans, then immediately put it back on the wheel.
Celene knew something. Fuck that shitnshebgave me about not knowing what inwas takkng about. She had to.
The black car turned when I turned.
My heart slammed hard enough that it hurt.
I swerved into another street suddenly, barely checking for traffic. The car behind me did not follow.
I laughed then. Of course my mind was just creatimg images. There's no way that black car was following me.
“Get it together,” I muttered to myself. “You’re losing it.”
But even as I said it, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
I pulled up in front of her building less than ten minutes later.
Her place looked the same. Quiet and normal. It was too normal for everything that was happening inside my head.
I parked crooked, didn’t care. As I got out of the car, my phone buzzed again.
This time, I looked and it was a message from my girlfriend.
'Daniel, I can’t do this. I don’t even recognize you anymore.'
I scoffed, shoving the phone into my pocket.
None of this would be happening if Celene had just stayed in her place like I wanted her to.
If she hadn’t acted like she was better than me.
If she hadn’t brought someone else into this.
I walked toward her door with my jaw tight, heart pounding, anger and fear twisting together until I couldn’t tell them apart anymore.
She was going to explain to me one way or another.