63

LAURA
It was my third day at my mother’s house and she hadn’t smoked a single thing. She’d probably decided that she didn’t want to add any more to my suffering.
Maybe she was abstaining simply because I was here, and for all the world, she could go back to smoking soon as I left. I’d take it. A win is a win.
Speak of the devil.
She appeared in the hallway, looking rather fresh in a bright short sleeved t-shirt paired with black leggings. It might sound like an exaggeration but to be honest, the dark circles under her eyes weren’t as obvious as they used to be.
“Why, you’re positively radiant this morning!” She exclaimed, sitting on the arm of the couch I occupied.
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the remote, pausing the show I’d been watching. “Look who’s talking. Have you had a look in the mirror this morning?”
“You’re just teasing me.”
“Am not.” Just then, Jo walked into the house beaming, and I grinned at her. “Jo, doesn’t mom look better than she used to?”
The teenager nodded without the slightest hesitation. “Loads. Younger too.”
Mom rolled her eyes even though that smile remained on her lips. The smile grew when Jo pressed a kiss to her cheek. She repeated the same gesture to me and I smiled despite myself, this one genuine.
“I’ve got to go. Catch you later,” she waved before leaving.
With Jo gone, the house was silent and a bit awkward considering that I was avoiding my mother’s eyes, knowing what she was about to ask me.
That didn’t deter her one bit, and the silence lasted all off fifteen seconds before she broke it-just as I’d expected.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, mom.”
“Laura,” she started softly, but I didn’t let her finish.
“Really, I am.” I forced some cheer into my voice. That was all I did lately. Fake it. “If I wasn’t, I’d tell you.”
Mom tilted her head to the side, giving me an appraising look. To say she didn’t believe me would be an understatement, but she knew better than to push.
When I’d arrived here two days ago with eyes red and swollen from crying, I’d narrated the entire thing to her without shedding a single tear. It was like I’d exhausted my tears and physically couldn’t produce anymore because since that day till date, I hadn’t cried.
Not once.
The surprise on my mother’s face when I’d told her about Alex had been so comical, I’d have probably burst out laughing if I could. She’d found it hard to believe I’d been in an actual relationship.
Then when I’d told her I was pregnant? She’d damn near passed out from shock.
The second she’d gotten over her shock, she’d thrown her arms around me and wrapped me in a hug so tight, she’d damn near suffocated me with the amount of love in it. I could have sworn a tear had also said down her cheek.
She hadn’t cursed Alex out like I’d expected she would when I’d told her what he did, and when I’d asked her about this, she’d said that she didn’t believe the story was complete yet and that there had to be something he wasn’t telling me.
My response had been; “Of course. The fact that he’s getting married.”
Shaking her head, she’d said, “No, not that.”
Then I’d shrugged and told her that he could kiss my ass for all I cared. He’d used me, and I’d be damned before I let someone play me like that again.
Mom sighed, dropping the topic. “I was thinking about making homemade pizza today and I could use some help in the kitchen. What do you say?”
Knowing that this was an attempt to get my mind off things, I welcomed it. “I’m in,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster as I unfolded from the couch.
***
My mom’s house was not far from Coney Island beach and back when I used to live with her and needed to clear my head, I’d come here and walk for a bit.
I always felt better afterwards. So, I decided to go there today.
It had been ages since I’d last been here, but as soon as my feet hit the sand, I was reminded anew why I’d loved coming here so much.
The breeze teased my hair, toying with the hem of the sundress I was wearing, and the sound of chatter and children’s laughter was a welcome distraction from the chaotic thoughts in my head.
I’d left my phone back at the house, needing to be completely alone, surrounded only by nature and I didn’t regret it one bit. I had a lot of unanswered emails and messages, all of them work related because I wasn’t in the right headspace to respond to them just yet.
Soon, though.
I’d walked a considerable distance on the beach when I began to feel like there was someone watching me. I mean, the beach wasn’t exactly packed but there were people around and it could easily have been one of them, so I shrugged it off.
A few minutes later, I still had the sense I was being watched and I couldn’t ignore it anymore. As subtly as I could, I turned my head, checking to see if I’d catch someone staring at me.
Except there was no one looking at me, at least not in a way that seemed creepy. Everyone was either curled up with their partners or walking hand in hand, while the kids built sand castles with their parents keeping eyes on them.
Maybe I was just being paranoi-
I froze.
Standing behind me, far away that I wouldn’t be able to single him out of the crowd of people right away but not too far away that I couldn’t make out his face, was Hunter, the bodyguard Alex had hired for me, who had accompanied me to the office every day since.
He was standing behind a group of teenagers, and had it not been for his height and build, I would have easily looked past him. He was deliberately looking away from me, probably having already seen me scouting the area. But what he forgot was-just because he wasn’t looking at me, didn’t mean that I couldn’t see him.
Blood spiking in anger, I fought my way through the throng of people, keeping my eyes on him, while he turned his back to me and started walking in the opposite direction to avoid me. I lengthened my strides until I was damn near running and in no time, I caught up to him.
I stepped in front of him, going straight to the point. “Why are you still following me?”
He didn’t even feign surprise that I’d caught him. “The stalker’s still out there.”
“Just how long have you been watching me? It better not be since I came here.”
My question was met with a blank expression and hard, unyielding silence.
What the hell?
“You followed me all the way here?” I couldn’t believe it.
“I’m supposed to follow you everywhere.”
“Yeah, when I’m in Manhattan. Not here.”
“Everywhere,” he repeated, in the same bald tone.
I folded my arms across my chest, refusing to allow my self get intimidated by his look, height and size. “You’ve been doing it without my knowledge. How does that make you any different than the stalker you’ve been hired to protect me from?”
His lips pressed into a flat line. “He’s after your life. I’m trying to protect it.”
It wasn’t lost on me the amount of emphasis he placed on the word ‘try’ like I was being a piece of work, and that pissed me all over again.
“I’m not with your boss anymore, so you shouldn’t be following me around. And I’m sure he must have fed you this little piece of information which is why you’ve been doing it discreetly.” He opened his mouth to speak but I wasn’t done. “I don’t care to know if you’re still getting paid. I’m relieving you of your duties. Leave me alone, Hunter.”
Without waiting for his response, I walked away.
The lying scumbag. How dare he?
Hunter had to have followed me from Alex’s house to Balery’s that day and must have driven all the way to my mother’s house while I remained oblivious.
Just like how I’d been oblivious to the fact that the man who’d looked at me like I hung the moon, was engaged.
I wasn’t buying the narrative that’d he’d sent Hunter after me because he thought I was still in danger here one bit. More like he wanted to know my every move.
And why would he?
He hadn’t even called me!
Not once.
Hadn’t even sent a text.
I checked constantly-no matter how hard I tried not to-and it made me feel even more of a fool. That I couldn’t stop thinking about him even after what he’d done. That I craved him with a desperation I hadn’t known I was capable of.
And all the while, he hadn’t even tried to call or text because he didn’t care.
Because he was now with his fiancee.
My heart hurt merely thinking about it. About them. Together.
Living in that house like we used to, making small talk, seeing him like I used to, kissing before breakfast…
Pain, sharp and all too familiar after being subjected to it these past few days, lanced through me, and I doubled over, gasping from the force of it.
When I straightened, I blinked, surprised. Lost in my thoughts, I’d walked so far down the beach to an area that was less crowded.
But I just couldn’t stop thinking about it still.
I thought I’d been doing a good job keeping these thoughts at bay but seeing Hunter had triggered the opening of the bolt I’d kept on my thoughts.
Had his performance that day I’d been leaving been just that? A performance?
Had everything-
A hand appeared from behind me and pressed a foul smelling cloth to my face.
Immediately, my fight or flight response kicked in and I started struggling, kicking my legs as I tried to force the hand away from my face. But it was masculine and I wasn’t even budging it.
Not to mention, I felt myself going weak, my eyelids beginning to droop.
My struggling reduced, hands falling to my sides as I succumbed to the darkness that swallowed me whole.