I stare blankly out the window of the hospital, watching the light snow drift down in the wind. It barely feels real to be back in Chicago after our amazing trip abroad. And especially after the amazing way Damien made me feel those last few nights after we finally broke through the ten-date minimum we agreed to.

And damn, was it worth it.

I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks since we got back from the trip. We’ve settled into a routine of relative normalcy. I’ve stayed at his place every night the past few weeks.

“Excuse me, Nurse. Nurse?” A voice echoes in the room.

I flutter my eyes, shake my head, and turn to the elderly woman in her bed.

“Your stats are normal, so you’ll be fine. Your dinner should be brought up around—”

“What were you thinking about?” she says in a sharp voice, and I’m a little surprised that even though this woman is eighty-three, her voice has a biting tone.

“Nothing,” I shake my head, plastering a smile across my face.

The corners of her lips turn upward in the slightest of smiles.

“Oh come on now. I’ve been around the block a time or two and I know that look you just made. That’s not a ‘nothing’ look. Far from it. Are you thinking about a boy, maybe?”

I muster an awkward chuckle. “Of course not.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake. You just seem to have the look of a satisfied woman.”

I swallow hard at her use of the word satisfied. But she’s right.

Since my trip to Panama with Damien, I can’t help it. Even when I’m not with him I feel fully at ease.

“Is it that obvious?” I ask in a psuedo-whisper, and her smile broadens.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact you should enjoy it.”

“I am, thank you.” I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and I know it’s Damien.

Aggie watches me.

“No, thank you for helping me recover.” She winks. “And thank your man for keeping you...satisfied.”

“Oh. Thanks,” I say slowly, before shuffling out of the room.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pull up my texts, and sure enough, it’s from Damien.

It’s a picture of him from the waist up, shirtless, in the darkened mirror of his living room.

I should say barely from the waist up. The “V” his hips form is prominent, and I can almost see the base of his cock.

But not quite.

I smile and roll my eyes.

Krista: Tease

Damien: Who me?

Krista: Yes you. Silly

Damien: Well if you were here, you’d be right. I’d be teasing the fuck out of you

I stop my stride in the hallway and lean against the wall for a moment. In the last few days, Damien has sent me a daily picture.

I still haven’t reciprocated. I smile to myself, thinking about the comical interaction I’d just had with Aggie.

Thank your man for keeping you satisfied.

Damien’s never asked me for a sexy photo back. It’s typical of how he operates: totally selfless. Part of the reason I haven’t reciprocated is that I’m a little self conscious. What if we have a bad breakup and he blackmails me?

Like he who shall not be named.

I sigh. Damien’s taken down all of my resistance. I might as well chalk this one up, too, as another barrier he’s been able to break down.

Not only do I not feel self conscious about sending him a sexy picture, I actually want to send him one. I want to know I’m the one he’s thinking about. Like he thought about me that time I caught him masturbating on the couch.

I glance at my watch, and I’ve got a few minutes right now to spare, providing no emergencies come through. I just need a spot to take the picture.

I walk to the break room down at the corner that is rarely used, glance to see if anyone is coming behind me, and step inside.

An office intern and one of the doctors-in-training are making out.

“Seriously Ryan? Jill?”

“Oh come on,” Ryan says, pulling his mouth away from her. “Don’t act like you’re a perfect angel over here.”

I sigh, because he couldn’t be more right. I was planning to snap a sexy selfie of myself for Damien, so I don’t have the moral high ground here.

I roll my eyes. “I’ll leave. Have fun, you two!”

I shut the door behind me, and there’s only one place I can think of that will guarantee I’ll be able to take a sexy selfie with no problem.

I grab my coat, head to the front of the hospital and tell the secretary I’ll be right back, that I just need to grab something from my car.

I slide into the driver’s seat and blow out a frosty breath. Now I’ve got to think about what kind of selfie to take for Damien. Would he like a boobshot maybe? That’s probably the best option...considering how hard a full body selfie would be in the car. Oh the things I do for love.

Love…

Is this love with Damien? Or infatuation?

I’ve definitely never felt this strongly about a person in my life. Can I call it love? Who knows.

I shimmy my coat off, and my breath is still frosty. I dig in my coat pocket for my keys, and I hear a cough. My adrenaline shoots through the roof, and my hands tremble as a man reaches over the front car seat and wraps my neck in a sleeper hold.

I scream, but the noise is lost in the frozen cold of the night.

I smell who it is before I see him. “Nick,” I murmur. “What the fuck are you…”

“Shut the fuck up,” he says.

I kick and try to open the door, but Nick holds my arm down. With shaking hands, I try to dial 9-1-1 with my free hand.

Nick knocks my cell out of my hand, then tapes my mouth shut with a piece of duct tape.

Jumping into the front seat, he turns off the light.

I struggle, and manage to lift a knee up. I aim for his balls, but hit his stomach. He grunts, then slaps me across the face.

“Stop trying to get away,” he growls, and opens his jacket to show me a gun.

My blood runs cold, and I quiver through shaky breaths.

Taking out the duct tape, Nick tapes my legs together a few times, bending down, and I elbow him on the head then lunge for the gun in his jacket, but he smacks my hand away.

“Nah ah ah.”

I go for an open palm to the face, but he catches my wrist, grabs both of them and binds them together.

I feel so pathetic, so helpless.

So hopeless.

What are you going to do with me?

I mouth the words through the tape around my face. Nick seems surprisingly calm as he binds my wrist many times. I squirm as he wraps them around again and again with focused concentration.

He lifts me up and puts me in the passenger seat, fastens my seatbelt, then jumps into the driver’s seat.

Grabbing the key from the car floor, he turns on the engine.

“I know what you’re probably thinking. Where are we going? You know what, it doesn’t matter. I just needed to talk with you and you stopped answering my texts.”

My eyes bulge out of my head, my body shaking as I look at this madman who I can’t believe I used to date.

I blocked you.

“And then I realized you blocked me.”

How did you know that?

He turns out of the back driveway of the parking lot. I silently pray someone will see us, see me with tape over my mouth.

I glance at the door and wish I didn’t have autolocks. I want so badly to dive right out the door, even if it means eating the pavement.

But I can’t move.

“So here’s the thing, Krista. I still want you back. And I’m going to have you back. But you weren’t a good girl. You didn’t break up with Damien like I asked you to. So that’s a problem.”

He turns to look at me, and shakes his head. He’s unshaven and unkempt, and I notice his left eye twitches.

How did you know?

“Krista, I knew you couldn’t be trusted after our meetup in the grocery store. Luckily I had keylogged your phone years ago, and you haven’t gotten a new one. Do you know what keylogging is? Since you can’t answer, I’ll assume you don’t. It’s where I install a virus on your cell phone and I can see everything you’re doing, every second of the day, if I want to. I can also record and listen to your conversations when I want to.”

My heart damn near stops beating at this information. I wriggle my wrists, but it’s no use.

What on earth did Nick hear? What does he know?

He pulls past another red light and I wonder where he’s taking me. Where this journey ends.

“You didn’t break up with him but you were smart. You stayed at his apartment every night, and Damien’s no slouch. He’s got a gun and operates his floor like a fortress. Believe me, I tried to get in. But now, this is what needs to happen. You’re probably worried right now, asking yourself why I’m doing this. Well, I’m going to be getting back with you. You’ll see. I just need to make you understand. Understand how I’m the one you’ve wanted.”

Terror grips me.

Are you on drugs, Nick?

Examining him more closely, I notice his pupils are dilated. I have my answer.

“What’s going to happen now,” he says, waiving my phone around, is that you’re going to break up with him via text.”

What the fuck?

“Here, I’ll help you.” He grabs my phone and unlocks it, pressing in my key code.

“Your parents’ address,” he says, shaking his head. I always thought you’d be a little more cautious. He pulls up Damien’s number and types as we talk. “All right, I’ll be nice and show you what I’m going to be texting him. Oh, and after you text him...you’re not going back to your apartment until I give you the okay. If you don’t, I’m sorry to say I will kill you. And him. You won’t know it’s coming, but that will be the worst part, won’t it? The waiting. The not knowing. But if you do as say, you’ll live. And please don’t try any funny business. I have ways of knowing. Don’t go to the cops, either. All right. This message is about finished. Here, I’ll let you read.”

I shut my eyes and shake my head.

I don’t want to read it.

“Fine. I’ll read it out loud.” Nick clears his toat, and we pull into a random side parking lot, then he throws the car in park. The sun has nearly set and the dark of night is coming in strong.

“Dear Damien,” he starts out. “We’ve had a hell of a ride together. Ten Nights—more than that. But as you know, I have a troubled past and I don’t want to drag you into my issues. Therefore, I am breaking up with you. I know we didn’t even officially have ‘the talk’ about us. I didn’t want it to be this way, but it has to. The truth is I’ve been emotionally unavailable since my relationship with Nick ended, and I still have feelings for him. I’m moving back home to Michigan, and I expect you’ll respect that decision. I know you would talk me out of leaving if I came back home, so I’m not even coming home and I’m breaking the lease. We had a good run Damien, but it wasn’t meant to last. Goodbye.”

Tears stream down my cheeks, and I tremble as I listen to Nick speak. I shake my head violently.

No.

He runs a hand over my forehead in a gesture that’s meant to be calming. More like fucking infuriating.

“I know you don’t like it this way, but it’s how it has to be. If I can’t have you, no one will. And I know you’re probably thinking. I’ll run to the cops. I’ll get out of this some way...if I were you I wouldn’t do that. Sweetheart, I know where you live. I know where your family and extended family lives. And if you do anything other than march right back into work, quit, and head back to Michigan to start your new life, your family is done. Got it? Damien’s number is blocked in your phone, and if you try to call him, it ends for one of your extended family back home. I’ve got you bugged in more ways then you can imagine. Do you understand that?”

You motherfucking animal. You asshole. You have a mental condition.

Nick takes a deep breath and turns the car back on. Reaching over, he pulls the tape off my mouth.

“Fucking asshole!” I scream. “I—”

“That’s right. Get it all out. Scream as much as you want. I’ll wait.”

I grind my teeth together. “Why the fuck are you doing this? Just move on and get another girl!”

He shakes his head, and a tear rolls down his cheek.

A fucking tear.

He leans over and touches a finger to my chin. I recoil.

“I would. But you’re the one for me, Krista. I don’t understand how you don’t realize that.”

“I think you’re going through some very tough times and you should seek help. Are you on drugs?”

“Shut the fuck up!” he yells, and raises a hand. I wince, but he doesn’t strike. “Just fucking do as I say, and no one gets hurt, okay?”

He launches the car out of park and heads out of the abandoned parking lot.

“Now I want you to repeat what you’re going to do. First, you’re going to go to your job and tell them you have a family emergency and you have to leave. Second, you’re going to get in your car and drive straight back to Michigan. Third, when you get to your Mom’s house, you’re going to tell her you had a fight with your new boyfriend, and say you have to stay there a while to get back on your feet. Any questions?”

I frown, looking straight ahead at the road and feeling so damn powerless. I say nothing.

“If these instructions are too hard for you to follow, I’m sure your little cousin Gracie will be sorry.”

“You wouldn’t,” I gasp.

He shrugs, and I can’t fucking believe what kind of man Nick’s turned into. My blood boils with rage, and I fill to the brim with a deep, dark sadness and disbelief.

“I hate that it had to come to this,” Nick adds. “But it’s the only way.”

He turns into the hospital parking lot, then pulls up to back of the building. Putting the car in park, he gets out and walks around to the passenger side door, opens it, and grabs me by the hands, forcing me out.

I struggle to maintain my balance with my arms and feet bound together.

Nick pulls out a knife, and I wince, but he leans down and cuts the tape, untaping my legs first and then my arms in two quick motions.

He takes a step back from me. In the streetlight, I look at his sallow expression and can only wonder what I once saw in a man like him.

“Do everything I said. I don’t want to have to start killing people. But it will happen if you don’t obey what I’ve told you.”

With that he walks quickly away from my car, jumps into an unassuming grey Ford, and zooms off as I run around to the driver’s seat of my car.

My hands shake as I put the car back into drive and park in a proper spot, trying to breathe deeply.

I step out of my car and walk back into the hospital, where the secretary at the front desk’s eyes widen a bit when she sees my state. My hair is discombubulated and my eye shadow is running.

“Oh my gosh. Krista, are you okay?”

“No,” I say, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

My gaze drifts past her face as she keeps speaking, her voice becoming unintelligible.

“I need to use your phone,” I say, cutting through my brain fog.

She furrows her brow with a funny look. “You can use the hospital phone.”

“Aggie, this is an emergency. Please.”

Slowly, she slips her hand over her phone.

I’m worried he’s got the hospital lines tapped. How is Nick able to pull off such a cold, calculated stalking? The Nick I knew was smart, but a little bumbling at times. In my mind’s eye I see the way his eyes were dilated. How he was likely on drugs.

He’s gone of the deep end.

I take Aggie’s phone, and dial my family’s number back home. I tell them the situation and to get in touch with the local cops just in case.

Then I dial Damien’s phone number, copying the number from my phone into hers. Nick is monitoring my calls but surely not the random secretary’s.

“What on earth is going on?” she exclaims to me, ignoring someone who has just walked up to the front desk counter.

I don’t answer her question, because Damien picks up after two rings.

“Hi who is this?” he answers with a cocky tone.

“It’s me.”

“What...whose number are you dialing from?

“The secretary at the hospital. Nick took my number. He’s been stalking me. He tapped my phone, my work, he says he’s going to kill my family if I call you or the cops. Damien, I don’t know what to do.”

My eyes well up. I sniffle and wipe away a tear with the back of my palm. Damien emits a noise that sounds similar to a growl of some sort.

“Stay where you are and I’ll be there.”

“But I think maybe I should go to Amelia’s—”

“I said, stay where you are.”

I swallow and take a deep breath.

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you in ten minutes. And Krista? Fuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this.”

“Saying what?”

“I love you.”

My heart clenches. I close my eyes tightly, and tears stream down my cheeks.

A million thoughts run through my head.

It’s so soon.

Don’t say it unless you mean it.

Why is he telling me this now?

I exhale.

“I’ll see you soon, Damien.”