“Hey, faggot!” I hurried and stuffed my books into my backpack, wanting to get to practice and out of the line of fire of Corey Pritchett. “I’m talking to you!” He grabbed the back of my backpack and slammed me into the set of lockers across from mine.

“I’m not a faggot!” I hissed.

“No? That’s why you play hockey, right? You get to see all the boys naked in the locker room, and that turns you on.”

“Fuck you!” I spat on him, not caring if he was going to pummel me.

“You want to fuck me, faggot?”

“Stop saying that!” I pushed him back, and before I knew it, he drew a handgun from behind his back. “What are you doing?”

“You think you can talk to me that way?”

“What are you going to do with that gun?” I continued to ask.

“What do you think? I’m going to shoot you then leave like I’d planned.”

“Then do it!”

I heard a loud pop, and then a bullet appeared in the center of his forehead. It wasn’t Corey, but Ashtyn’s attacker, Philip.

I woke with a start, my pulse racing. When I realized that I was home and in my bed with Ashtyn, I laid back down and stared up at the dark ceiling. I expected Ashtyn to be the one who wasn’t able to sleep through the night, but as it was right now, I was the one dreaming of crazy shit. My past and present had collided in a weird dream that never happened, and I didn’t like dreaming about either one of them.

I’m not sure how long I laid there, staring up into nothing, but when Ashtyn stirred next to me, the sun was starting to come up.

“Morning, Cupcake.” I rolled over and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

“Is it?”

I smiled. “Yeah, but it hasn’t been for long. Want some coffee?” She nodded, and I got out of bed, the cold wood floor sending a chill through my body that started at my bare feet. “I need a place with a fireplace.”

“Turn the heater on.”

“Oh, I am,” I called out as I walked down the hall and stopped at the thermostat. After I turned the heat up, I continued to the kitchen and made two cups of coffee, then returned to the bedroom. “You still want to go to Garfield Park today?”

“No. Not really.” Ashtyn sat up and took a mug from me. “I just want to lay here all day and do nothing.”

I sat next to her. “Can’t. Detectives will probably be here soon.” She groaned. “And I think you should get some fresh air today.”

“It’s probably snowing.”

“Yes, but I’m sure the conservatory has heat.” I took a sip of the coffee.

“I really don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t even want to go back to my place if that’s okay?”

“I don’t want you to go back to your place either, but we should at least walk somewhere for lunch. I want to make sure you get fresh air like the paramedic advised.” I knew she needed fresh air, but I wanted her to get out of the apartment to clear her head a little. I needed to clear my head as well.

She was silent for a few moments. “Okay, but only because we need to eat.”

Ashtyn’s phone started to blow up right at eight o’clock.

Word had gotten back to her parents, and also to her friends. While she reassured everyone that we were okay, I focused on getting caught up on the hockey world. It felt good to get my mind off of the previous night, though what I wanted to remember was the Emmys and not the horrific after party. Maybe my tux wasn’t good luck after all? My friends had no idea what had happened, and all their messages on Facebook were about the Emmy I was holding in the picture I’d posted while we were still at the hotel.

After two hours of non-stop calls, two detectives showed up. Ashtyn and I each gave our statements separately. After, we sat on my couch, and the detectives sat in chairs at the two ends of my coffee table, they informed us of what they knew so far about Philip and his motive.

“Your father spoke to Captain Gordon. He wants us to put an undercover outside your place for a few weeks.”

“Is that necessary? Philip’s dead, right?” Ashtyn asked.

“Yes, he’s dead, but your father is worried about you.”

Ashtyn nodded.

“If I have to, I’ll take her to work every day and pick her up,” I offered. “Plus, I’ll be with her at night. She won’t be alone.”

“While that probably won’t be plausible given your work schedule, Mr. Cole, I also don’t think it’s necessary,” Detective Cooper said.

“Okay, but I’d make it happen.” I rubbed Ashtyn’s knee. “I don’t want you to be scared.”

“I might have another stalker,” she confessed.

“What?” I asked, raising my voice a little in surprise.

Ashtyn sighed. “Someone sends me roses at work every Monday.”

“You don’t know who they’re from?” I asked.

She shrugged. “They sign it SA or secret admirer.”

“They were from Philip,” Detective Van Drake stated. “He was watching you for almost a year.”

A chill ran through my body. How could someone have been watching her all that time and she didn’t know? Was the meeting at Starbucks on purpose? I couldn’t even imagine what was going through Ashtyn’s head right now. I pulled her to me. “It’s over now.”

The room was quiet for a few seconds until Ashtyn asked, “How do you know it was Philip?”

Van Drake continued to take the lead. “We went over to his house this morning and found numerous pictures of you, of you and Rhys, you and other men you’ve been with, including live footage of your apartment.”

“What?” Ashtyn shrieked.

“He had video cameras in the smoke detectors.”

“He what?” I stood, ready to kill him even though he was already dead.

“It appears that he got into your condo somehow. Plus, credit card statements with charges to The Flower Pot every week indicates he was sending you flowers.”

“How do you know that he bought flowers for me, though?”

“Why do you think it wasn’t him?” I asked.

“It’s not that I think it wasn’t him. I just want to make sure I don’t have another stalker out there.”

“Before coming here, we talked to the owner of The Flower Pot. All orders they delivered to your work were linked to his credit card they had on file.”

“So it’s over?” Ashtyn asked.

“Yeah, we think so.” Cooper nodded.

“I can’t believe it was all him. I just met him two weeks ago, and now he’s dead.”

“You told me that you first ran into him at Judy’s almost two months ago?” Van Drake asked flipping through his notebook.

“Yeah, but that was for a split second. I brushed him off.”

Van Drake nodded. “Given what you’ve told me and what was seen at his house, we think he was watching you and waiting. When you went to Judy’s, you were alone at first, right?”

“Yes.”

“We think that was when he decided to make his move, but it backfired.”

Ashtyn looked up at me. “Thank you again.”

“Best decision I made was to go to that bar that night,” I stated, and I meant it more than just because I’d saved her from some wacko. I’d probably be swiping left on some app right now if I hadn’t met her that night.

“You’re lucky the events played out as they did,” Cooper chimed in. “If you hadn’t seen him slip something in your drink the night you went on a date with him, then there’s no telling what would have happened to you.”

I didn’t want to think about that scenario, and I was sure Ashtyn didn’t either. Life has a strange way of working itself out the way it was meant to. I heard once that you never know how important something or someone is until you almost lose it. That was true with the way I felt about Ashtyn, and I wasn’t ready to let her go.

After the detectives left, Ashtyn and I walked to a café down the street and grabbed lunch as planned. Her parents wanted to come over to make sure Ashtyn was okay. But Ashtyn wanted to be left alone. I understood that, but given that she needed fresh air, I all but forced her to walk to lunch with me.

The snow was falling, and with each word spoken, you could see the breath coming from our mouths. I was enjoying the fresh air, and Ashtyn seemed as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She went from wanting to stay in bed all day to asking me if I wanted to catch a movie before we headed home.

Home.

The word struck me, but I didn’t mind. When I was with Bridgette, it was as though she was invading my space. Now, with Ashtyn, I didn’t want her to leave even if it was right across the street.

After we caught a movie, we grabbed a cup of coffee and then took an Uber home. Once the car dropped us off outside of my building, I asked, “Want me to go up to your place and get you some clothes?”

She thought about my question for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll stay down here and talk to Jose if that’s okay. I’m not ready to see what my place looks like.”

“You know I love being of service to you.” I winked and kissed her lips before we walked into the building.

“Ms. Valor!” Jose beamed. “How are you doing?”

After Ashtyn handed me her keys, I continued to the elevators while she stayed to talk to Jose. Once I was on the fifteenth floor, I stepped off and walked slowly down the hall. I wasn’t sure what I was going to see because Ethan had been the one to lock up the night before. When I finally got to the closed door, I expected there to be yellow caution tape on the doorframe like I’d seen so many times on TV and in movies. But there wasn’t anything. The door was closed as though a man hadn’t died inside less than twenty-four hours prior.

I slipped the key into the lock, and just after turning it, I thought better of it. Instead, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Ethan’s number.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, Ethan. It’s Rhys.”

“Everything okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I was calling to see if it’s okay to go into Ashtyn’s condo and grab her some clothes.”

“Is there yellow tape on the door?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Then yeah. That part of the investigation is over.”

“Okay cool.” I reached for the door handle but stopped when he spoke again.

“Is Ash with you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I came up alone to grab her some clothes.”

“Good. I’ve put in a call to a crime scene cleanup company, but they can’t come until tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure if she’ll want to come back tomorrow after work anyway.”

“Take care of her, yeah?”

“Of course.” I fucking ran into a room with a crazy man who was trying to kidnap her. I didn’t do much except distract him long enough for a cop to arrive, but I’d been ready to fight for her, and I’d take care of her until the day I died.

We hung up, and then I slowly opened the door. There was no chalk outline of Philip’s body, and no brains splattered over the entire room. Instead, the only thing that looked as though there had been a person shot was a small pool of blood where I assumed his head rested until he was taken away by the coroner.

I knew the longer I stared at the dark crimson pool, the more I would relive what I’d seen. So, I hurried to Ashtyn’s room and grabbed some dresses. I had no idea if they were anything she wanted to wear, but I didn’t want to take too long. I rummaged through some drawers, grabbing underwear, and then went to the bathroom to grab some toiletries. Whatever I didn’t grab, I’d buy for her until she was ready to come get the stuff herself. I also grabbed the two Emmys we’d won because I still wanted to display them, but this time it would be so we could remember the good part of the night.

“Ready?” I asked walking out of the elevator once I made it downstairs.

“Yep. Did you get everything I’ll need for a few days?”

I waved goodbye to Jose as we exited the building. “Yeah, Cupcake, but I left the vibrator I found in your nightstand because that’s my job now.”