I keep thinking about that afternoon by the pool with Connor, and I wish I hadn’t gone inside.

I don’t know what might have changed if I stayed out there with him. I don’t know why I decided to go inside and shower off the chlorine and take a nap. I guess I was tired from barely sleeping the night before. And I was a little frustrated by him.

He was right that afternoon. I was sore from him, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want more. I wanted more, and I still do.

Except it’s been a week now, and I’ve barely seen him.

He’s always home. That hasn’t changed. And I’m apparently still expected to stay around the house as well. But he mostly keeps to himself, locked in the back office either lifting weights or doing whatever it is he does in there.

We see each other, of course, and we talk a little bit. But he’s distant, like he’s purposefully trying to avoid me. Those first few nights I stayed up late, hoping he’d come into my room again, and his distance during the day was just an act.

But he never came. After a few days, I gave up waiting for him, and just went to sleep.

Now it’s been a week, and I don’t even bother anymore. Maybe I’m not sleeping as well as I used to, and I’m staying up a little bit later, but it’s not for him. It’s definitely not for my gorgeous, sexy stepfather. That asshole, that bastard. He gave me a taste and now it’s like I’m nothing to him.

To top it all off, my mother has been basically out of the picture. Connor says she’s just working a lot, but she’s always worked a lot and still found time for me. The two of them still go visit granddad almost every other day, but they never invite me.

I feel left out and left behind even more than I did before. I thought maybe my life was turning around with Connor coming into it, but that didn’t last very long. I feel even worse, twice as rejected, and without even the chance to apply to other jobs or to run away somewhere else. My mother still wants me to stay inside the house, and I know the issue with my uncle is still unresolved.

I toss and turn, tired but not able to sleep. I glance at the clock and it’s one in the morning almost exactly one week since Connor came into my room.

I can still remember that night like it was yesterday. I remember the way he touched me, the way he tasted, the way he took my body. I’ve never experienced something like that before. He was starving for me, like he couldn’t get enough of it, and I felt exactly the same way. I wanted him to consume me, to dominate me.

And he did. He pressed me down into the pillow to stop me from behind too loud and he fucked me with absolutely no mercy, exactly the way I wanted it.

Now my bed is empty and cold, which shouldn’t surprise me. That’s how my life’s been lately.

I roll over onto my side, trying to force myself to sleep. I start counting sheep, just to relax my mind and to concentrate on something else, when suddenly my phone starts to ring.

I sit up, surprised. My phone never rings this late. I grab it and fumble with it, answering without even looking at the name on the screen.

“Hello?” I ask. I’m worried that something happened to Mom or Connor.

Only bad things happen when phone calls come late at night.

“Sydney,” the voice says, but it’s not a voice that I’ve ever heard before.

It’s distorted, deep and robotic, like in the movies and on TV.

“Who is this?” I ask.

“I’m watching your house, Sydney,” the voice says. “Do you know what your parents are doing? Do you, Sydney, you bitch?”

“I don’t know what you want, but don’t call back,” I say, ready to hang up.

“They’re going to die,” the voice says quickly, making me stop. “Your Mom and your fake fucking stepfather. They’re going to die, Sydney, unless you stop them. Make them stop, make that fake sick stepfather go away, or I’ll kill them. And you too. Goodnight.”

The phone suddenly disconnects.

I sit there, staring at the empty screen, horror running through me. I suddenly drop the phone and jump out of bed. I rush to the door, throw it open, and walk down the hall.

Connor’s door is unlocked. I push it open without a second thought and walk right in. He’s sitting up in bed, his lamp on, reading a book. He looks up, surprised, as I come bursting in.

“Connor,” I say. “I just got a call, a really freaking weird call, from this really weird fake voice, and it said that it was going to kill you and Mom and kept saying that you’re fake and sick and—“

“Whoa,” he says. “Slow down, Sydney.” He closes his book and gets out of bed. He’s wearing just a pair of boxer briefs and a white t-shirt. I can’t help but stare at his body for a second, forgetting myself.

“What happened?” he asks, coming toward me.

“I got a phone call,” I say, taking a deep breath to steady myself.

“Just now?”

I nod once. “And the voice was fake. Like, a fake deep voice.”

“Okay, so they used a voice changer. What was the number?”

I pause. “I don’t know,” I admit. “I didn’t look.”

“Go get your phone.”

I nod and quickly leave the room. I grab my phone and walk back into his room. He has his own phone out when I get back, though he hasn’t put on more clothes.

I pause and look at him, but he doesn’t seem to notice that I’m staring at his body. For the last week, he’s been very careful to avoid me in the hallways when we’re going between the bathroom and our rooms. I could probably use the other bathroom downstairs, but part of me wants to run into him.

Now though, he’s not at all self-conscious. “Let’s see it,” he says.

I unlock my phone and pull up the call. “It’s just private,” I say.

He looks at it, frowning. “Do you think I can have your phone for a few days?”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “No,” I say. “No way. I need that.”

“Come on, Syd. This is important.”

“What do you want with it?”

“The call data is in there somewhere, but it’s encrypted. I know a guy that can get it for us.”

I bite my lip. “Is that legal?”

He grins at me. “Not at all.”

“Fine.” I hand him my phone.

“What did the voice say to you?” He tucks my phone into a drawer next to his bed and for a second, I feel like something vital has been ripped from me.

But that’s such a Millennial feeling, and I quickly banish it. I can survive without my freaking phone.

“He threatened me,” I say. “He threatened to kill you and Mom and me if I don’t make you go away.”

“Make me go away?” He looks at me curiously.

“I don’t know what he meant. But he did call you fake, which keeps sticking in my mind.”

“Fake,” he muses.

“Was this my uncle? Why would he call me?”

“He’s trying to use anything he can against us,” Connor says. “He’s been quiet for the last week. I was wondering when he’d move again.”

“Should I be afraid?” I ask him, stepping closer.

He shakes his head. “No. I promise, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“He sounded serious, Connor. He sounded... terrifying.”

He comes closer to me and puts his hands on my shoulder. For a second, I think he’s going to kiss me, and that’s the only thing I can imagine wanting in this moment.

“He won’t touch you,” Connor says. “I promise.”

“Connor...” I want his lips, his body, everything again. I was afraid but now that I’m here with him, I’m not afraid anymore.

“What’s going on?” We both look up, startled, as a new voice cuts into our moment.

It’s my mother. She stands in the doorway, her arms crossed, wearing a robe and looking tired. Connor instantly releases my shoulders and I step away from him, angling myself toward my mom.

“Julia,” Connor says. “Sydney got a call—“

“Stop,” she says, holding one hand up. “Sydney, go back to your room.”

“Mom, listen to him. He’s telling the truth. I got a call, threatening me, and I came in here to tell him about it.”

“You should have come to me, then,” she says, eyes flashing anger. “Go back to your room. I want to talk to Connor alone.”

I pause and look at Connor. He nods at me, his face impassive and straight. I sigh and walk past my mother, back out into the hallway.

I know that look on her face. She’s angry, but she’s not angry for the right reasons. She should be happy that Connor wants to protect me the way that he does, although I might understand why she wouldn’t want him fucking me.

Still, he didn’t do anything wrong. I went to him, and he’s just trying to calm me down. I linger in the hallway for a second, but my mother shuts the door behind her, and I can only hear muffled voices.

Reluctantly, I go back into my room and shut the door. I climb back into bed, still wide awake. I lie there for at least ten minutes before I hear a soft knock at my door and it creaks open.

My mother is standing in my doorway, looking in at me. I sit up as she comes in and sits at the foot of my bed, looking exhausted.

“I guess you know,” she says, frowning at me. “I’m sorry, honey. I should have told you sooner.”

I pause and then sigh. Connor must have told her that I know about their relationship. “He didn’t do anything wrong,” I say. “He was just comforting me.”

“I know,” she says, a little tersely. “Connor is a good man. And we need him.”

“Why are you doing all of this?” I ask her.

She pauses for a second, watching me, before putting her hand on my shin. “Listen to me, honey. I worked for a very long time, gave my life and everything I had to Rydell Electric. And still my father is considering not leaving me in sole ownership all because I’m not married. All because he doesn’t approve of my being a single mother.” She frowns at me, and for the first time I see the woman behind the mask, the person behind her role as my mother.

“Women are held to different standards. It isn’t fair, but it’s the way it is. I want to get this company from your grandfather and make it a good company for women to work. I want to do something decent in this world. And to get any of that, I have to do some things that I’m not proud of, all because I have to play this horrible game that’s been set up for me. I don’t want this, but it’s the way it has to be.”

I watch her as she speaks, and I feel a deep well of admiration begin to form and solidify. I’ve always known my mother was a badass executive and pretty amazing, but I never really understood exactly what it meant.

For just a second, I can see the world the way it is, arrayed against women, telling them what they can and cannot do, assuming they’re less because of their gender. A world where truth isn’t truth and things are the way they are because a small group of people say that’s the way it has to be.

But that moment passes, and she’s my mother again.

“Connor is going to help me get what I rightfully deserve. But please, honey. For me. Stay away from him.”

I sigh. “There’s nothing happening,” I say, lying. But I know it’s necessary.

“Okay.” She pats my leg and then stands. “He told me about the call. I’ll look into it.” She pauses at the door. “It’ll be okay, sweetie. I promise.”

“Okay,” I say. “Goodnight.

“Night.” She smiles and then shuts the door behind her.

I lie back and stare at the ceiling, my mind running at a million miles per hour.

She knows something is happening between me and Connor, that’s obvious, and she doesn’t approve. I’m not surprised about that. But whatever is happening with me and Connor isn’t something sordid and wrong, it can’t be, not when it makes me feel this good. Maybe it’s dirty and taboo and forbidden, but at the core of everything, it’s good.

She doesn’t mean to take something good away from me. I know she doesn’t mean it. But just like the world she sees as standing against her and what she wants, she’s imposing her own ideas on me and what I should have. She doesn’t see it, but that’s the truth.

I don’t know what’s going to happen with Connor. But I could see that desire still there in his eyes tonight when I went to him, especially in that last moment when he took me by the arms. I don’t know what he would have done if my mother hadn’t come into the room. I think he would have kissed me.

But she broke the spell and I’ll never know. Now I have to go forward and hopefully find out.