My phone vibrates again so I jump down and check the screen.
‘You only see me if I want you to.’
‘But you can see me any time you want?’ I text back.
‘I want to know you, and I always get what I want. BTW, I love the shorts, Harp.’
My hand flies to my chest, as if to protect my heart from the immediate hurt that floods me when I read the name. Harp. How dare this man insert himself into my life and pretend like he’s got a right to know me. How dare he interrupt my routine, take me out of the bubble of comfort that I’ve wrapped myself in.
I grab the remains of my dinner, jog back up the steps, and dump it in the trash. Then I jaywalk across PCH, feeling a little like Frogger in the rush-hour traffic, and turn the corner at Fifth to walk home.
See? See, Harper? This is why you stay the f**k inside.
I half walk, half jog all the way back to my gate and then let myself in the back. God, that thing is not very secure. Anyone can come up and pull that stupid piece of rope. I find my key and let myself into the apartment, closing the door behind me, locking it up tight, and then lean back against it so I can slump to the floor.
This guy is a creep. He’s stalking me. Watching me, taking note of what I’m wearing, what I’m eating. My phone vibrates behind me and I jump.
I’m going to have to go to the police. There’s no way this can be anything but bad. No way. I will have to go to the police. What if he’s not one of them? What if he’s just some crazy ra**st?
Another vibration.
I pick up the phone and turn it over to read the messages.
‘What day is it?’
What?
‘Do you even know?’
I huff out some air. ‘Wednesday,’ I text back.
‘Better check that calendar again, Harper.’
No nickname this time. Why? He saw my reaction out there on the beach? How? How could he know the name was what made me react?
‘Day, Harper. I hate having to ask you to do everything twice.’
I check the date on my phone, but that’s no help. I never keep track of the date. So I go into my calendar app and my eyes almost bug out of my head.
Friday.
Well, that explains the line at the Mexican place. And my hunger. I was asleep for three days.
‘I’m waiting.’
He can wait all he wants. He’s playing a game with me and I just quit.
‘Do you remember the bath I gave you after you took the pills?’
I can’t remember shit, a common side-effect with Ativan when you take too much. And someone had to stitch my head, change me out of my clothes, clean me up, wash my saltwater-soaked garments, and put me to bed.
That someone really was him.
‘I enjoyed it. Every second.’
The tears fall down my cheeks as I consider the implications of what he’s telling me. I message back. ‘I’m reporting you to the police for rape, ass**le!’
Chapter Six
JAMES
Rape.
She has got to be f**king with me. It makes me laugh, but seriously, this girl, after everything that’s happened, thinks I’m a ra**st?
I’m two yards away from her building door, but I take a little detour out to the alley to think this through.
Rapist. I roll the possibilities over and over in my mind and only come up with one explanation.
She has no idea who I am.
I run my hands through my hair, pulling a little. She’s driving me crazy and all these months of watching her, all that pent-up want and desire, is clouding my thinking.
If she has no idea who I am, then…
Chapter Seven
HARPER
A pounding on the door makes me jump up from the floor.
“Harper?” the beautiful voice says softly through the door. “Open up, Harp.”
“Don’t call me that,” I say back. “You have no right to call me that.”
“Open the door, or I swear to f**king God, I will kick it in and break the locks.”
“I’m dialing the police.”
“No, you’re not. You’re on the run. It doesn't take a guy like me to see that. Open. The. Door. I need to set you straight. Right now.”
I pause, thinking.
He kicks the door and the wood around the lock begins to splinter.
“Stop!”
“Open,” he commands.
I reach over and flip the deadbolt. As soon as it clicks, the door flies open and he’s in front of me, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling like it was that day under the pier. Only now, he looks furious.
And it scares the f**k out of me. I back up, my hands out to ward him off. But he continues forward, kicking the door closed with his foot, forcing me against the wall.
“You think I raped you?” His eyes are blazing with anger as he stares down at me. They dart back and forth, looking me straight on, but not able to settle on one eye or the other. “Answer me!” he bellows.
I jump a little and immediately I lose control and the tears start to well up. I cover my face. “Go away! Just leave me alone!”
He yanks on both wrists, flinging my hands down, and then he cups my face and leans in closer. As close as he was the other day under the pier. My whole body begins to tremble. “You think,” he says, softer now, “that I raped you, Harp?”
“Please don’t call me that. Please, please, please don’t call me that.”
He lets out a long breath of air and removes his hands, turns, and walks away. I cover my face again and peek through my fingers like a child, watching him struggle with me, running his hands back and forth through his thick, wavy hair. He’s wearing a light blue t-shirt that hugs all the thick muscles of his back. The faded jeans look very old and there’s a hole in the ass that lets his checkered boxers peek through. On his feet are a pair of classic Vans that look like they were born sometime in the eighties.