We’d both been reading our fortunes while Dobby crunched evilly on the cookies when the news had cut to a reporter discussing a fishing boat that’d disappeared somewhere in Alaska.
Elijah had immediately shut down, his attention laser-focused on the television, as she mentioned the five missing fishermen and how the weather and temperature meant they only had a small window to find them before they died. I would’ve thought and hoped the wording would be a bit more sympathetic given that they had friends and family who could be watching it, but that was precisely what she’d said.
After that, it was like he’d become a robot. Instead of the shared shower we had every night, he’d waited for me to finish up and taken his own separately. I wasn’t offended by this in the slightest because I knew that having personal time was a must, especially if something had triggered a memory or hard emotion. But after it, he’d just gotten into bed, turned on his side, and fallen asleep without saying a word.
That was the first time in almost a month that I had a nightmare. In it, I was awake while the bastard tore my leggings and knickers off while he unzipped his suit trousers. I was trying to scream for help, get up to run away, or even kick him, but it was like my body was made of concrete. He’d just been lying down on top of me when I’d woken up, only just catching the scream before it scared the shit out of Elijah.
Seeing as how he was still out cold and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep, I snuck into the kitchen and made a cup of tea while I thought about my security. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that Elijah’s change last night had triggered a nightmare. It was probably because more of my mates had seen Orson walking around West Wickham like he didn’t have a care in the fucking world.
That had reminded me of how small the world was and how determined and patient he’d been last time before he’d attacked me.
Grabbing my phone from the counter, I avoided a hissing Dobby and dropped down onto the couch with my tea. I had an amazing landlord who’d allowed me to put in extra locks after he’d heard my story, so I knew my windows and doors were practically hermetically sealed, but was it enough?
No, I wanted a screaming alarm if anything broke the sensor. I wanted it to tell me to ‘run, bitch, run’ if someone managed to break in. I’d seen enough of those crime shows to know people could do it and lie in wait for you to get home, and I wasn’t going to be one of those victims.
Opening up my Amazon app, I typed in alarm systems and sat back to sift through the results. The type that Ariana had was perfect for me. I could add sensors, I didn’t have to drill holes, and it would only take about half an hour for me to install it. Well, if I got a ladder it would only take that amount of time. Without it, I’d have to scale walls with my nails, so that would probably be a fail.
Adding the full monty package to the cart, which included everything possible, I winced when I saw the one to two week delivery notice. Apparently, it was in high demand just now, so it’d take slightly longer to get here, but still, I was getting it. I’d have sensors, a camera to put in the living room, and a camera outside that pointed at the walkway leading to the car park. And all of it was controlled by my phone. Aces! I’d even added a different doorbell with a camera, so I could see who was there if someone pressed it.
It might sound like overkill, and I had a moment as my thumb hovered over the button to complete the order where I wondered if it was, but then I decided fuck it.
Until someone’s been in that situation and has the stress of a thousand ‘what ifs’ hanging over them, they wouldn’t understand how scary it was and how much something like this helped, even if it was just mentally.
Once it was done and I’d waved farewell to the money, I was left with my thoughts to keep me company, and they shifted to Elijah and how he’d withdrawn tonight. We’d had three weeks of fun and lighthearted humor and banter, and I’d loved every minute of it. I’d even had sober sex for the first time in my life, repeatedly. My first time had been while I was drunk about five years ago with a guy I’d been seeing for a while, and I hadn’t wanted to do it again afterward. We’d broken up a few months later, and I hadn’t even thought about it again. Well, that was until I met Elijah.