Page 76 of Catching My Dreams

“I’m happy for you,” Jasmine said before her eyes narrowed. “But if he hurts you again, I’ll kick his ass.”

“You’ll have to get in line,” Ella replied with a laugh, thinking of Asher. She looked over her shoulder, and her gaze found Noah. He was walking toward the locker room with Chris, a broad grin on his handsome face. “But something tells me that won’t be necessary.”

21

“Don’t give me that look,” Ella said to Archie, who was lying on the living room floor and looking at her with big, sad eyes. “It’s not my fault he left.”

Noah had left only minutes earlier, but the Yorkie looked so depressed anyone would have thought his new best friend had been gone for weeks.

She got up from the couch and scratched him behind the ears. “He’ll be back tonight,” she promised.

Maybe she and Noah shouldn’t have been spending every night together so early into their relationship, but Ella was far from growing tired of his company, and Noah didn’t seem to have any complaints either.

And as long as Noah was happy to spend the night, Ella was more than happy to have him there. His presence filled her house with a sense of happiness and safety that was unfamiliar but entirely welcome.

“You’re such a little traitor,” she told Archie with a sigh, giving him a final scratch.

Ella went upstairs and left him there to pine over Noah and mourn his absence. Archie usually would have followed her up the stairs and sat on her bathmat while she brushed her teeth and washed her face in the morning, but staring longingly at the front door was apparently a better alternative these days.

She checked her phone while she was in front of the basin, her mouth frothing attractively with toothpaste and her hair piled haphazardly in a bun on top of her head. Asher had sent her a message confirming their coffee that afternoon, and a text from Noah appeared saying he’d left his house keys at her place and was coming back to fetch them.

Ella finished brushing her teeth and was typing a reply to Asher when she felt something on her neck, like a breath or the softest touch of someone’s hand.

She spun around, sure she’d find someone standing behind her, but there was nobody there. Her mouth went dry, fear leaving the taste of copper on her tongue, and her eyes started to sting from keeping them open. She finally blinked, and when her eyes reopened, the space in front of her was still unoccupied.

Ella swallowed, her throat hurting like she was sick or hadn’t drunk water for three days. She stared into that empty space for minutes, every second ticking by at an excruciatingly slow pace. It stayed empty, but when she turned around to face the mirror again, her body remained rigid, every muscle tensed and every one of her senses feeling overwhelmed.

The sound of the water running when she turned on the faucet sounded like gunfire to her ears. The sight of her bathrobe hanging off the back of the bathroom door out the corner of her eye had her already tight shoulders tensing further.

“There’s no one here,” Ella whispered, meeting her own eyes in the mirror. She looked deranged, her eyes wide and startled and her face two shades paler than normal. “It’s just your imagination,” she told herself.

She knew this feeling well, but it was as though Noah’s presence in her house had banished her paranoia for a little while, leaving her unprepared for its return.

Ella made herself take a deep breath in and a deep breath out, repeating it twice as the water warmed. When she finished the breathing exercise, her pulse had slowed enough that she could close her eyes and splash water on her face.

She reached for her towel, patting her face dry with the fluffy material before opening her eyes and looking into the mirror.

Brett’s gaze met hers, his face hovering over her shoulder. Ella spun around. The sink dug into her back when she shrank away from the man who now filled the space that had been empty only seconds earlier.

Her lips parted, but she couldn’t find the air in her lungs to scream. She was frozen, every cell in her body locked even as her brain screamed at her to run.

“I’ve missed you,” Brett said, and the words unlocked something in her.

She bolted for the open door, but he was faster, unhindered by the terror that gripped her. He grabbed her arm, halting her escape, and pulled her into a prison-like embrace.

His face was inches from her own, and his exhale hit her skin like the unwanted touch of a spider.

“No,” Ella shouted, but it was like she had no breath left. The word dropped from her mouth in a whisper, barely forming in the air.

“Please, just let me explain.” He drew back only to cover her mouth with his hand, keeping his other hand behind her neck so she couldn’t escape his grip.

Ella screamed, the sound muffled by his palm. Tears had begun forming in her eyes, and they rolled down her cheeks and dropped onto his fingers.

Please just leave me alone, she wanted to say. Please don’t do this. But the only sound that escaped her was her panicked breaths—the breaths that felt too shallow with her mouth covered.

She would have given anything to have help, to not be alone with Brett, but when Archie’s bark sounded from her bedroom, Ella only felt more afraid. She screamed into Brett’s palm, willing the man not to do anything to harm the Yorkie.

“Shit,” Brett grumbled, and he surprised Ella by simply kicking the bathroom door closed.

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