Page 68 of Need

Since I’d never been here, I had no idea what they had. The menu looked daunting, to say the least. “I’ll have whatever you’re having,” I finally said.

“You want a caramel latte? You hate caramel.”

Did I? I tried to think back, but I honestly couldn’t remember. “What you’re having is fine,” I repeated. I was too nervous to concentrate on the menu to find something else.

Thankfully, he didn’t argue with me anymore, and walked up to the counter to place our order. The place wasn’t packed, but there had to be at least twenty other customers there, and it made me want to run back to my room and hide. Instead, I pressed myself as far as I could into the corner and waited.

“Here you go,” Cal said, startling me. “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked, sliding in the booth opposite me.

“Y... yes. I’m fine.”

He frowned. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?”

Without answering him, I took a drink of my caramel latte. It wasn’t bad. He was probably right that I didn’t like caramel, but I’d had a lot worse things during my time living with Ian. After that, most things, if not my favorite, were more than tolerable.

Cal reached out, and I pulled back. “Anna, please. I’m trying to understand here. Really, I am. You're living with one of the most eligible bachelors in Minneapolis, you act as if you’re scared of your own shadow, I’m actually amazed you agreed to have coffee with me, and you don’t want me to tell your father where you are. What am I missing?”

“It’s complicated.”

“So spell it out for me, Anna. I’m here. I’m listening. I’m trying to be your friend, but you’ve got to help me out here.”

Could I do it? Could I tell Cal what had happened to me? I didn’t think so. Even when I was in Stephan’s arms, I usually panicked when I started talking. Stephan wasn’t here right now, and I wasn’t going to chance it. What if I lost it and they called the police? John would be notified for sure. I couldn’t take that chance.

“I can’t talk about it, Cal. I’m sorry. Not here.”

“Where, then? I’m not going to hurt you. I hope you know that.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“I have... I panic when I talk about... it. I can’t... not here.”

Cal looked around at all the people, and just nodded. “I came by to see you last weekend. Did Coleman tell you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s something, I suppose,” he sighed, seeming almost disappointed. Did he think Stephan wouldn’t tell me? “He said he would, but I didn’t know.”

I asked what I’d been wondering for a while. “Why do you hate him so much?”

“I don’t.” At my skeptical look, he continued. “Okay, okay. It’s just that the man has everything, and it was handed to him on a silver platter. He’s what, twenty-four, twenty-five? He runs one of the largest foundations in the Midwest and lives in a penthouse in one of the most expensive parts of downtown. And what did he do to earn it? Nothing. It was all given to him dressed up in a nice fancy bow.”

“So you don’t like him because he has money?”

“It’s not that he has money,” he said hesitantly. “It’s that he didn’t work for it.”

I didn’t like the way he was talking about Stephan, and I shook my head disagreeing with him. “You don’t know anything about him. He’s helped lots of people. He’s helped me so much. You shouldn’t think bad things about him.”

“How has he helped you, Anna? Tell me. Why is it that I should get on the Stephan Coleman bandwagon?”

I felt a mixture of anger at Cal for being so unfair and an ache in my chest I didn’t understand. I needed to defend Stephan. It wasn’t a want, it was a need, growing deep inside me that overrode everything else. “Because he saved me! He got me out of that horrible place.”

It wasn’t until the words left my mouth and I realized what I’d just said that the panic seemed to fill me. I knew I had to get away. Looking up, I saw a sign for the restroom. Without thinking, I got up and ran toward it, not stopping until I was safely locked inside the stall. I needed Stephan.

Chapter Seventeen

Stephan

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