Page 36 of A Second Chance At Forever

“Yep,” I answered before turning back around to ignore her. Ashely was a big part of all my problems before I left to start my music career. She hated me because I was with Mason and she never passed up the opportunity to make my life hell. Everything from writing names on my locker, to vandalizing my car, and sneaking into bed with a very drunk Mason to make me think they had slept together. I didn’t like the girl and that hadn’t changed.

“Lennox, I know I was a bitch back then, but do you think you could forgive me? What do you say, from one ex to another?” She offered up her best smile.

“No, and you were never an ex. Mason didn’t date you, you stalked him.” I grabbed my coffee and walked away to fill it with cream and sugar.

“Well, none of that matters now, does it? He has someone and it’s not either of us.” With a flip of her blonde hair, she walked away.

I took a deep breath and grabbed my coffee, heading to my car.

“What are you doing?” Dad asked when he walked into the living room to see me sitting on the couch looking over the newspaper.

“Looking for an apartment. I can’t stay here forever and I’m not ready to go back to California.”

“I take it you and Mason met up.” Dad sat down beside me.

I pulled my eyes away from my paper and looked over to him. “Yes, and I know what you’re going to say.”

“Do you?” he asked with a lift of his brow.

I took a long breath. “You’re going to say, I need to stay away from him, that he’s only going to hold me back and I have bigger issues at hand. I just don’t know if I want that life anymore, Dad. Every day for the past five years I’ve thought about Mason. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up on my career, but I do know that I don’t want to lose Mason again.”

“You don’t know me at all, do you? That’s not what I was going to say at all.”

“What were you going to say, then?” I sat down the paper and gave him my full attention.

“I was going to say, I support whatever you choose. You’re not a child anymore, Lennox. You can make your own decisions.”

A small smile broke through. “Thanks, Dad. I don’t know if I’m ready to quit music, I just know I need a break for a while.”

I made a few phone calls and set up appointments to look at a few apartments, before giving the paper to Dad to do the crossword puzzles.

I turned my phone on and it went crazy with alerts again. I didn’t bother looking through them, knowing most were from Chris, but I did call Alissa to check in.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey, sorry I haven’t called.” I curled up in bed, trying to get as comfortable as I could with my bruised ribs.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m doing better. I’m going to go look at apartments tomorrow.”

“So, you’re planning on staying awhile then?”

“Yeah, for awhile. Until I release the news about the engagement being off and things cool down.”

“I think you should talk to Chris before you release that information.” I could hear the warning in her voice.

“What? Why?” I sat up, bracing myself for the news that she was about to tell me.

“He’s going crazy, he’s threatened me. He says if I don’t find you and tell him where you are I will regret it. I don’t know what to do, Lennox. I don’t know where you are and wouldn’t tell him if I did, but I’m scared. Who knows what that psycho is capable of.”

I ran my hand through my hair, pushing it back out of my face. I should have known he would pull something like that.

“Don’t worry, I will take care of it.” I hung up and called a number I never wanted to call again. I called Chris.

“Lennox, it’s about time you called,” Chris answered. His voice was cheerful, like he was happy he was getting his way.

“What do you want from me?” I whispered into the phone. There I was, thousands of miles away and he still had control over me.

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