Page 65 of Bad Enough

Sylvan’s eyes widened and dilated with fear. Looking down at the screen in her hand, instead of Kai’s name showing, it said, “Restricted.”

The voice continued, “You were promised to me, Jolie. You’ve always been mine. And soon, you’ll be mine to do with as I please. But first I’m going to take care of that new boyfriend of yours. And it will hurt, Jolie. I’ll enjoy hurting him. Then it will be your turn.”

Dial tone.

Sylvan stood there, chest heaving, whimpers trying to work their way up from deep inside her. She heard screaming.

She just didn’t know that the screaming was her.

23

JUNE 16TH

TB

With the first note of Flame’s scream, he was out of the chair and up the two flights of stairs. When he got to her, she was a whimpering mess on the floor, her phone shattered from her reflexive throw.

“Flame!” He crossed the room, gathered her up into his arms, and sat down on the edge of the bed with her in his lap. She was clutching him so tightly around the neck he could barely breathe.

“Flame, sweetheart, what happened?” He ran his hands over her body, checking for injuries. Finding nothing, he managed to pry her arms from around his neck and frame her face in his hands. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, her pupils were blown out wide with fear, her teeth were chattering, and her body began shaking uncontrollably. “Jesus, woman,” he muttered as her skin turned ice cold in seconds.

He stood up, tore the quilts back on the bed, and slid her inside the bedding, tucking her in tight. Then he hit a button on his watch. “Call Doc.” As it rang, he muttered, “And he better not be out on a midnight swim.”

After three rings a deep voice went, “Yeah?”

Waves were crashing in the background.

“It’s Flame. Something’s wrong.”

“Symptoms?”

“Complete meltdown. Skin is ice cold, eyes blown out, shaking like a leaf?—”

“Shock. Lay her down. Elevate her feet. Loosen her clothing. Get her warm. No food, no water until she’s back with you.”

“Got it.”

“What happened?”

“No clue. She’s not speaking. She got a phone call from Kubrick. Then the phone rang again, and she started screaming.”

“Call Waters. I’m on my way.”

TB disconnected the call and went back to Flame’s side. She had curled up into a ball, pulling all the quilts over her like she was creating a cocoon. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently began pulling the covers free piece by piece. She didn’t fight him, but she had a death grip on the portion she had pulled over her head. “Flame, let go, sweetheart. I’m here. Nothing can hurt you.”

He pried her fingers from the quilt, but then she just curled further into herself. He didn’t know what else to do. He rebundled her in the quilt and brushed the hair out of her face as he called Waters.

“Cock-blocker,” the grumpy voice came over the line.

“Something happened. Flame went into shock again.”

Waters’ voice went instantly serious. “She just got off the phone with Kubrick. How?”

“I heard the phone ring again over the monitor after they hung up. I heard her answer, and then she started screaming. I’m guessing the stalker finally dug up her number.”

Waters sighed. “You call Demon?”

“Yeah, he’s on his way over, but I’m gonna call him off. I don’t think there’s anything he can do for this.”

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