Page 39 of Dance for Me

He stepped into her space. “But I must say,” his hand cupped her face, “I don’t care what they think about me, I just care that I get to spend time with you again.”

“Yeah, I’m glad, too,” she added. “But Doug, I hope you know that we’re just…”

He pressed his pointer finger in her lips and held out his arm, gesturing for Vanessa to take hold. “How about I just take you home.”

* * *

She tilted her head down and let out a small laugh as they walked back to her apartment. “I completely forgot about that. My mother was furious for months and my father refused to look at me.” It was a laughable memory thinking back on it. When she brought Doug home for Thanksgiving, her mom found them having sex on the living room couch. She felt like a teenager again getting caught by her parents. They never liked him after that. “Well, thank you for walking me home and again I’m sorry.”

“Of course,” he leaned in and kissed her cheek, “Goodnight Vanessa.”

Smiling to herself, she closed her door, but her smile faded because it just wasn’t the same hearing her name from Doug. Sprinkles stared up at her from the floor. “Don’t you dare look at me like that.” She meowed and trotted away.

Vanessa put her head back onto her door. Jack was wrong. She wasn’t hanging out with Doug because she felt sorry for herself. No, she was doing it because she enjoyed it. Didn’t she? Was it so wrong to have an ex as a friend?

Suddenly, a piece of paper slid under the door and she couldn’t move. She cupped a hand over her mouth when she saw it was a red envelope. It looked like the same one from before that she found in her dressing room. Were they outside right now? She kept her palms plastered to the door behind her. She wanted to look, wanted to check the peep hole, but she was glued to the damn door.

Did she lock it? She moved fast as she turned around and threw the chain on, locking it. She stood looking at her door like someone was going to break it down. Her breathing was fast but she decided to see if they were still out there. She slowly crept up on her tip toes and peeked out.

No one was there, she let out a sigh of relief and then quickly moved away from it. Her hands rested against the wood and she pressed her forehead to it. She looked down and stared at the envelope on the ground. Two nights in a row? The first one she thought was just someone being stupid but another one was too weird of a coincidence. She decided to open it and read it with her heart still pounding.

Dear Vanessa,

I can’t stop thinking about you. The color of your lovely skin, how soft it looks. I will have you. I promise that.

“Oh my God.” Vanessa let go of the letter, letting it fall to the floor.

She should go to the police because whoever this was clearly knew where the hell she lived. Maybe, maybe it was those guys that came into the club that day she was there. The guy did make her more than uncomfortable.

She grabbed her phone with a small hesitation but found the courage to finally tap on his name. She should call Doug and see if he was still close by. Or maybe she should call Jack, see if he knew something that Vanessa didn’t, if it was the same guy who she thought it could be. It had nothing to do with the fact that if she ever felt scared, she immediately thought of him. No, not at all.

It only rang twice before he answered.

“Vanessa? You okay?” Why did he always think she was in trouble when she called him?

“Jack,” she paused to slow her breathing, “how dangerous are these men who you work for?” She managed to finally get the words out.

“Sweetheart, what are you talking about? Did something happen again with them?”

“I just…”

“Did they approach you?” He cut her off.

“Not exactly.”

“Are you home?”

“Yes.”

“I’m coming over.”

This was the second time he rushed to her when she called him.

She jumped when a knock sounded at her door. She didn’t move because she was too scared to move.

“It’s me Vanessa, open up.”

She relaxed when she heard Jack’s voice on the other side and she couldn’t get the door open fast enough. She stood there looking at him, him looking at her. That was enough, that was all it took for her to fling herself into his chest with tears already starting to make his shirt damp.

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