Page 39 of Fate on the Ice

She stands and starts to walk toward the bathroom. I listen to her turn on the tap, then the sound of the pill bottles, but there is also a buzzing that comes from the bed where her head had been.

Sitting up, I reach for the rectangle that’s making the noise. She doesn’t have it password protected, and I know that I shouldn’t look. It’s not that I don’t trust her. It’s more that I’m wondering who the fuck would be texting her … I look down at the phone. The time is displayed in big and bold lettering… two thirty in the morning.

What the fuck?

My hesitation is gone. I slide my thumb across the screen and notice a new text on the messaging app. The name is UNKNOWN. But according to the text, it’s clear that he knows her. I assume it’s a he. There’s nobody else who it can be. It’s that fuck who stole Grace’s work. It’s that asshole who called her, the one I had to set straight.

And now he’s found a way to contact her even after I blocked his ass.

But as I scroll through the messages, I realize that this has been going on for a few weeks, and there are thousands upon thousands.

UNKNOWN: YOU ARE A WHORE

UNKNOWN: I LAUGHED WHEN I HEARD HE WAS HIT IN THE FACE WITH A PUCK.

UNKNOWN: THE MINUTE YOU’RE ALONE AGAIN I’M GOING TO TAKE YOU BACK.

UNKNOWN: YOU’RE MINE.

A few moments later, she’s standing in front of me, pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She gasps at the sight of me holding her phone.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me, Grace?” I ask.

She presses her lips together, shaking her head a couple of times, then I hear her suck in a deep breath before she lets it out slowly. “It’s time to take your meds,” she whispers.

“Grace,” I warn. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She sinks down on the side of the bed, holding out the meds and water for me. I set her phone down on my chest, taking everything from her hands. I pop the pills in my mouth, drink half the contents of the glass, and then set it down on the bedside table before I focus my eyes on hers.

“Grace,” I hiss.

“I didn’t want to tell you,” she whispers. “I didn’t want you to know because this was a problem that I created. I thought it was going to go away. I’ve been ignoring all the texts. I haven’t responded. I did this, and maybe this is what I deserve.”

“Never,” I snap. “What happened was not your fault, and this is not your fault. Why would you think that?” I demand.

Tears well in her eyes. She blinks them away, but I saw them right there on the verge of falling. Reaching out, I cup her cheek. Her eyes slowly close, then she opens them, and they find mine before she speaks.

“I deserve what he’s doing because I was stupid enough to allow him into my life.”

Her words make my heart ache the moment they reach my ears. “That man is a psycho, and I’m pretty fucking certain he’s been stalking you, which nobody deserves. Tomorrow, we go to the cops. Tonight, you crawl into bed with me and get a decent night’s rest.”

And that is fucking that. I don’t take no for an answer, not that I ever would. My woman is going to sleep safely beside me, and that’s the best medicine I could ever need.

Chapter

Nineteen

GRACE

Marriage. Hayze. Otto. Surgery. My father.

Those are the five words that flash on a repeating cycle as I attempt to sleep. My eyes stay closed all night and into the morning, but I’m not sure how deep I slept, considering when the room is bathed in sunlight and when I finally open my eyes, I feel exhausted.

As if I ran a marathon in my sleep. And maybe I did, even if it was only my brain running.

Otto groans beside me, his fingers twitching against my side. He needs pain meds. I know he does. It’s been too long since he’s taken any. Quickly, I roll out of bed and hurry to the bathroom to fill his cup with water and shake the pills he needs out of the bottles.

By the time I make it back into the bedroom, he’s got his back propped against the headboard, a pillow cushioning his back against the hard wooden plank.

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