Page 21 of The Arrangement

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it back out, wondering if he could tell I was mad, but the phone screen held Stefan’s name again. I blew air from my lips, opening the app.

We need to talk. Please.

I tapped his picture, searching for a way to turn the notifications off. I didn’t want to talk to him or anyone else at that moment. I was done talking. Why wasn’t he getting it? Underneath his picture were three options.

Report

Block

Rate

I clicked the option to block him, and his picture disappeared. The screen changed to white, our messages gone. As if they’d never existed.

User Blocked.

There. I’ve done all I can do.

Now I just had to put the worry out of my mind and hope he’d gotten the message. Easier said than done.

Chapter Fourteen

PETER

I was at dinner with Gina, staring across the candlelit table at her, when my phone began to vibrate. I flipped it over on the table and stared at the screen. The groan escaped my throat before I had the chance to stop it.

Ainsley. What on earth could she want? We were only fifteen minutes into dinner.

“Everything okay?” Gina asked, leaning back from the table ever so slightly.

I nodded, considering ignoring the call. I didn’t know what prompted me not to, but somehow I felt like I couldn’t—that had never happened before. “I’m sorry. I need to take this. It’ll just be a second.” I held up a finger, lifting the phone to my ear as I rushed across the crowded restaurant and left my date alone. “Hey, is everything okay?”

Her response came in sharp, strained breaths. She was crying.

“Ainsley? What is it?” Concern swelled in my stomach. Ainsley wasn’t the type to cry easily. She didn’t overreact or show emotion often, so if she was crying, something was wrong.

Again, I heard a sharp breath. “Someone’s here.” Her voice was low, a bit above a whisper. That was when I realized she wasn’t crying after all. She was panicking. She was scared.

“What do you mean someone’s there?”

“Someone’s—” She was walking down the stairs then, I was almost positive. I heard her breathing grow labored, her voice echoing in the narrow hallway that led to our garage. “He won’t leave.”

“Who is it, Ains? Who’s there?” I shoved my hand in my pocket, producing the keys from its depth and rushed back toward the table, no longer caring about anything other than getting home. Something was wrong, I could feel it in my gut, the worry burrowing itself in my bones.

“It’s the guy I dated—Stefan. He—”

“Hang on. How did he find out where we live?”

“I have no idea,” she shrieked. “Peter, I’m really scared. We messed up. We messed up so badly. He’s stalking me, I think. He won’t leave me alone. He keeps messaging me, and somehow he found out my real name, and now he’s just shown up. Where are you? I don’t know what to do. Please come home, Peter. Please.”

“Okay, yes. I will. I’m coming home. Have you called the police?”

“No! No, it’s more complicated than that. I don’t know what he wants. I don’t want everyone to know what’s been going on. Please just get home and make him leave! He’ll back off if he sees you. I don’t want the kids dragged into all of this.”

“I hear you. I’m coming. Breathe, Ains, just breathe for me.” Gina perked up as I reappeared in front of her, but I pulled the jacket off the back of the chair, offered a sorry expression, shook my head, and rushed away, then out the door. As I hit the sidewalk, I realized I’d left her with the bill and no explanation, but I had no time to worry about it. I needed to get home.

I slid into the car and pulled out of the parking lot. “I’m on my way, okay? Where are you now?”

“I’m in the hallway, trying to look out the window by the garage to see where he is.”

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