Page 12 of Rescued By the Marine

I call my dad.

“Hey, son, how are you?” he answers in his always jovial voice.

“Dad, I need help.”

“What do you need?” His tone completely shifts, and no explanation is necessary. I’m so lucky with my family.

“I’ve been staying in a cabin up the mountain with a friend and someone has been bothering them. The person found them, and we need somewhere to go that no one will know about. Can you find us a place?”

“Give me twenty minutes and I’ll call you with an address. Do you have a weapon?”

Violet’s head turns to mine as I answer. “Yes.”

“Is this friend, your sister’s friend?”

“Affirmative.”

“Then you need to call your sister and tell her what’s happening. If this jackass found Violet in Star Mountain, Zoe needs to know. Can she hear me?”

“I can,” Violet answers.

“I’m so sorry this is happening, Violet, but there’s no one better to be with than Kane.”

“I know,” she says as she grabs my hand.

“I’ll find you a place.” He hangs up.

I pull over to the side of the road, certain that we aren’t being followed. I kiss the top of Violet’s hand. I want to promise that everything is going to be okay, but I said that earlier, and look what happened. I just hope I can protect her if he finds her again.

11

VIOLET

My heart is still beating fastfrom seeing the letter on Kane’s car. How did he find me here? What would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten out of the car at the grocery store?

We’ve been driving for an hour, but finally have a destination. Kane’s dad has a friend with a fishing cabin we’re heading to. It doesn’t have any amenities, but it’ll do for tonight. I don’t care where we stay, as long as I’m with Kane and we’re safe.

“Dad said it was rustic,” Kane says as we drive up. “I’m hoping that there’s at least working plumbing.”

“It does look more shack than cabin,” I agree.

We get out of the car and go inside the cabin. Looks can be deceiving, from the outside the cabin looks like it would be rat-infested and about to fall over. Instead, it’s warm and clean inside. There’s a full-sized bed and the linens look like they’ve been replaced recently. It’s not a bad place to spend the night and not on any map. It’s an illegally built cabin. No inspections, no permits, nothing.

“We need to call Zoe,” I remind Kane.

“I know, but maybe we should read it first,” he says, pulling out the letter from his pocket.

The red letters on the envelope look like blood and the violence behind the word written across the front frightens me. I can only imagine with the outside this way what the inside will be.

“Do you want me to read it first?” Kane asks.

“No, I need to do this.”

I open the envelope and pull out the letter. In the past, it was one or two lines. Telling me to stop being with men in some way, stop acting, and then confessing his feelings. This letter is a full page of rambling somewhere between a love letter and a promise of violence.

“He says that we’ve known each other for years and always knows we were meant to be together. That the whole world knows we’re destined for each other. Then he switches to telling me that if I don’t stop fucking the tattooed asshole, he’ll kill you. He mentions us drinking wine on the balcony and making love under the stars.” I stop, unable to continue. The stalker has been watching me with Kane since almost the first night at the cabin.

“How does this bastard know where you are?”

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