Page 17 of Vas

Anna looked her straight in the eye. “No.”

Tiffany’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. I’ll let it drop for now, but you know I won’t stop bugging you about it.”

Anna internally sighed. Didn’t she know it.

The great thing about working the mid shift was no clean up and prep to contend with, and Anna was out the door as soon as Paul arrived to relieve her.

Being her own valentine, she stopped at the store on her way home, treating herself with a ready-to-cook pizza, the aforementioned ice cream—Milk and Cookies flavor—and a bottle of champagne that, with her new cell phone bill, she couldn’t really afford but bought anyway.

On alert, Anna carried her bags up to her apartment, cursing herself for not having her keys out when she saw a guy in a black hoodie, lounging against the wall in the forecourt a few feet away from her door. Flashbacks from the week before had her hastening her pace as she juggled her bags, freeing one hand to dig into her pursefor her keys, all with her heartbeat thudding painfully in her chest.

She dared a quick glance in the guy’s direction, making sure he hadn’t moved, and he gave her a chin lift as she passed by. She hated giving him her back but had no choice as she inserted her key into her lock and kicked her door open. Slamming it shut, she secured the deadbolt before dumping her bags on the coffee table and collapsing onto the sofa. Her whole body shook and she leaned her head on her knees, struggling to breathe. The last week had been so uneventful, she hadn’t realized she was still so affected by her attack. It took a few minutes, but soon her heartbeat slowed and she was able to take a few deep, calming breaths. She stood flicking the light switch, the gloomvanishing and easing her fear. Turning on the TV, dispelling the quiet, helped too.

Stomach full of pizza and head swimming in wine, Anna situated herself in bed, sitting up against a stack of pillows and pulling the comforter snuggly over her lap. She stared down at her phone. More specifically, the lone contact in her phone.

Vas.

After almost a week, she still hadn’t added any other numbers. Not her mom’s or even Tiffany’s. She knew why, but enjoying the fact that Vas was her sole contact was not something she wanted to dwell on. At least not that night with her head drowning in champagne.

She tapped on his name. Not surprisingly, his phone number was the only piece of information in his profile. She tapped on the message icon and an empty text thread popped up. She stared at all that blankness, wondering what she would say if she actually had the nerve to send him a text.

Where do you go when you disappear for so long?

She typed the question, then scrutinized it as it sat safe in its little message box. It was a great question and one she was dying to know the answer to. Did she dare send it? Finger hovering over the blue arrow, she gave a very unladylike snort. No, she did not. But as she made the move to delete it, her finger twitched, accidentally hitting the send arrow.

Her stomach dropped as she stared in horror as a text bubble appeared.

Oh shit!

She stared dumbly at the screen, freaking out as the seconds ticked by while she tried to think of what to do. Was it possible to delete a text? Desperate, she tapped her message. Nothing happened. Frantic, she tapped it again and again and again in rapidly-panicking succession.

Nothing.

Taking a deep breath, she willed her wine-befuddled mind tothink. She tapped and held the message and she nearly melted into a puddle of relief when a trash-can icon appeared. She’d never tapped anything so fast. A message appeared on the screen,your message has been unsent,and she exhaled back into her pillows, willing her racing heart to calm down.

Feeling shaky and a bit lightheaded, she set the evil device on her nightstand and clicked off her bedside light, snuggling into her blankets. She would just go to sleep and pretend as if nothing had ever happened.

That wasn’t meant to be.

She had just closed her eyes when her phone beeped.

Her eyes flew back open.

Getting up on an elbow, she reached for her phone, almost afraid to touch it. There was a text from Vas on the screen.

Everything okay?

Sitting up, she blinked and then blinked again. But no matter how hard she wished differently, his message was still there.

Yes, why?

Little dots appeared and then,You deleted a message.

Heart thumping and trying not to full-out panic, she replied,You can see that?

Yes.

Even befuddled and freaked out, an idea came to her quickly.I meant to send a message to someone else and sent it to you by mistake. There, that made perfect sense and was only a small white lie that couldn’t get her into too much trouble.

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