Page 119 of Hunt for You

(555) 238-9090: Bridget this is Sam. I’m really sorry I upset you last week. I’ve got some of Richard’s stuff for you.

(555) 238-9090: I found your number in his diary. I hope you don’t mind me using it. I could bring this stuff to you, or you can drop by. I’d like to apologize in person.

I read the messages, then read them again.

He was such aniceguy. How did someone go from what he’d been, to this?

Was it an act?

I didn’t think so. I had a very sensitive radar for the darkness in men, and even though Sam gave me the flutters, it lacked punch. Because even though he had the exterior and the past that gave him an edge, the reality was, he was nice. Thoughtful.Gentle.

I’d destroy him.

I didn’t know what to say, and at that point I really did need to get to Gerald’s office, so I just left the text unanswered.

With any luck, it was an old diary of Richard’s and he’d think it was an old number. Or maybe I would answer another time, because I kind of did want to read Richard’s journal. Just… not in front of Sam.

I didn’t know, and couldn’t decide, so I pussied out and ignored the text.

I’d think about it tomorrow.

Or at 3 am in the morning when I couldn’t sleep anyway.

SOUNDTRACK:Hold Me (Demo)by Bryce Savage

~ CAIN ~

I watched her drive away from her house. I was all hunched down in my car looking out from under a baseball cap like a fucking pervert.

But I didn’t do what I’d been vowing to do for days and turn around and go home.

No.

I waited until she was a mile ahead, then started following her dot on my phone, slamming the gear-shift into first and gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles while my guts twisted up like an old-school phone cord.

I’d done everything I was supposed to do once she said she didn’t want to die.

I left.

I didn’t respond to her messages.

I killed the phone.

And I stopped hunting.

That should have been the end of it. That should have been the moment I walked away entirely and watched for the next mark. But I couldn’t. I couldfeelher in my hands, and it made me come alive.

If only I hadn’t kissed her and tasted that poison mouth.

If only I could sleep without dreaming about her.

If only I wasn’t on the verge of losing my mind every time I thought about never seeing her again.

I hadn’t showed up for work in three days.

Yet, I had been everywhere Bridget went. And she had no idea. Which was how it should be. Except…

Now she wanted to live.

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