Page 5 of Safe With Me

“Cream and sugar would be wonderful, thank you,” I said as she passed me a container and two packets of sugar.

“The most stress in this town is getting up here in the first place. It takes a little entry time to switch off from city mode.”

“That, and a general fight-or-flight mode,” I said with a humorless laugh. “I’m not sure how much Steven told you about what was going on.”

Her smile shrank an inch. “He said you had a crazy ex who wouldn’t take no for an answer and things were…escalating.”

I took a long sip, my eyes fluttering in relief as I swallowed it down.

“Escalating is a good word.” I nodded without looking up.

Claudia’s dark eyes were full of sympathy.

“It’s…it’s not a good story, let’s put it that way. Terrible, actually, although my brother accused me of overreacting and ruining his friend’s life.”

“Doug?” Claudia’s lips pursed. “No offense, but your brother is a dick. I’ve only met him once, but that was an immediate and clear impression.”

Doug hadn’t attended Steven’s wedding but had stopped by the bar during the rehearsal dinner, calling the “whole thing” stupid and gross. The “whole thing,” meaning their wedding and being together in the first place. Claudia had seethed behind Eric before my brother had stormed out. I’d been disappointed she hadn’t taken a swing at him as he’d passed her.

“And you’d be right. But just this once, I was hoping he’d take my side. He hasn’t in as long as I’ve been alive, so I have no idea why I expected him to start now. Family isn’t supposed to dislike you from birth, but?—”

My brother had resented me for as long as I could remember. It went beyond the bickering I’d seen between my friends and their brothers. He didn’t treat me badly to tease me. He treated me badly because he never liked me, plain and simple and sad.

It wasn’t due to jealousy over hoarding my parents’ love and affection since they’d always taken their son’s side, forevermaking an excuse about whatever awful thing he’d done to me growing up.

I’d been used to it all, but after all his friend had done, and how Doug not only hadn’t been even a little concerned about me but blamed me for it, I finally faced up to the fact that he was my brother in blood only and cutting him out of my life was something long overdue, no matter where I lived.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Claudia said, eyeing me with embarrassing sympathy. “I mean, you can if you want, but you don’t owe me or anyone anything. Remember that when the nosy old ladies start prying while you’re in line at the supermarket.”

I cracked up around the rim of my mug.

“When I have more energy, I’ll go into details. The short version is that I broke up with my boyfriend when he became obsessive to the point of creepy. He wouldn’t accept it and made my life miserable until I had no choice but to move somewhere far enough away from him, so he’d leave me alone.”

“Like I said before, I know a little. Steven asked me a few weeks ago if there was anywhere that you could stay to get away for a little while and get some distance between you and your ex.”

“A few weeks ago?” I said to myself, thinking back. I’d only lost my job last week, but a few weeks was right around the time Ted slashed one of my tires in a restaurant parking lot while I was having dinner with friends, saying that “maybe now I wouldn’t be too busy to talk.”

“So, he told you about the night…” I trailed off as Claudia nodded. “Up until that point, it was mostly a growing nuisance. He couldn’t accept that it was over, but I believed he’d eventually stop and move on.” I shook my head as I focused on the last drops of coffee in my mug.

“I can’t believe the cops did nothing that night.”

I shrugged. “My car was just out of sight of the parking lot camera, so it was my word against his. When I tried to explain what he’d been doing, I couldn’t provide proof for any of it. The cops that night told us to talk it out, so I thought trying for a restraining order would be pointless.”

“Harassment is harassment,” Claudia said, narrowing her eyes. “That must have been so awful for you.”

“Awful didn’t happen until a week or so later.” I coughed out a laugh. “But that was the first night he scared me. I figured if I ignored him long enough, he’d just go away, but that was when I realized he had no boundaries. Not when it came to me anyway.”

Claudia opened her mouth to say something when we were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“That would be breakfast. I’ll be right back.”

I nodded and picked up my phone, glancing at the texts from my best friend Ally cluttering my screen before setting it down. I hadn’t realized how much I’d mindlessly scrolled Instagram and Facebook in a given day, but as I was afraid to even interact with any posts from mutual friends, I’d deleted both.

Looking me up—I hoped—would be difficult but, I guessed, not impossible if people here wanted more information about me. Google would still work once they knew my last name was Johnson, although I never went by Delilah, my full name.

I’d even changed my cell phone number, given that blocking his number hadn’t worked since Ted would just text me from someone else’s phone or email me. Mutual friends had insisted they wouldn’t get involved but appeared to take sides all the same. One even called Ted’s antics “sweet.”

I’d had the same number for years, and having to change it irked me almost as much as having to move.

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