Page 19 of The Only Time

“I’m not coming home and risking something happening. Right now, there’s no reason to assume that he knows where I am.”

Gabe argues with me for another ten minutes, but finally he agrees to give it another week before we make any rash decisions.

When I walk downstairs, I’m greeted with Eric’s bare chest. His grey sweatpants are hanging low on his hips, and I feel mymuscles tighten with appreciation. I walk closer and watch him try to open the new coffee bag with one hand.

“Stupid fucking coffee. Open,” he curses under his breath.

“Need some help?” I ask as I walk up to the counter.

He grunts. “It shouldn’t be this hard to open this with one hand. But it hurts to grip anything with my other hand right now.”

I reach over and grab the bag from him, desperately trying to keep my eyes off of his chest. His body is a nice distraction from the shit news I just received.

“Well, the doctor said you sliced into your muscle, so it’s going to hurt for a while. You should be resting it for the first couple days. Do you always go against doctors’ orders?”

“When I want coffee, yes.”

I smile. “Alright, I’ll give you a pass on that one. Let me make this for you. You just sit down.”

He lets out a long sigh then backs away, taking a seat at the island. I feel his eyes on me and for some reason, his attention makes my body burn.

Mia, just put the damn coffee beans in the coffee machine. There is no reason to pay any attention to your body, it doesn’t know what it’s doing.

“How did you sleep?” I ask in an effort to distract myself.

Once the machine is grinding the beans, I turn around and see him biting his bottom lip. He has really nice lips. Perfect size, not too big or small. They look really soft.

“Like shit,” he says roughly.

“I’m sorry about that. Maybe you can get a good nap today.”

“Hopefully,” he says to the counter, avoiding my eyes.

Well, isn’t he charming this morning. He seemed nicer last night—must have just been the adrenaline.

Once I pour our coffees, I escape to his front porch. As soon as I sit on one of the swings, I hear a rustling come from behind me.

I fly out of the swing as images of Don jumping out flood my brain. My eyes search anxiously for the source of the noise as my body begins to shake. Then, I see a squirrel run out of the bushes and dart up the nearest tree.

I try to take a deep breath and shake the feeling, but I can’t get myself to sit back down in the swing. What if it’s not safe? Instead, I sit down on one of the rocking chairs against the wall, leaving no room for anything to jump out from behind me. The coffee cup, now only half full from my jump, shakes as I bring it to my mouth.

There’s no way I’m going out today. It doesn’t feel safe to leave his house when we don’t know where Don is. Just the thought of him searching for me brings tears to my eyes. I don’t know how to live like this. It’s like my entire life is put on hold, and I just have to sit here in this stranger’s house and wait.

Wait for what though? For him to find me and hurt me? Until he attempts or even succeeds, there’s nothing the police can do.

My tears finally break free from their prison and cascade down my cheeks one by one. They continue to fall while I drink my coffee, not knowing what to do or who to talk to.

Chapter Eight

Eric

This is so damn awkward. I’ve been walking around without a shirt on all day because I can’t get it on. There’s no way I’m going into work tomorrow. Unless I ask Jeremy or Adam to help me get my pants back up and in place after I go to the bathroom, which I’m not doing, there’s no way. I’ll just have to stay home in my sweatpants.

I don’t know where Mia is. She’s been missing ever since she helped me get undressed last night.

Although she’s been helpful with all of this, I still don’t trust her.

I hear a sudden noise echo in the kitchen. Instead of ignoring it and focusing on my rest like I should, I get up from the chair in my room and walk downstairs to check it out.

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