Page 7 of Dragon's Code

ATHENA: There are quite a few to choose from. Your problem is that you don’t actually want to be away from your family. You’re weirdly overprotective of them.

KASH: It’s not weird when you like your family. You just don’t have great experiences with family.

ATHENA: You are my family.

KASH: Fair. You’re part of my family too, you know?

ATHENA: I suppose I do know that.

KASH: Gotta go. Big bro has requested my presence in his office.

I consider telling him about my ex-boyfriend-turned-stalker. I broke up with Raphael a few weeks ago, and expected him to disappear, like all my other exes have.

We’d only gone out for a short while, but I didn’t like the way he made me feel. I couldn’t figure out exactly what he wanted with me, but it wasn’t to get to know me better and fall in love.

There was always just something nefarious, laced with dishonesty, that left me feeling uneasy any time I was with him.

Do I have proof that he was actually nefarious? No. But I’ve learned to rely on my instincts. I’m all I have to make sure I don’t end up in a shit situation again.

I need to get my work done, so I try to chalk it up to my own issues getting the better of me, and try to ride it out. I keep waiting for those feelings of being watched to disappear, but they don’t.

In fact, they get worse. I feel like he’s up to something.

I don’t like that he seems to be everywhere I am. Always showing up. Always with only eyes for me. He doesn’t work or do anything but stare at me. It’s horrible and leaves me feeling on edge, like my fight-or-flight instinct is constantly on overdrive. All the time.

I hate going out anymore, because he’s always there.

That’s not normal, right?

I know I have to trust my instincts. My instincts have never let me down, and the fact that I ignored them when we first started dating makes me feel like an idiot. But the pressure of pairing up with a man is astronomically high, like I’m not a real woman if I don’t find a mate. Like I don’t matter without being a wife and a mother.

The fact that I can’t seem to make it work with any males just makes me feel like I’m broken sometimes.

But when I really look at my life, I know I haven’t ever felt like I’m missing something. I’ve never had a hard time being alone.

Okay, that’s not true. Before I was fifteen, I was more normal. I had posters of cute celebrity boys on my walls. I fantasized about meeting them and falling in love and having a big wedding and being splashed all over the tabloids.

That was all before I did end up splashed across headlines. Missing teenager. Kidnapped girl. My favorites were the ones that debated whether I was dead in a ditch, or if I just ran away.

Everything changed when I was kidnapped, held for a ransom my father refused to pay. The betrayal I experienced left me alone and bitter. To be expected, I suppose, even if it doesn’t make any of it feel better.

Kashton was the only person from before the kidnapping that I kept in my life, including my own family.

I eventually learned to make new friends in college. I keep in contact with a couple of them still, but overall, it’s hard for me to open up or trust anyone. Especially men I’m dating.

I glance up from my phone and see that Raphael is still staring at me. I’ve had all I can take of him lurking at the moment. I gather my stuff and get ready to head out of the coffee shop.

He’s packing up too.

That can’t be a coincidence.

Ugh. What am I going to do?

Enough is enough. I storm out of the coffee shop, eager to get some space between us. I decide to hop into a cab instead of just walking home.

“Where to, miss?”

I give him my address. He makes good time. I get out of the taxi and head inside my apartment building lobby.

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