Page 54 of The Trick

The air becomes trapped within my throat, my mind races. I know he has a history of tracking and tapping into things, but now I’m worried he did something to her.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” I demand.

“Calm down, Blair,” he says so nonchalantly it only fuels my anger.

“I swear if you hurt her, I will kill you!” I shout, my chest heaving.

A shrill grunt breaks from my mouth and Istomp my foot into the pavement in pure, suffocating, anger.

“Fuck,” he groans into the phone. “You really know how to make my cock rock hard when you get all pissy. I love an angry woman,” he sneers.

“Fuck off, Maddox.”

“Delilah is fine. She isn’t the one I want. I want you.”

I shake my head, I know he’s obsessed, hence the whole persistent stalker thing he’s got going on, but I don’t understand how that obsession, that want he has for me, rooted in such delusional passion, never seems to falter.

“I didn’t ask if youwanther, fuckface.What did you do to her?” I repeat myself.

“What was that? You want me to fuck your face?” he jokes and I swear, never have I wanted to murder him more than I do right now.

He releases a long-winded sigh that scratches atmy ear. “She’s fine.”

“I don’t believe you. Put her on the phone so I can make sure.”

“Sorry, can’t do that.”

“Why the fuck not?!” I demand.

“I don’t know where she is. I just borrowed her number…and the rest of the numbers in your phone.”

Ha, old habits don’t die hard.

Déjà vu assaults me, bringing me back to the first time he did this to me. Like the night I tried calling the cops on him. If I would have known then that fucking with him a would lead to this, I would have killed him instead of allowing him to feed my dark desires.

“See when you were taking your little nap–” he begins but I cut him off, I’m not going to let him just graze over the fact that he fucking drugged and branded me with his knife. Who does this man think he is?

“Oh no you don’t. I wasn’t napping, you drugged me,” I retort.

“Eh, potato,potato. You woke up, didn’t you? It was just sleep meds, Blair. Where is your sense of adventure? Anyway, as I was saying, before you rudely interrupted me. I took the liberty of reprogramming every number in your phone to call me.”

“I’m going to call the cops,” I lie.

A chuckle bursts through the speaker. “That’s rich coming from you. If you remember correctly it was you they were more suspicious of until I got them off your trail.”

Ah, how could I forget. An intervention I’m still paying for.

“Now, enough of your dramatics,” he snaps. “You’re so close.”

“To what?” I ask with ample dread in my tone.

“The big surprise!” Even with the way his voice naturally rasps, I can feel his excitement radiating through the phone. “Now, according to this beautiful red dot that is flashing with your live location, you are getting warmer.”

“You know, it’s pretty pathetic how heavily you rely on technology to keep tabs on me. What would the stalker gods say about that, huh?”

“You’re so cute, Blair. Gods of any kind don’t exist and don’t let anyone tell you any different. The only deity you will ever know is buried within me.”

“What do you want from me?”

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