Page 16 of His Every Move

It was nice. Much nicer than that terrible “date” I went on.

What a douchebag.

A judgmental and dickish asshole.

I woke up the next day and blocked Kevin from Grindr and from my phone. Not that I thought he was going to try to get in touch with me, but still, it made me feel better seeing his profile disappear off the face of the Earth.

“Morning, Eli,” Fran said, greeting me as I shuffled out of my bedroom. She sat on the couch, cross-legged, her laptop propped open and a morning talk show playing on the television.

“Hey, Fran. What are you up to today?”

“Nothing, really. Just going to smoke a little, doomscroll, and maybe take a nap.” Fran lifted her coffee mug in a faux cheer. “Busy day for me. You?”

“Have to do a grocery run and then meeting with a detective later.”

“Detective? Are you rehearsing for a role onLaw & Orderor something? I do love that show.”

That got a chuckle out of me. “No, this is for real. Remember how I told you I’ve been getting harassed online? I hired someone to help me figure out who it is. They sent me an email this morning saying they wanted to meet to go over the case a bit more.”

“Why are people online so damn batty? Sorry you’re going through this.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got a good feeling that it’ll get figured out soon. Besides, the detective’s pretty hot, so that’s a plus.”

“Perfect,” Fran said. She raised her mug in another cheers. “Silver lining and all that.”

“Yes, exactly.”

I brewed myself my own mug of coffee and joined Fran on the couch as I sipped it and doomscrolled along with her. We shared a couple of funny memes and talked crap about the celebrity who joined the talk show for one of the dumbest interviews we’d ever witnessed.

“Oh, check out this video,” I said, pausing my screen on a cat stepping on aluminum foil and launching itself into the sky. I couldn’t hold back the giggles as I passed the phone to Fran.

She pressed Play and immediately started to crack up.

“I love cat videos,” I said, watching her reaction. A ding made her perk up. Fran’s laughter suddenly ceased, her thin black brows creeping together. I cocked my head. That wasn’t the reaction I was looking for…

“Sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to read your texts, but something just came in. Something odd.”

“Really?”

I grabbed the phone and opened my text messages. At the very top was a message from a number I didn’t recognize. I tapped it and read it.

My blood froze to solid ice in my veins.

It was from Nomad.

NOMAD: Your skin, your bones, your heart, your cock. It will all be mine.

“What the fuck?” I locked my phone, feeling as though I were holding a loaded gun. My hands shook.

“Is that from the person who’s harassing you?”

“It has to be.”

“Sounds… that sounds terrible.”

I considered running to the bathroom before I threw up my coffee all over the couch. The apartment felt like it had dropped about a hundred degrees in temperature.

“I think… Fran, maybe you should start looking for a place to move to? I don’t want to put you at risk. This person already knows where I live. Now they know my phone number.”

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