Page 22 of Shadowing Charlotte
Your ex was at your front door this morning. If you don't want his entrails hanging up for Halloween, you might wanna think about calling your dad.
Shit.
Chapter seventeen
Charlotte
There was a wide grin stretched across my face the entire morning. At my desk, I replayed the night I'd spent with Alexander. As he slept, snoring softly, I had traced my fingers over the abstract tattoo on his spine, a chrysalis morphing into a butterfly, an odd tattoo for a guy to sport. I thought about it as I worked, wondering what the meaning behind it was. Even Mirium had asked me what I was so happy about when she dropped off another submission for me to read over.
After Alexander's text, though, worry nagged at me like a worm devouring rotting fruit. On my last break, I sat in my rental in the parking garage, calling my father.
"Hi, peapod." The moment I heard his voice, I began to crack, a broken doll finally falling to pieces under pressure.
"Daddy…" A single shaky breath was all it took before the words came tumbling out in thick sobs. I didn't tell him about Lex, but I told him that Adam thought I was cheating on him. Recounting the incident, I informed him that that Adam was the one who had vandalized the Jeep.
"That fucking piece of shit… You reported him, didn't you?"
"I told them I didn't want to press charges," I admitted, chewing anxiously on the inside of my cheek.
"Come on, Lottie! You always press charges!" He groaned. I could feel his disappointment through the phone, and I raked my fingers through my hair anxiously.
"I didn't want to make any more trouble. I just wanted it to be over…"
"Sweetheart," he sighed, "Alright. I'm going to call Andrew."
"I'm sorry, Daddy… I didn't want to—"
"Don't be sorry, angel. He's the one who's going to be sorry. No one lays a hand on my peapod." It wasn't often that I was grateful for my father's overprotective tendencies. On this occasion, however, I was. A thankful smile formed on my lips.
"I have to go back to work. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you."
"Love you too, cupcake."
I spent the entire afternoon combing through Saydiah's notes on three different manuscripts, emailing suggestions to the authors. By the time I finally clocked out, it was nearly seven. I stretched behind the desk, reaching for the stack of unread work I still had to look over.
Coming home anytime soon, dearest?
I couldn't help but smile. Alexander and I had such a strange relationship. From stalker to… boyfriend? I didn't know what we were, but seeing him text me like we were some old, married couple made me feel giddy.
On my way out now. Need anything for the house, honey?
Whiskey, if you don't mind the stop.
Sure
Two blocks away from the house, I pulled into a liquor store and hunted through the whiskey section. I didn't know anything about alcohol. Hell, the only thing I ever asked a bartender for was something sweet.
"Excuse me? Do you know anything about which of these tastes better?' I asked the guy behind the counter, swirling a strand of hair around my finger. "I'm looking for a gift for my husband."
In the end, he picked out a bottle with a horse on it, shaped like a crystal hand grenade. He took a half-assed glance at my ID and rang me up, asking for my phone number as I took the receipt.
"I'm married, remember?"
"Well, if you ever decide you're bored," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I kept a polite smile pasted on my face, rolling my eyes as I walked out the door.
"Honey, I'm home!" I called out in a singsong voice as I entered the house, dropping my purse and the manuscripts on the living room table.
"In here, darling!" Alexander called, making me laugh. He was so easy to be around. Maybe we had been married in another life. It was a silly, romantic notion, but one I didn't mind indulging in. Lovers finding their way back to one another through lifetimes. I wondered if I could turn that into a book.
