Page 10 of The Young & the Sinner

He winked. I looked away, shutting my locker door a little louder than I meant to and, grabbing Lizzie’s hand, walked quickly out of there. She let out a small laugh when we were out of sight and I leaned against the wall, letting out a sigh.

“Told you,” she gloated.

* * *

I gotoff the bus brimming with excitement. Today had been a very interesting day. First, that small interaction with Lorenzo, and now, Max was home. Or, he would be home soon. His flight wouldn’t land for another half hour, and it would take him just as long to grab his suitcase and drive home.

I couldn’t wait. I had so much to tell him, though I wouldn’t say anything about Lorenzo. I would probably die of embarrassment talking to Max about boys.

Not only was Max super protective of me, but I didn’t want to talk about anything remotely resembling sex with him. As far as he knew, I never even kissed a boy.

I shook away the thought and quickly walked home. Mr. Jenkins was watering his lawn when I came by, and I waved at him. He extracted a promise out of me that Max and I would come over and visit him and his wife soon, and then I went to my house.

I opened the front door, kicked off my shoes and threw my backpack against the wall by the stairwell. I hummed my way into the kitchen and almost missed the man sitting by the kitchen island, sipping coffee.

I startled and looked at him—at this strange, huge, and intimidating man—let out a blood-curdling scream and ran to my room.

The man swore and stood up, following me.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I mumbled, trying to get my legs to move as fast as they would go. I could hear the man behind me, but thankfully, he was still too far away to catch up. I slammed my door shut and locked it, just as there was a hard thud coming from the outside.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew my flimsy door couldn’t hold him off for long and I needed a way to get out of here.

“Open up,” the man shouted, pounding on the door. I shook my head, even if he couldn’t see me. My hands shook when I pulled out my phone from my pocket, but who was I supposed to call? Max was probably still on the plane. His phone would be off.

Tears spilled out because I didn’t have anyone else to call, and it was only a matter of time before the man outside broke down my door. What would he do to me? Hundreds of scenarios ran through my head, one after another, and none of them were good.

The cops!

I could call the cops. Their response rate was minutes. The man couldn’t do that much damage to me within minutes, could he?

My fingers shook, trying to unlock my phone. The pounding was still outside my door and I rushed to the window, opening it wide and knocking off the insect screen. I would jump before I let him get his hands on me.

I climbed on the windowsill, my hand moving back to my phone. But then the screen changed to an incoming call from Max and I let out a small cry of relief. I picked up and cried into the phone.

“Olivia?” Max asked, his voice on the verge of panic. “Are you okay?”

“Max, there’s someone in the house. He’s right outside my door. I don’t know what to do.”

“Shit, are you serious?” His voice was definitely panicked now.

“What do I do?” I asked again.

“Have you called the police?”

“No,” I cried.

“Okay, sweetheart. I want you to listen to me, okay?” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “You’re going to hang up the phone and go hide in your closet.” I let out a small whimper. “It’s okay. I’ll call you back once I call the cops, I promise. I will be home soon. I won’t let anything happen to you. Now, go do as I say.”

“Okay,” I said, my voice breaking.

“Go, Olive. Go hide.”

Max hung up after that, and I climbed back into the room and headed to my closet, hiding under a pile of clothes.

The pounding on my door had stopped sometime during my phone call with Max, though I wasn’t going to risk coming out of my room. He wasn’t gone. I knew he wasn’t.

Everything was silent save for my erratic breathing, and I tried not to make any noise, no matter what. It would be okay. It had to be. Max said he wouldn’t let anything happen to me, and I believed him.

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