Page 41 of Smoke the Enemy

Me: Thanks, but I’m fine.

I type back, feeling my heart hammer in my chest. I might be making a mistake turning him down. No, I need to remember all the negatives about Alex. Even if he was my first love, I broke up with him for a reason. Soren and Steffan may make me feel twisted inside. They are morally in the gray area, but I know that they won’t hurt me. Alex, however, wants to hurt me. I remember the angry way Soren had called and asked if I wanted Alex to cut me. The truth was I didn’t know. I thought I loved him and thought I wanted the same things he did. Even the day of the car crash I knew I didn’t want Alex, but I couldn’t help the little part inside of me that was excited thinking about him using his knife. I knew Alex didn’t let things go. The darkness in his eyes felt menacing, almost as if I were a possession to him, as if he really didn’t care if I lived or died.He was not the same as Soren and Steffan.

I stare at my phone waiting for Alex to argue with me over text. He doesn’t, and the longer I stand in my empty kitchen waiting, I’m more aware of how dark it is getting outside. The winter hours bringing daylight to an end faster is the worst part of this season. The stairs groan from the cold, and I’m about jump out of my skin. All my past decisions haunt me. Knowing that Bryce Van Doren is loose and knows where I live is making my adrenaline pound in my veins. One of these days I really should take Kali up on her offer to get me an actual weapon besides the Mace she got me for Christmas. A small-handle knife or a gun she suggested, and maybe she is right. It appears no matter how hard I try to be normal, danger and death keep chasing me. Ava. Now Bryce. There was so much blood.

Taking a deep breath, I run through the main level, making sure the windows are locked and checking the front door. The back door’s handle is wobbly, so I take the time to move a coffee table in front of it. The small barricade might not hold, but it will at least make noise if someone were to try and get in. Satisfied with my little trap, I run up the stairs to wheremy room is and lock the door behind me. I quickly check my windows, under the bed, and in the closet to make sure I’m alone. I open my laptop and pull up the news articles again about the Angel Maker murders. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I can’t let it go how eerily similar this serial killing is to what was happening on the campus last year. I watch the news clips and start reading through everyone’s conspiracy theories, my paper that’s due for class now on the back burner. A part of me feels like there are answers in this story. I’m obsessed with knowing more.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but soon the door downstairs opens and I freeze, my hand hovering over my laptop’s volume. The stairs creak under shuffling feet. The blood in my veins whooshes in my ears just as there’s a knock on my door.

“Tay, are you awake?” Kali’s voice calls from outside the door. I breathe easily for a minute before realization sets in.

Jumping to my feet, I race to my door and throw it open, “Hey, did you lock the front door?”

“What? Of course, I did.” Her face scrunches. I take off down the stairs, grippingthe banister so I don’t slip on the wood steps in my fuzzy socks. I sprint to the door and twist the handle, satisfied that it is locked. Now that Kali is back, I feel braver and check that the back door is still barricaded with how I left it earlier, and that all of the windows appear untouched.

“Are you, okay? What the hell happened?” Kali stops in the living room behind me.

I exhale and drop to the couch, not realizing until now how exhausted I truly am. “Bryce attacked me at the supermarket.”

“Bryce Van Doren?” Kali’s perfectly painted brows arch, and something like protection flashes in her eye.

I nod. “He was in my car. I managed to escape, but I think he really wanted to hurt me, Kali,” I tell her, the reality of everything coming back to me once again. His eyes. The harsh words he spoke. The fear that crept along my spine thinking that I might actually die this time.

“How did you get away?” she asks, her voice low and strained.

“I ran and hid.” I blow out another breath feeling my cheeks heat, “And I called Soren.”

“You called your stalker?”

I actually laugh out loud this time thinking back to last year, “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

Kali shakes her head, her eyes holding a hint of humor now. “Only you, Taylor Lake. So, then what happened?”

I shrug, “I don’t know. I hid in the back room, then the next thing I know I hear Lee’s voice over the speaker saying things were fine. Steffan left me a note, but they were all gone.”

“Then why are you acting all shaken and checking all the doors?” She walks toward the kitchen before glancing back. “And why is the back door locked down like we’re in battle?”

I follow her into the kitchen. “Alex sent me a text when I got home. The guys had Bryce with them, but he escaped.”

Kali blows out a breath and looks to the ceiling, “Morons. Never let a man do a woman’s job, right?”

I laugh with her, figuring she’s probably right. If I caught Bryce, there is no way in hell I’d let him escape. “Ohmygod!” I grab my phone and quickly text Soren. There’s no way they would intentionally let him go like Alex said. Something must have happened.

Me: Alex said Bryce got away. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?

Kali comes to stand over my shoulder, her arms sliding into mine. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

We watch as the little bubble and dots jump and stop about three times before the screen goes blank again. I frown at my phone. A nervousness in my belly creeps up again.

“Maybe they’re just busy trying to track him down again.” Kali gives me a side squeeze, “Or maybe he was thinking too hard, exhausted himself, and fell asleep. I fall asleep all the time if I’m texting this late.”

She giggles a little and I realize she may be right. I was wide awake researching a mass murderer only moments ago, but normal people were probably sleeping. “You’re right.”

With one last glance at the doors, Kali and I head back upstairs. She tells me all about her night, and some of the crazy antics of the patrons at the bar. I laugh with her, and some of the uneasiness I had been feeling starts to fall away. I flop on my bed while she stands in my doorway, her hands animated while we go over the events of my night again.

“You really need to get a weapon or a Taser or something.” She gives me side eyes and walks over to sit on the edge of my bed.

“Yes, Mom.” I smirk at her, then laugh. “My luck, one of these fuckers would probably like me using a Taser on them.”

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