Page 79 of Blindsided

My body relaxes back into the mattress. “Thank you.”

“I’d do anything for you, pretty girl.”

I press a kiss to his lips and close my eyes to rest a little longer. Now that I don’t need to rush anywhere, I take my time to get ready for the day. It’s a stall tactic that Matthew lets me get away with. I’m not quite ready to face the world just yet because as soon as I leave this bedroom, I’ll have to face everything that happened to me.

Desmond and my parents are out there, waiting for me to tell them I’m okay. And I’m not okay.

Matthew told me Desmond had to physically hold my mom back from barging into the bedroom when they arrived this morning. I hate that I’ve kept them from checking on me, but the fragile hold I have on my emotions will break the second Mom hugs me.

I’ve already unraveled once this morning. I can’t afford to do it again before the police get here.

“Are you ready?” Matthew asks.

“No.” I take a few deep breaths. “Yes.”

With his hand in mine, Matthew leads me out into the living room. Mom and Dad turn at the sound of our footsteps and leap off the couch. Mom gets to me first, her arms holding me as tight as she can. Matthew’s hand presses into my lower back. His strength radiates through that one touch and gives me the fortitude to keep my shit together.

When Mom pulls away, Dad steps in next. His hug is just as tight as Mom’s. This time, the tears burn behind my closed eyes. Somehow, I keep them from falling after Dad steps back. We all walk into the living room, where Desmond is standing in front of his chair. To my surprise, he squeezes me in a tight hug, but the tension in his body tells me he hasn’t quite gotten over his hurt just yet. That will just have to wait.

“Tilly, we need to talk about something before the police get here,” Desmond says once we’re all sitting down again. Dad sits in the other chair while Matthew, Mom, and I sit on the couch.

Is he going to bring up this mess between us right now?

“I don’t want you to be blindsided, so I’m just going to tell you everything first. Then I’ll answer whatever questions you have.”

Desmond’s next words stop my heart.

“The man who was stalking you was Veronica’s son, Tag.” He holds his hand up when he sees I’m about to say something. “She didn’t know it was him, but she also wasn’t completely truthful, either. Apparently, you met him a couple of years ago when you went to Veronica’s office for a meeting. After that meeting, he became obsessed with you. He sent you letter after letter for months, telling you how much he loved you. Veronica found these letters and forced him to stop bothering you. She thought that was it. There was never another letter sent, and she told us he moved to Florida a few months later. Except he didn’t actually move. He managed to get a job as a security guard in his building, which allowed him to live there for a discounted rent. Our guess is he began to stalk you from then on.”

“Why didn’t she say anything?” I ask.

Desmond’s eyes flash with anger. “She said she didn’t believe it was him. She thought he lived in Florida. But she also should’ve turned in the letters, regardless. She’s cooperating now, but…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, but I can guess what he’s thinking. It’s too little too late.

Desmond’s phone ringing interrupts our conversation. He relays the message that the police are on their way up, and we all wait in silence for them to get here.

The detectives sit with me at the dining table and ask me an endless number of questions about what happened to me. I answer to the best of my ability, but some things are still drawing a blank. I don’t remember being in the coffee shop. I don’t remember a lot of the thingsTagsaid to me. I barely remember what his apartment looked like. I’m well aware it’s a trauma response, but I feel like a failure. What if my answers aren’t good enough to put him away? What if, because my memory is so spotty, they won’t prosecute him?

I know it’s silly. Just based on what the detectives have said while they interviewed me, I know there is plenty of evidence to charge him with. But that doesn’t stop the worry from creeping in.

Could he get out and find me again?

CHAPTER36

Tilly

“Icould cut the tension between you and Des with a knife.” Mom narrows her eyes at me. “Tell me what’s going on right now.”

She sits down on the edge of my bed, signaling a quick brush-off isn’t going to happen. I set my e-reader to the side. I wasn’t reading much anyway. I couldn’t get my brain to focus on the words enough to follow the story.

The police asked me to stay in the city for a few days while they finished gathering evidence on Tag. I’m happy to do whatever I can to help, but I’m dying to go back to Westlake. If only to get away from the freeze-out from Desmond.

“I made the horrible choice to keep my relationship with Matthew a secret from Des. At first, my reasoning was that I knew he would have a cow about it. I just wanted a little time to figure out if Matthew and I could be more. We might’ve grown up around each other, but we needed to know if we could get along as adults. Then, as time went on, it got harder and harder to fess up. He surprised us at Matthew’s house a couple of weeks ago, and we unintentionally shoved the whole thing in his face.” I shrug. That’s the gist of the whole story. I messed up, and I have no idea how to fix it.

“So Desmond is hurt you kept this a secret from him.”

“Yeah. But I also think he’s mad at Matthew for dating me while I was living with him.”

Mom rolls her eyes. “That’s not a surprise. You should’ve told him, Tilly.”

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