Henry looked like he was going to argue, but then shook his head. Reaching down, he pulled a small white square out of his pocket and placed it on the bar. He looked me dead-on. “Call me. Please.”
I glanced down at what turned out to be a business card with some kind of car on it and then back at him. He’d already turned away, making his way through the crowd. Before I could stop myself, I laughed. It was kind of crazy-sounding, sort of like the noise a hyena made before it killed something.
Nick reached for the card, but for some reason unknown to me, I grabbed the card. He arched a brow, but I shook my head as I slipped the card into my pocket.
He lowered his head so he could speak into my ear. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, pulling back and looking at him. “I don’t know.”
The rest of the shift was uneventful. Instead of seeing Reece, who I secretly kept waiting to see come through the door, all I got was Dean, Henry Williams, two drunk chicks that had puked on the floor, and a guy who offered to buy me a drink and let me give him head.
When I got home, I was too tired to worry about the weirdness that had been going on in my apartment. Placing my phone on the nightstand, I stripped down to my undies and unhooked the bra, leaving the tank top on since it could’ve doubled as a dress. Then I slinked into bed, tugging the covers up to my chin.
Today . . . today sucked.
Yesterday sucked.
Tomorrow had to be better.
That’s what I kept telling myself as I lay there, utterly exhausted. Tomorrow seriously had to be better. And truthfully? When everything first happened with Charlie, it had been worse than this—the helplessness, the anger, the depression. All of it had been raw and razor sharp. I’d gotten through it. I’d get through whatever crap was happening right now, because what other option did I have? Curl up and give up? That wasn’t in my nature.
I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep, but I must’ve, because I came awake all at once. No blinking the sleep out of my eyes. I was completely alert as I stared at the window across from my bed. I’d been dreaming. I didn’t remember what the dream entailed, but someone had been calling my name.
Stretching my legs and arms, I glanced up at the nightstand. It wasn’t even five o’clock. I’d been asleep for an hour and a half tops. Fail.
I was just about to flip onto my other side when I realized the backlight of my cell phone was on, like a text or a call had come through and it hadn’t moved into sleep mode yet.
Jerking up, I snatched the cell phone, and with my heart in my throat, I hit the button. There was only one person who could’ve texted or called this late. Reece. Hope went off inside me like a cannon. Yeah, texting or calling at almost five in the morning wasn’t the greatest thing, but it was something and it was more than nothing.
The screen came to life, I slid the little bar, unlocking it, and at first I didn’t know what I was seeing. I didn’t understand it, could not wrap my head around it.
It wasn’t a text or a missed call.
My hand began to shake.
Unlocking the phone had taken me to the last program in use, which should’ve been nothing—just the home screen. Except it wasn’t on the home screen. It opened to my camera roll—my pictures.
And there was a picture on the screen.
A scream exploded in my stomach and crawled up my throat, but when I opened my mouth, there was no sound. Horror had closed my throat off. There was a picture on my phone, one I could’ve never taken, because it was of me.
A picture of me sleeping.
Chapter 17
Fear and disbelief held me immobile as I stared at the picture of me sleeping. Somehow I registered that this picture was from tonight, because I could make out the dark blue straps and the pink strip that formed a bow on the straps of my tank top.
Oh my God.
The fear building inside me was like being doused with icy water. It sent my pulse racing and the only air I could get inside my lungs was in quick, shallow breaths as I launched off the bed. My bare feet slipped on the hardwood floors. I reached the bedroom door, throwing it open, and I raced down the short, narrow hall. I was at the front door when I realized whoever took that picture—because it had to be a person since I doubted a ghost could do that—could be outside.
Oh my God.
The person could still be inside.
Panicked, I didn’t know what to do. Never in my life had I been in a situation like this. I backed away from the door and then spun around, running for the bathroom. Once inside, I locked the door and backed up until I knocked into the toilet. I sat down on the lid, struggling to breathe around the crushing pressure of the fear. I started to call the first person who came to mind.
Reece.
My finger was right over his contact when I stopped. What was the point in calling him? He wouldn’t answer. Close to tears, I started to call Jax but remembered he was out of town. Part of me recognized I wasn’t thinking right. I needed to call the police. Someone had been in my apartment while I slept. They could still be here. But my brain cells weren’t communicating with one another.
I called Nick.
He answered on the second ring. “Roxy?”
“Did I wake you?” Stupid question, but that’s what came out of my mouth.
“No. I haven’t gone to sleep yet. Are you okay?”
Staring at the bathroom door, I pulled my legs up to my chest. A buzzing picked up in my ears, like I was sitting next to a hive of bees. “I . . . I think someone is in my place.”
“What?” His voice came across as sharp as a whip.
I drew in a shuddering breath and whispered, “I woke up and there was a picture of me on my phone—a picture of me sleeping.”
“Holy shit.”
“I didn’t take the picture.” I inhaled deeply, but it got stuck. “There’s been all this weird stuff happening here. My dishwasher turned on while I wasn’t home. The remote in the fridge. Toilet seat left up and other stuff. I thought my place was haunted, but this—I know someone—a living, breathing someone—had to do this.”
“Jesus, Roxy, are the police on their way?” he demanded.
“No. I didn’t call them.”
There was a nanosecond of silence. “Did you call Reece?”
“No.” I straightened, putting my toes on the cool tile. “I can’t call him. He—”
“Are you fucking out of your mind, girl? You need to call the police right now. Wait.” He sounded like he was moving. A door slammed shut. “Where are you?”
“I’m in my bathroom.” I stood, pushing my hair back from my face. “I just wasn’t thinking. I woke up, saw the picture and panicked.”
“I’m heading over to your place now and I’m calling Reece. He’s off on Fridays, right? He’ll ans—”
“Don’t call him. Please don’t call him.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “He isn’t . . . we aren’t really talking right now and I don’t want him . . . just don’t call him.” Truth was, I knew how crazy this was, how utterly bizarre it was to wake up and find a picture of myself on the phone. Someone could easily believe that I’d done it for attention, and the way things were with Reece right now, I didn’t want him to think that. “Are you there?”
“Yes. I’m coming to you, but I need you to get off the phone and call the police. You need to do that right now,” he said, his voice calm as I heard an engine roar to life.
“And you need to stay in that bathroom until you hear from me or the police. You understand?”
I felt stupid for not calling the police immediately. “Okay. I’m going to call them now. I’m sorry—”
“Don’t apologize, Roxy. Call the police. I’ll be right there.”
I did what I should’ve done immediately. I called the police. The dispatcher didn’t laugh hysterically in my ear when I told her that I’d woken up and found a picture of myself sleeping on the cell. She took my information, and stayed on the phone until Nick beeped in on the other line, letting me know he was outside.
I had no idea how he got to my place so fast. The number of laws he had to have broken astonished me.
Opening the bathroom door was the scariest thing I’d ever had to do. My entire body shook as I grabbed the doorknob. When I did, I expected to see a serial killer in a clown mask waiting for me, but the hall was empty. I ran to the door a second time.
Nick came in, dressed like he’d been earlier at the bar. He barely looked at me as he took my free hand in his and started turning on the lights throughout the apartment. “Were you in your bedroom?”
“Yes. I was in bed.” My voice cracked as I followed him on shaky legs.
He steered me toward the couch. “Stay here.” Reaching behind me, he tugged the quilt off the couch, draping it over my bare legs. It was then when I realized I was wandering around in my undies and tank top. “I’m going to check out your bedroom real quick, okay?”
Numb, I tucked the blanket around my legs as I clutched my phone. The next several moments were surreal. The moment he left the room, I didn’t want to be alone. Getting up, I wrapped the blanket around me and found him just leaving my extra bedroom and heading into my main one.
Nick sent me a look as he checked the window.
“I don’t want to be by myself,” I admitted hoarsely. I didn’t want to be anywhere in the house alone.
He nodded and then crossed the room, opening the closet door. I could hear hangers banging around. Then he turned to me. “Do you have some bottoms you can put on? I think the police are outside.”
Flushing, I hurried to the dresser and pulled out a pair of cotton shorts. Nick started to leave the room. “Can you stay? Please?”
Running a hand through his dark hair, he turned around, giving me privacy. “Jesus, Roxy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so scared.”
I dropped the blanket and pulled the shorts on with shaking hands. Then I picked the blanket up once more, holding it to my chest. I didn’t say anything as we went back out to the living room. I could see blue and red lights flashing outside.
The officer who Nick let inside was around Reece’s age, and I vaguely recognized him. He came to the bar a couple of times with the guys. I thought he might be engaged or something. Without my glasses, I couldn’t make out his name. Luckily he introduced himself, saving me the trouble of figuring it out.
Officer Hank Myers.
Ah, yes. Hankie Hank. I remembered him. That was Katie’s nickname for him, and he wasn’t engaged. On second thought, I think he had the hots for Katie, because I was pretty sure he’d let her use him as a pole a couple of times at Mona’s.
None of this was important.
“I checked the apartment out,” Nick said. “The window in the extra bedroom was open.”
I gasped. “What?”
“I think that’s how someone got into your house. Odd thing is, though, I didn’t see the screen.”
“I don’t . . . I don’t have a screen in the window right now.” I watched Hank leave the room. “It was damaged a few months ago and the landlord was getting it repaired.” My breath hitched. “The person . . . they came in through the window? Oh God..”
Hank did a quick search that lasted all of a minute tops before returning to the living room. “What’s going on, Roxy?”
Sitting back down on the couch wrapped in a blanket burrito, I told Hankie Hank about the picture. His face was impressively blank as he made his request. “Can I see your phone?”
I handed it over, and when I looked down at my hand, the phone had left thin indentations in my palms. “You have to go into the pictures.”
Nick sat on the arm of the couch. He was silent, but I appreciated his presence and that I wasn’t alone dealing with this.
It pierced me in the chest when I thought that a few days ago I could’ve called Reece. Hell, even during the eleven months we hadn’t been nice to each other, I probably wouldn’t have hesitated to call him, and I believed without a doubt that Reece would be here.
The dark blue uniform stretched across his shoulders as Hank took a look at my phone, blond brows raised. He glanced up at me. “And this was on your phone when you woke up?” When I nodded, he looked at the photo again. “There was no way this happened before tonight?”
I shook my head. “No. And when I woke up, my screen was still lit up. It was just taken.”
“Is there anyone who could’ve done this as a joke? Has access to your apartment?”