Tease Me (Private Listing #4)

Anna’s gaze finds mine as she smiles. “You found your friend.” Her face crumples and her hand clenches onto Patrick’s sleeve. “Your stalker is still out there.”

“We heard him drive away.” Hope steps back beside me. I edge in front of her slightly. I didn’t protect her before and the stalker took her.

The seconds tick down around me. I can feel the door slamming shut on our opportunity to get out of here. It’s like this ticking clock in my chest that gets quicker and quicker until it’s practically strangling me.

“We should all leave,” I blurt out. “We can get in Patrick’s car and drive to the police station or the hospital. The authorities can come out and make sure everything’s safe. Maybe they can figure out who the stalker is. But we should leave now!”

Patrick plays the doting husband perfectly, tenderly wiping at his wife’s head injury. Even flinching when she hisses in pain. “I don’t know if we should move her.”

“Fine. Give me your keys and I’ll go get help.” I step forward and hold out my hand. “If she needs an ambulance, I’ll call as soon as I get a signal on my phone. Hope needs to be evaluated by a doctor. She’s probably dehydrated.”

I wiggle my fingers. Please. Please be the good guy you’re pretending to be. Please let me be wrong that this is just another trap.

“Honey, she’s right.” Anna grabs Patrick’s wrist and pleads with him. “We can all go. I’ll be fine. We need to get to a hospital. We need to leave before that guy comes back.”

He brushes the hair away from the nasty cut on her forehead. “If you think you can make it.”

“I do.” She gives him this tender smile that makes me feel bad for even considering her husband was my stalker. He has two kids. Sure, he might be a cheater, but that doesn’t make him a creepy stalker masturbating on a mannequin tied to a bed in my old dress.

A little shiver trails over me. My phone buzzes in my hand.

Unknown:

Time’s up, little one

“No, no, no, no, no.” I grab Hope’s hand and tug her back with me. We need to get to the back door. We need to escape.

“What’s wrong, Madison?”

“We have to go.” I turn as the door beeps and opens. A man all in black is in the doorway.

My heart aches as it tries to pry its way out of my chest. Hope gasps behind me and I back into her until the wall stops us. Her hand clings to me so tight it will leave a mark, but I don’t feel any pain. All my focus is on my stalker.

“What are you doing here?” Patrick stands like he’s going to defend us. Fuck, more people my stalker can use against me.

The man in black chuckles. “Claiming what’s mine.”

There’s no voice changer on this time. His voice sounds hauntingly familiar, but my mind won’t place it right now. All I feel is fear breaking me out in a cold sweat. Every instinct is telling me to run, but my feet remain frozen to this spot.

He’s just standing there looking at me, waiting for something. Sweat trickles down the middle of my back as we all just stare at each other.

Fuck this. I jolt out of my fear and shove Hope through the kitchen door and block it, putting my hands on either side. “Run.”

Her footsteps hurry away from me and the door opens and closes.

The man in black tilts his head as he studies me. “You aren’t going to run?”

I shake my head because if I follow, he might catch Hope and use her against me again. I can’t let that happen. My fingers dig into the doorframe. He won’t get past me, not without a struggle.

Breathe, Blake’s voice says in my head.

A realization hits me. I didn’t hear a car come up the drive before Patrick arrived. My eyes narrow as I really look at Patrick, still hovering over Anna but not doing anything to actually protect any of us. Everyone stands in their positions, waiting.

Waiting for what?

What the fuck is going on?

How the hell do I buy myself time? The basement locks from the outside, so if I get there, I’m cornered, trapped. The bathroom didn’t have a lock. Have I given Hope enough time to escape so I can run for it? Go out the back door and run to where?