by CM Wondrak
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said, gazing at me in a way he never had before. Not at school. I didn’t like the way he stared at me, as if he thought I came to this party to see him, to spend time with him.
“Oh, well, my friend wanted to come, so here I am.” That wasn’t exactly a lie; it was all Aubree’s fault, really. I blamed her for all of this.
Kyle laughed, as if I’d said the most hilarious thing, like I’d been joking. But I wasn’t. “You’re funny,” he said, saying it seriously, which only confused me, because I wasn’t. I wasn’t funny at all. “Want to go outside?”
Uh… no, no I did not, but he started going, not waiting for my answer, and since I did not want to lose sight of him, I followed him through the kitchen and out the back door, onto the patio.
Everyone else was enjoying the warmth of the house; we were alone out back. Now would be the perfect time to text Aubree and have her take my place here. Curse this fucking dress and its lack of pockets. Seriously. I should’ve fought her on the outfit and just wore what I wore to school.
The night breeze blew, causing bumps to raise on my arm, but I didn’t shiver. Kyle, on the other hand, must’ve been waiting for me to complain about the chill of the night, for he said, “Are you cold? Do you want me to get you a jacket from inside?” Since he wore none, it wasn’t like he could offer me the hoodie off his back, like the boys always did in the movies.
But this wasn’t my movie, anyway. Kyle wasn’t my guy. I had no guy.
“I’m fine,” I said, hoping he believed me. I didn’t sound too confident though, and perhaps that’s why Kyle took a step closer to me. I remembered hearing something along the lines of: if you were attracted to somebody, if you were a good match, you liked the other person’s smell, whether you realized it or not.
Kyle didn’t have a smell. I didn’t find myself leaning closer to inhale his scent or anything. The only thing I wanted to do was lean away from him, grab my phone out of my boot and tell Aubree I’d found her guy.
Her guy, again, not mine.
Kyle’s amber eyes were busy eating me up, running up my body and taking in my appearance as if he couldn’t get enough. “You look… wow. You look great.” He sounded genuine, but I knew high school boys could be liars, especially at parties, and especially when they had a strange glint in their eyes, like Kyle currently had while staring down at me.
Did he think I liked him? Did he think this was me trying to impress him? I’d laugh, but I worried I was too close to the truth.
“I’m glad you came,” he went on, and my teeth ground. Kyle opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say more—but right then I felt my phone buzz in my boot, and I let out an audible sigh out as I set my cup on the nearby glass table.
I bent down, knowing he watched me curiously, and my eyes flicked to the screen as I drew my phone out of my boot.
Restricted.
My heart hammered in my chest. How could seeing a restricted number on my phone give my body such a reaction? You’d think the cute jock near me would cause my palms to sweat and my heart to palpitate, but no. No, this stranger did.
Why did he keep calling me?
“I’m sorry,” I said, giving him an apologetic look. “I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” With any luck, I’d take the call, hear the man’s voice again, maybe figure out who he was and why it felt like I knew him. With more luck, Kyle would remain on the patio, and I’d be able to call Aubree and tell her after I got off the phone.
Hurrying away, I stepped off the patio, wandering around the side of the house in the grass. I dared not go inside, lest I not hear the man on the phone, should he speak. The rows of parked cars on the grass came into view beneath the moonlight, and I brought the phone up to my ear after hitting the green answer button.
“Hello?” My own voice came out breathy and airy, stilted in its femininity. I hardly sounded like myself, and that was because it felt like my heart might just pop out of my chest and run away.
I had no idea why the calls had started, had no idea why my mind had been so frazzled lately… fractured, almost. It was like there was a part of me tucked away even I didn’t know about.
I forced myself to meander through the cars, the cool night air caressing my face and arms. I could hardly think, hardly breathe. All I wanted was to hear the man’s voice again, drown in it. Maybe it was wrong, maybe it made no sense—and I knew Kayla would have my head for even entertaining the idea—but I wanted to know him.
No stranger could ever make me feel like this.
I heard nothing on the other line, nothing other than breathing. The man said not a thing, so I took it upon myself to say, “I know you’re there. I can hear you breathing.” I bit my lower lip, pausing as I stood near Aubree’s car. Or, rather, her mom’s. “Who are you? Why do you keep calling me? How do you know who I am?”
Was this some weird prank? I was too much of a nobody for this to be a meaningless prank call, and besides, that voice had sounded far too real and husky to belong to anyone I knew.
Waiting for his response, I reached up and ran a hand through my hair, my body trembling with anticipation. For the first time in a while—at least since I’d last heard his voice—I felt alive. Maybe I was more fucked up than I realized, letting a stranger on the telephone affect me so much.
The man on the line broke his silence, finally, but he said something that caught me off-guard, something that made me freeze and my eyebrows furrow: “Who’d you get dressed up tonight for?”
My blood both ran cold and hot, and I didn’t know what to say. I glanced down at myself, seeing the almost outrageous outfit Aubree had dressed me in. What I wore, the makeup on my face, the gentle waves in my hair—none of it was me, but at the same time, I hadn’t done any of it to impress anyone.
“No one,” I told him, my voice nothing more than a whisper.
Of course, it was then I realized it. It was then it dawned on me: he knew I was dressed up. He knew I looked different than what I normally did. That meant he was either nearby now, or he’d been watching me earlier.
Chapter Five – Enzo
She didn’t remember me. A pity, because I thought she’d never forget. Still, ten years was a long time, especially in a child’s view. I liked to think the time she was with me was the best time of her life, that she would be waiting for me, after all these years, because that’s what she promised.
A child’s promise, one I would hold her to, one I had pulled from her almost unknowingly.
Tenley Goddard had been mine from the very beginning, and I’d waited until now to strike.
I wasn’t the smartest about it, years ago. I’d made obvious mistakes, mistakes that had led the police right to my door. A criminal charge had led to ten years behind bars, but I was out. I was free, and now I’d come for her.
Tenley was old enough now. Eighteen and ripe for the picking.
It had taken me far too long to find her, too long to find where she’d moved to with her aunt. I’d met her aunt a few times, way back when. Kayla hated my guts, and for good reason. She always suspected it was me… and though my official stance was that I had no idea what had happened, she was right.
It was me. It was all me. It had always been me, and it always would. Tenley would figure that out soon enough.
Once I’d found her, it didn’t take too long to dig up more on her. Since she was eighteen, her information wasn’t hidden like it was for children. I found her phone number, her address; everything, really. The internet was an extremely helpful place when it came to finding someone.
Tenley wasn’t just someone to me, though. She was everything. She’d always been everything. I’d known it from the first moment I’d laid eyes on her, all those years ago. I used to think Elaine was it for me… but then Tenley had arrived on this big, cruel planet, and my obsession with Elaine was history.
I worked with Bruce, you see. Many, many years ago, back when I still paraded a smile in a fancy suit
, when I pretended that I was a good guy, a decent man, someone who would never do anything wrong.
But it was a lie. It was all a lie, and by the time Bruce and Elaine had realized it, they were dead.
The truth was I was just as sick and twisted as the rest, capable of things most decent, law-abiding citizens wouldn’t dream of doing in their worst nightmares. I liked the chase, enjoyed the delicious anticipation of the wait, and I craved having all of the power. Doing whatever I could to whoever I had to just to make sure my point was clear.
Now, after ten years, I was free. Finally free. I’d served my max time too, so I didn’t have to worry about checking in. The restraining order was still in effect, and I knew it was only a matter of time until Kayla found out about my release, but I didn’t care, because it didn’t matter.
I planned on being more careful this time.
I’d known something was going on today, as Tenley did something new: she and her friend walked home from the school, to her friend’s house. I’d caught the garage before it’d closed fully and looked around while the girls were upstairs. Her friend… I wasn’t sure Aubree was a good influence on Tenley. The jury was out on her, for now.
I couldn’t stick around the house, though; at least, not inside it. Her friend was not someone I was used to watching, and an unpredictable prey could lead to getting caught. The best kind of hunt was one where you were never known, one where the hunted was never aware of the hunter.
When I saw what Tenley was wearing, when I watched her and her friend walk up to that house and disappear inside it… rage burned inside. I wanted to storm into that house, slaughter anyone who dared to so much as even glance in Tenley’s direction, and then grab her by the hair and drag her little ass out of there.
That might be going overboard, but if there was one thing I was good at, it was doing just that.
Tenley had gotten all dressed up, wearing a skin-tight dress that clung to her body in ways that lent to the imagination. It didn’t take a psychic to know what any high school brat would think when they looked at her.
She was too perfect for them. Fuck, she was almost too perfect for me, but I would never back off. I’d waited out my sentence, counting down the days until I would see her again, until I would gaze into her pretty blue eyes and see my own reflection in their depths. I’d worn a mask to everyone, acting as if I’d learned my lesson… but I didn’t. There were no lessons to learn when it came down to Tenley and what I wanted from her.
I’d initially told myself to wait until she graduated, to stay in the far distance until I could sweep her off her feet and show her the world, but I’d underestimated how badly I’d want her the moment I saw her. After having nothing but my imagination these last ten years, laying eyes on her was like seeing a tall, cold drink of water after losing myself in the scorching hot desert.
I couldn’t wait for her. I couldn’t wait until she graduated. I needed to have her right now, needed her to know me—and knowing she didn’t remember me… the time we’d spent together, it hurt.
I would open those eyes, make her remember. My Tenley. She was mine, and she didn’t even know it.
Standing near the road, I’d parked my car among the lot. It wasn’t like there was a valet taking cars somewhere else. What was one more car in the already-packed front yard? No one paid attention to me; everyone was too busy with the party inside. Even Tenley.
Not anymore, though.
Anger bubbling inside me, I had asked Tenley who she’d dressed up tonight for, and she’d taken her time in responding, “No one.” This was after she’d asked me a barrage of questions I had no intent on answering. Not right now, anyway. Perhaps later, when I was sure I had her in my clutches.
Tenley stood alone in the maze of cars, leaning on the one her friend had driven them here in. The wind blew at her face, causing her blonde hair to sway. How badly I wanted to run my fingers through that hair and pull, expose her neck to me and whisper against her skin: you are mine.
After she responded that she’d dressed up for no one—something I suspected was a lie, because you didn’t go to a party like this dressed like that without wanting someone to notice—her back turned rigid. Though I was a good distance from her, I could see the shift in her demeanor, noticed the way she seemed the opposite of at ease, suddenly.
Because she realized it. She knew I’d seen her dressed up, otherwise how would I know she was currently masquerading as someone else?
“Don’t lie to me,” I said. My voice came out low and scratchy, almost like a growl, an animal threatening its mate to behave or else. Let’s just say I was very good with the or else part. “Good girls don’t lie, Tenley.”
Tenley used to be a good girl, but that was years ago. I supposed enough time had passed that she would need a reminder. Unfortunately for her, my reminders were not pleasant. By all the power I had, she would remember how to be a good girl again, and my patience would pay off.
She’d be my good girl.
“Who are you?” she asked again. Her back was to the road; I wondered what it would take from me to make her look around, to see me standing there, on the phone, waiting.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Always waiting for her.
“I must admit,” I whispered, eyes narrowing as I glanced at the house, wondering whose skull I had to bash in first—what undeserving boy had somehow garnered her interest, “it hurts that you don’t remember me. We had such a good time together.”
Her breath caught on the line, and it took her a while to say, “I don’t—” Tenley was going to deny it, deny me, deny us, but there was no denying us when we were inevitable.
Interrupting her, I spoke softly, all the while knowing if I raised my voice enough, she’d hear me. She’d hear me and turn to see me. “You will.” And then I hung up, knowing I needed to take a breather, to gather my thoughts.
I could not take her tonight. I could not force her to see anything tonight, for it would be too soon. Too much, too soon. I loved the chase as much as anyone, but this particular chase had to be a careful one.
Plus, I was interested in seeing who the fuck had her attention in there.
Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I watched her glance at her phone, her dismay for me hanging up evident as she stormed away, heading into the house, through the front door. She didn’t look around, didn’t see me, because I didn’t want her to. Not yet.
She would, though. She would know me. Every inch of me would be burned into her memory, and I would make certain she never forgot me again.
Chapter Six – Tenley
My thoughts ran wild, and I couldn’t lie, here. I was so disappointed he’d hung up before I could talk to him more, so unbelievably disappointed. If I could have my say, I would never want him to stop talking, never want him to hang up. If I could, I would close my eyes and listen to that rough, gravelly voice every single night of my life.
Maybe that was weird. Maybe I was being weird about it, but I didn’t care.
As I returned to the house, feeling strange, I swallowed, my mouth dry. My heart hammered inside, my palms sweaty and clammy. I’d never met a person who held such power over me, but the things he’d said… how he’d mentioned he was hurt I didn’t remember him…
Had we met?
No, no, I would never forget that voice, or the way he said good girl. I wouldn’t.
Once I was inside the house, I didn’t go back to the patio in the backyard, where I assumed Kyle was, waiting for me to return. I stood near the front door, leaning my back on it once it was closed, breathing hard. It sounded like I’d just gotten out of a rather physical intimate session with someone, my body burning up in spite of the cold air outside.
Why did I feel like this? It was insane—but then again, I supposed I didn’t come from the sanest of stock. Just look at what my father did. I was probably born mad.
Once I gathered myself, I opened my eyes and looked back to my phone, wishing he would call. Ironically enough,
my phone did light up, buzzing against my palm, but the call wasn’t from a restricted number; it was Aubree.
God, was I a terrible person for not wanting to talk to her? All I wanted to do was get out of here, go home, tuck myself away in bed and imagine that man’s voice…
I forced myself to answer the phone. “Aubree?”
“Tell me you didn’t find him.”
Well… that wasn’t what I expected her to say.
“Uh, no, no, I didn’t, why?” Not in a million years did I think I’d ever get a call from Aubree saying she didn’t want to find her crush as his own party. I wasn’t outside for that long; surely nothing bad had happened while I was away.
“Some asshole was coming into a bedroom with a girl,” she went on, “right when I was coming out. I am soaked in beer. Mom’s going to kill me if she smells it on me. I’m in the bathroom right now, trying to clean my shirt off.”
Oh, well, that would explain it. Aubree feared her mom’s wrath, especially after what had happened a few years ago. Disappointing her parents was the last thing she wanted to do. Guess I was lucky like that; the only person I had to disappoint was Kayla.
What did she want me to do? It was situations like these where I felt so overwhelmingly clueless, like I’d never gotten the memo of how to be a good friend. “Do you want me to come upstairs?”
“No, I’m going to come down. Just meet me at the car, okay? I don’t really feel like staying at this party with a sticky shirt.”
“Okay,” I said, hanging up abruptly, much like the man did to me. It occurred to me afterward, that maybe I should’ve told Aubree I was sorry for how this night had turned out, and I supposed I could still tell her that, once we were in the car together, but would I?
Probably not. That’s why I wasn’t a good friend. My mind was too occupied with that man, his voice, and the fact that I wanted to be his good girl.