by Cherry Kay
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to trust him, but more that she still hadn’t resolved her feelings around the strange woman who’d called her the week before, and of the fact that she’d been fairly certain that someone was following her.
Despite her failed attempt to catch the woman who’d followed her from this very café, Tiffany wasn’t sure if she’d imagined the whole thing or not. It had seemed so obvious that the woman had tailed her into the shop and then been frustrated when Tiffany evaded her, but could that have just been a bizarre coincidence? Tiffany couldn’t think of a single reason someone might want to spy on her unless they were working for Thomas, and she’d made him swear that he hadn’t ordered any such thing.
Tiffany finished off the last bite of her pastry and got up to leave. She figured she should probably go home to start looking for a new job, but she was too frustrated and upset to focus on that.
Instead, she decided she’d go home and grab a change of clothing so she could hit the gym for a quick workout. She’d been neglecting her gym membership over the last few weeks, and on top of that she’d been indulging in far too many rich meals and alcoholic drinks that were loaded with bad calories. While she wasn’t so concerned with her figure that she only ate salad and drank water all day, Tiffany did like to keep herself in decent shape, and so she tried to get a workout in every couple of days.
The one advantage of not having a job to go to was that the gym was a lot emptier than it normally was on an evening or weekend. Most of the machines were unoccupied, but there was a spin class starting in just a few minutes and so she opted in to that. Grabbing her water bottle and towel, she entered the class and picked a bike near the back of the room.
Several other women who seemed to be regulars in the class chatted and laughed with each other while waiting for the instructor to arrive, and Tiffany felt a little out of place until one extremely toned looking woman came in just behind the instructor. The woman stared at Tiffany for longer than she felt was normal before selecting a machine just beside her.
The instructor stuck her smartphone into a dock in her bike and pressed play to kick a high intensity music playlist onto the room’s speakers. She then had them warm up their legs with a short low intensity session before calling for them to get out of their seats for a series of high speed hill climb simulations.
Sweat poured from Tiffany’s body after only a few minutes of this had gone by, and she had to wipe her forehead constantly to keep the beads of sweat from dripping into her eyes.
It was during a light intensity rest moment that Tiffany began to suspect the toned woman was there for reasons other than her own personal fitness. She hadn’t brought water or a towel in with her, and she hadn’t even broken the slightest bit of a sweat. It was hard to tell, but Tiffany thought she’d caught the woman glancing her way during head down sprints. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but the woman looked far too fit to be in a class like this.
She had a look about her like she could kick someone’s ass in a fight, and Tiffany definitely didn’t want to find that out the hard way.
When the class ended, Tiffany went straight to the locker room to shower off and change. The toned woman followed her in, which wasn’t entirely unusual if she’d just come for the spin class, but it was rather odd that she came out of the shower at the exact same moment as Tiffany.
“Tough class, huh?” asked Tiffany, opening her locker to retrieve her clothing.
The woman looked at her and narrowed her eyes a second before seeming to realize what was being asked of her. “Oh yeah, tough.”
Tiffany dropped her towel on the bench and stood there naked while she located her underwear. The woman didn’t seem remotely uncomfortable or thrown off by this, but that didn’t really say much about her. Some women got weird about semi-public nudity, and for others it was no big deal. Judging by how the woman had removed her own towel and was now dressing with no concern over Tiffany watching her, the woman seemed to fall into the latter category.
“I don’t suppose you’ve tried the juice bar downstairs, have you?” asked Tiffany. “I was thinking of grabbing a smoothie before heading out, but I don’t want to waste the money if they’re no good.”
“I really don’t know.” said the woman, not looking directly at Tiffany when she spoke.
Tiffany fastened her bra behind her back and then pulled her skirt on. She pulled her blouse over her shoulders and tried to act casual when she set what she hoped would be the trap that would catch this woman out for who she was. “I guess I’ll have to risk it then. I’m so hungry after that spin class.”
The woman had fully dressed by this point, and she looked to be about ready to leave. Tiffany fastened the last button on her blouse, slipped into her shoes, and stuffed her workout clothes into her bag. She made to leave and waited just long enough for the other woman to start following her out before she pretended to have forgotten something.
“If I don’t moisturize these legs, then I’ll be so dry later,” she said apologetically as she awkwardly skirted around the woman in the narrow space between the benches and the row of lockers.
Tiffany removed a tube of cream from her bag and proceeded to rub it into her legs, giving the woman enough time to have left the building if she really had just been there for a spin class.
Satisfied that enough time had passed, Tiffany tossed the cream in her bag and left the change room. Rather than go down into the juice bar, she located the back stairwell and left by the exit that took her into the gym’s underground parking lot. From there she had to walk up the car ramp to get back to the street, but it allowed her to go around the block to walk past the front entrance where she could easily look in through the large windows of the lobby and the attached juice bar.
Just as she expected, the woman from the spin class stood awkwardly browsing a notice board not far away from the juice bar. Catching Tiffany’s movement out of the corner of her eye, the woman turned and scowled when she saw that Tiffany had tricked her, and she threw down the pamphlet she’d been reading and made for the doors.
Seeing that the woman was coming after her, Tiffany jogged forward to catch up to two men walking down the sidewalk just in front of her. She fell in step just behind them, and cast a nervous glance back over her shoulder. The woman was there, but she seemed to be keeping her distance, most likely wanting to avoid making a scene in public, thought Tiffany.
After two blocks of following the men, Tiffany saw the escape she needed. A taxi had pulled over to let its passenger out, and she raced forward to jump into it before it could pull away from the curb. Not knowing where else to go, she gave the driver the address to her apartment and figured she’d make sense of everything there.
Chapter8
Tiffany debated whether or not to tell Thomas about the incident with the woman but in the end decided that it wasn’t worth upsetting him just yet. As much as she didn’t want to think about it, she had to allow for the possibility that he was somehow responsible for these people following her, but if he wasn’t, then she didn’t want their date to be ruined by his need to protect her.
So far, none of the people watching her had been violent or had shown any indications of wanting to harm her in any way. For all she knew, they were paparazzi wanting to figure out if she really was dating one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. Of course, for that theory to have been true, they would most likely have been carrying big cameras with fancy long lenses, but it could just mean that they were following her and not wanting to alarm her until they could get a shot of her and Thomas together.
Trying to keep her mind off Thomas and whatever weird things were going on with her stalkers, Tiffany sat down in front of her laptop and loaded up a few job sites. She couldn’t afford to stay unemployed for long, and since she hadn’t actually been officially fired yet, she wasn’t sure when she was going to be able to start claiming unemployment.
One thing was a near certainty thou
gh, if everything Carrie had said was true, then this week’s paycheck wouldn’t be showing up in her bank account. She needed that money to pay rent in time, and the only way she’d feel comfortable putting it on her line of credit was if she had a few interviews lined up so she could start working on paying off her debt.
The afternoon ticked away in a series of clicks and emails, and Tiffany realized that she only had a few minutes to get dressed before Thomas arrived to collect her. She’d decided to forgive him after seeing the effort he’d put into his low key date with her, and that meant not having to take another smelly taxi to wherever he was taking her that night. She’d told him that she still wanted to keep things away from the super expensive and exclusive restaurants he normally preferred, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still take her some place nice.
Tiffany picked out a slinky black dress and a matching pair of heels, dressing quickly and hurrying to put on a bit of makeup. She’d just finished applying her lipstick when the sound of the front door buzzer sounded in her front entrance way. Snatching up her purse, Tiffany went to the door and punched the speak button on the intercom.
“I’ll be down right away.” she said.
Excited to have a chance to get out and forget about her job and other problems for a few hours, Tiffany locked the door behind herself, slipped her keys into her purse and walked down to the main floor. She opened the door expecting to see Thomas but was horrified to see the woman from the gym standing there instead.
The woman put her hand on the door and stepped inside, forcing Tiffany back into the hallway. She slammed the door shut behind her with one hand and pushed Tiffany backwards at the same time with the other. Clearly trained in some sort of martial art or self defense system, the woman was able to force Tiffany back onto the stairs in a matter of seconds, securing her wrists in an awkward hold while pressing her hand over Tiffany’s mouth to keep her from screaming for help.
“This will go better for you if you remain quiet.” said the woman. Her eyes narrowed and she glared down at her captive. “Although I ought to slap you around a bit for all the trouble you’ve caused me, I am not going to harm you if you promise to behave. Is that understood?”
Tiffany nodded and sucked air in through her nose. The woman’s hand blocked her mouth and her nostrils, making it extremely difficult for her to breathe properly.
“I’m going to let go of your mouth, and I want you to walk up the stairs calmly and quietly so we can have a little chat in your apartment, okay?” She waited for Tiffany to nod in understanding again. “Cross me and I’ll snap your neck and be gone before anyone even comes out to check on you.”
The woman eased her hand away from Tiffany’s mouth, and hauled her up to her feet. Stepping in close enough to grab her if she so much as hinted at trying to get away, the woman motioned for Tiffany to get moving.
Tiffany marched back up the stairs and was about to go into her purse when the woman seized her wrist.
“Not so fast,” she said. “I don’t need to get pepper sprayed in the face.”
The woman unzipped Tiffany’s purse and reached inside, rooting around until she’d found the keys. When she had them, she gave them to Tiffany and let her unlock the door.
“Nice and slow,” said the stranger. “Take a seat on the couch and don’t try anything. I’m faster than you, I’m stronger than you, and I won’t hesitate to fuck you up if you try to trick me.”
“Why have you been following me?” asked Tiffany, doing as the woman had told her. “What do you want from me?”
The stranger settled into an armchair across from Tiffany. She wore tough-looking black boots over dark jeans and a form-fitting blue top that seemed designed for movement. She didn’t look to be concealing any weapons, but Tiffany had seen how the woman had acted, and she decided that she had to assume the woman was perfectly capable of following through on her threats of violence.
It didn’t take a knife or a gun to end someone’s life, and there was a fire in the woman’s eyes that backed up her verbal threats.
This woman wanted people to be afraid of her, and it was working perfectly on Tiffany.
“What is your interest in Thomas Belmont?” asked the woman.
“My interest?” asked Tiffany, shaking her head in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean.”
The stranger leaned forward and glared at Tiffany. “Why are you seeing him? What is your relationship to him?”
“I… I suppose I’m a little bit in love with him.” blurted Tiffany. She’d been caught off guard, and it had just come out without her thinking about it. “I mean, I don’t really know how I feel about him yet, but I can’t stop thinking about him and I know he’s in a complicated situation but that doesn’t mean I can’t—”
The woman silenced Tiffany with an upraised palm. “You are aware of his past? Of how he uses his power and connections to seduce women? You know that you’re just the latest in a long string of stupid women who’ve fallen in love with this man only to be dropped when he tires of them, and yet you’re still playing right into his little game?”
“Who are you?” asked Tiffany. “Why do you know these things about him?”
“Who I am is not important.” she replied. The woman leaned back and shook her head. “Thomas Belmont III is a menace, and I don’t want to see him hurt any more women like you.”
Anger rose up within Tiffany, and she couldn’t hold it in. “So you’re what, a jilted ex-lover trying to protect everyone from the bad man who broke up with you? Bitch, you better get over yourself and stop threatening me.”
The woman was off the chair and in Tiffany’s face in a heartbeat. The slap came so fast that Tiffany didn’t even have time to react before her head snapped back and hit the back of the couch. The woman put her hand around Tiffany’s throat, pinching at the soft flesh just below her jaw.
“I am not one of Belmont’s ex anythings,” she spat. “What I am is a fucking ghost of righteousness that will be on your ass as long as you decided to stay with him. He is a capital B, Bad Fucking Man, do you get that?”
“Why?” squeaked Tiffany. She could only just breathe in if she didn’t move or fight against the woman’s grip.
“That’s not your problem.” She replied. The woman eased her grip a little and patted Tiffany on the cheek. “You just stay away from him.”
The woman stepped back and walked away from Tiffany, heading for the door. When she was nearly out of sight, Tiffany called after her.
“What if I don’t stay away?” she asked.
The woman stopped and tilted her chin down and to the side, not fully looking back to address Tiffany. “Then things get worse for you. So long as you bring Thomas happiness, you’re a problem for me.” Tiffany’s attacker paused and then turned around. “Oh, and don’t get any ideas about going to the police. People like me are hired specifically for our ability to evade the police, and you wouldn’t enjoy the personal consequences of having them try to come after me. Anyone comes after me; I come after you. Got it?”
Tiffany nodded and pulled her knees up to her chest. She hugged her shins and fought back tears, wanting the woman to leave her alone once and for all. She watched the woman turn away and leave the apartment. At the soft click of the front door lock clicking back into place, Tiffany’s restraint gave out, and the tears finally began to flow. She sobbed loudly and openly, wondering how she’d ever got into this horrible situation.
The sound of the front door buzzer made Tiffany jump in surprise. She ran to the door and slammed the deadbolt home, thinking the woman had come back for her. It was only after the intercom buzzed again that she realized she’d been waiting for an altogether different visitor.
“Hello?” She asked hesitantly.
“Tiffany?” asked a familiar male voice. “It’s Thomas. Are you coming down?”
She held down the button that let her speak to him. “Can you come up for a minute?”
Buzzing him in, she waited by her
door with eye pressed to the peephole until she was sure it was him and not some strange trick to get her to lower her guard. Not until she could clearly see him standing there, did she open the deadbolt and pull the door open for him. He opened his arms in surprise when she rushed towards him, clearly confused by her intense welcome.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
Tiffany sniffled. “No, it’s not actually.”
“What is it?” he asked. “Did something happen? Let’s go inside.”
They went back into Tiffany’s apartment and she closed the door and locked it again. She almost didn’t want to go back to her couch where the woman had threatened her, but neither did she want to go into the bedroom where Thomas might get the wrong idea about her intentions.