And I nearly have a freaking heart attack.
“Oh my god,” I gasp, stumbling backwards. It takes me a split second to recognize Graham sitting on the couch near the TV, but I thought he had left last night. “Jesus, Graham.”
“Sorry,” he grumbles at me. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I thought you left last night.”
“I did.” He frowns. “I’m back.”
“Thanks, I can see that.” I walk into the kitchen and pour myself some water. I wait a second for my heart rate to go back to normal. “What’s going on? You look angrier than usual.”
He grunts again and stands. “Come here,” he says. “Gotta show you something.”
I frown a little. “What’s up?”
“C’mere.”
I walk over slowly. He holds out his phone.
I take it tentatively and stare. It’s a picture of a door with a bunch of Post-It notes all over the place, and there are mean words written on each note.
“What is this?” I ask him softly.
“Your door, as of this morning,” he says.
My heart nearly skips a beat. I stare at the words, and I know what this is.
It’s my freaking stalker again.
“Did… anyone else see this?” I whisper.
“The maid,” he says. “But she’s okay. She’s a fan.”
I glance at him. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he grunts. “So is the manager, which is how I got this.”
He turns the TV on. At first, I don’t recognize what I’m looking at, but it slowly dawns on me that I’m seeing grainy security camera footage of the hallway outside my door.
Someone walks into frame and starts putting the Post-Its up on my door.
“Holy shit,” I whisper. I put Graham’s phone down and walk over to the TV, staring at the person. “It’s a guy?”
“Yeah,” he grunts. “Watch.”
“I would’ve bet money that it was a girl,” I say softly. “I mean, I don’t know why. I guess I just always figured my stalker would be a woman.”
“It sort of is,” he says.
“How?”
“Just watch.”
I watch the person working, writing notes, and he gets about a third of the way down before something spooks him. He jumps and looks over his shoulder, eyes wide.
That’s when Graham pauses the video. The face is there, clearly visible, and I stare at him.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
“I know, right?”
Jasper stares down that hall, looking freaked out.
“How?” I ask. “I mean, what? Is this real?”
“It’s real,” he says. “I’m sorry, princess. Looks like your ex is pissed.”
“Jasper did that?”
My head’s spinning. I’ve barely been awake ten minutes and I’m already dealing with this shit.
Jasper left horrible notes for me all over my door. He wanted people to find it, wanted it to be public.
“Did we tell him about your stalker?” Graham asks me softly.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I don’t think so.”
He grunts something and starts pacing. I stare between Jasper’s grainy but visible face on the TV and Graham, grunting to himself and pacing all over the room.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him finally.
“All this stalker shit,” Graham says to me, “were you with him all that time?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I mean, he couldn’t have done the first stuff, right?”
Graham shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, god.” I clench my jaw. “We have to tell Norah.”
“I agree.” He steps toward me. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I mean, I know what I had with Jasper was fake, but I never expected…”
“He’s a weak man.” Graham comes to me, wraps his arms around me, and pulls me close. “He cares way more about his own image than he ever cared about you.”
“I know that. But I thought we were friends at least.”
Graham chuckles. “I doubt he has real friends, just people he uses to make himself look better.”
I make fists and I want to hit something. I want to smash them against Graham’s chest, but I hold back.
“What an asshole,” I say.
“You did dump him publicly,” he counters. “Not to defend the little fuck, but you did embarrass him.”
“Still, this is… this is bad.”
“I know.” He pulls me away and looks into my eyes. “He’ll pay.”
“How?” I ask him. “Going to go kill him for me?”
He grins. “I could.”
“I know.” I sigh. “He’ll get away with it, just like everything else.”
“No, he won’t.” Graham’s jaw tightens. “I promise.”
He kisses me and for a second, I can forget all about the nightmare. There are just Graham’s lips against mine, his body muscular and strong, his arms around me. I feel safe and connected and maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay.
It’s insane that he can make me feel this way. Just by kissing me, he takes all my worry away.
“It’ll be fine,” he whispers. “Now come on, little princess. Let’s go talk to my cousin.”
I sigh and nod. “Fine. Okay.” I grab his hand. “But wait. First, I need something.”
He smirks at me. “Oh, yeah?”
I kiss him again, this time with real hunger. He growls softly and drags me into the bedroom.