Page 124

Story: The Unseen

“With pleasure. Call me, please.”

The phone goes blank, and I hit play, her sweet voice filling my lifeless office.

“Hi, everyone. My name is Olivia, and I run Train with Olivia. I don’t do a lot of personal posts; this is my business, after all. But lines got a little blurred when the Masked Man started working with me on my channel.”

Fucking hell. She is so fucking brave, even as she plays with her hands; I’ve never seen a post like this. It’s so raw and unfiltered.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about our relationship, and as some of you have noticed, there haven’t been any posts with him for a few weeks now.” She sighs and looks up, blinking rapidly as if to fight her tears back.

“He was my boyfriend, and I...something happened. And I was quick to react and place blame. I pushed him away and now that I've moved to another state, I’m realizing that our relationship really is over.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why am I watching this?

“Someone gave me their number tonight. He was cute.” She laughs. “Really cute.”

Let me find a pencil to ram into my eye now and end this torture.

“But I felt nothing. I mean he was super hot and charming and funny.”

One more. I can kill one more person, then never again.

“But he wasn’t the Masked Man. He didn’t make me smile even when he didn’t mean to. He didn’t surprise me at every turn. I couldn’t see myself falling in love with him. Because I am in love. Nothing is going to change how I feel about the Masked Man because even though he’s not a perfectperson, he’s perfect for me. And no cowboy can compete with that.

“So, I guess I’m putting myself out there. My carefully curated and polished workouts will resume tomorrow, but for tonight, I want you to see the real me. I’m just a girl trying to make her way in the world and build something meaningful that I can be proud of. And I want to do that with the man I love by my side. So, Masked Man, if you feel the same, just know that I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me too. I love you.”

The video cuts off abruptly.

She loves me . . .

She knows I’m never going to be perfect, and yet she wants me anyway. How could I ever be worthy of this woman?

I scroll the comments.

What are you waiting for, Masked Man?? Get your girl!

UNMASK UNMASK UNMASK

I thought Dr. Angel A.K.A Alfie Adams is the Masked Man? He’s so hot. Not sure why he’d wear a mask though.

Absolutely fucking not. I’m sure Alfie fucking loved reading that one.

I keep reading.

How could anyone leave her? She’s so perfect.

Lame. Stick to your workouts.

I push down the instinct to jot down the username for later.

True love does exist.

We need an update!

A knock at my office door pulls me out of my doom-scrolling. I need to book a flight. I need to get to her right fucking now. I’ll scour all of Texas if I have to. I need to get rid of this person at the door ASAP.

“What?” I call out, typing in the search box for flights.

Danny walks through the door. His hood is up over his head, and he looks tired. We haven’t discussed what has happened in great detail. Other than the fact that Danny hadorganized a few of the guys to ambush the meeting with my father.