Page 108 of Hide and Seek

“Keep watching, doll.”

My brows furrow, and I watch the footage to the end, watching as I go over the body with great detail, taking down letters and making sentences out of markings that aren’t even there. “This isn’t right. Somebody must have doctored the footage.”

“That’s what I wondered at first, but with none of the detectives, first responders, or even the people who work withyou in the morgue able to confirm even a snippet of your story, it leaves too much doubt.”

I shake my head. “I’m not crazy.”

“I know, doll,” he says, before letting out a breath. “Next up, the double homicide.”

Tears silently roll down my cheeks as I go over the footage, and just like with the first body, I feel more confused than ever. I see the two bodies come into the morgue, and just as Knight and Dr. McKullan had said, they’re the victims of a horrific car wreck, not the two men I had danced with in the club. They don’t even look a little bit alike, and yet my brain told me they were different people all together.

I watch as I go through the motions during their autopsies, searching for secret messages and documenting my findings, only there’s nothing to find.

“It got me thinking about what actually happened at the club,” he tells me.

“To the two men?”

Knight nods and brings up the next video. “I needed to know that there weren’t two bodies rotting away somewhere, so I got in contact with the club. I had to jump through more hoops than necessary to get the footage, but they eventually caved.”

“And?” I say, not sure I want to see what he found.

“The two men you were dancing with definitely weren’t the two men from the morgue.”

He jumps ahead in the footage again, showing me on the dance floor, grinding against the two men, and I feel the first bit of relief, seeing that I’m not going crazy. I even grin when I see Izzy in the background hooking up with a complete stranger.

That night was wild in so many different ways.

The footage plays, and I watch as the two men eventually leave, one heading for the bar and the other hoping to meet me in the bathroom, when I begin to wander away.

“Wait,” I say, knowing what comes next before realizing that if Knight has already watched it, that means that he would have also seen me with the stalker and watched as he made me come on his fingers before I pulled him away to the private booth, took him in my mouth, and then fucked him raw.

“So, you saw . . .”

Knight nods. “I certainly saw something, but I don’t think it’s exactly what you remember.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

He cringes, and I reach for his phone, only for my wrists to pull at the stupid restraints, and then as if on cue, I see myself wander off the dance floor and step in front of a strange man. Only, he’s not masked, and he’s certainly not tall and broad. Just some regular guy trying to enjoy his night.

Confusion plagues me. I have no recollection of this. When does the stalker come? I keep watching, waiting for him to show up. “Wha—HOLY SHIT,” I gasp, watching in horror as this strange man shoves his hand up my skirt, and I start riding it like it’s Christmas morning. “What the fuck am I doing?”

“My question exactly.”

“That’s not . . . That’s not him. My stalker wears a mask, and he’s much taller—like you. I’d almost convinced myself that he was you at one point.”

He nods. “Just watch. It gets worse.”

“Worse? How the fuck does it get worse?”

Knight skips through the awkward hand grinding, only stopping when I take Regular Joe over to a private booth and start blowing his mind before riding his cock reverse cowgirl style.

“No, no, no,” I groan, hating every minute of this before realizing that this guy could have any number of diseases, and I sure as fuck didn’t see him suit up. “I need to get checked for STDs.”

“That you do,” Knight agrees.

“Turn it off,” I beg him.

He doesn’t hesitate, letting his phone fall in my lap. “Do you see now, doll? All these things are happening. There are bits and pieces that are true, but your mind is distorting reality and replacing it with whatever it wants you to see. This stalker, Harper. He’s not real, and the more your mind tells you that he is, the more you’re at risk of ending up in a dangerous situation, and I don’t want that for you. I need you safe.”