Page 145 of Never Tell Secrets

The stars shone bright above me, as happy in their blissful ignorance as I had been. I walked aimlessly, not even feeling my feet hit the ground. Before I knew it, I was lost.

I swallowed, forcing the lump in my throat away. I couldn’t just wander around all night but where could I go? There were cameras in my apartment.

A chill crawled over my skin. There were cameras in my fucking home.

He’d seen every time I’d cried over him, every conversation Keira and I had about him. I couldn’t go back there. But where? He’d spread poison into every inch of my life and made it all unsafe. My work, my old house, my apartment. Even walking down the street, getting on the tube…I felt a scream rip out of my throat. Just like that, I was two and half years ago, running away from him in the Evergarden having just had my heart ripped out. I bent double, trying to catch my breath.

‘Breathe, baby.’

His voice was poison in my ear, an insidious spell. I straightened, forcing myself to stay whole. I could feel curtains twitching, eyes of the affluent residents of this neighbourhood judging me.

I kept walking.

Keira.

Keira was my first stop. Keira was going to tear Alfie apart when she found out but I didn’t even consider not telling her. I wouldn’t keep secrets from her again.

I pulled out my phone to call her. The battery was almost empty but it held out long enough for Keira to miss three of my calls before it died.

I couldn’t call a taxi, couldn’t find my way. So I just walked, waiting to see a bus stop, a tube station, anything. I didn’t care.

Alfie…

How could he do this to me?

I could have slapped myself for thinking something so stupid. Of course he’d done this to me. This is what he was, I was just the idiot that thought he’d changed.

Raindrops began to fall, light little tears from the sky, crying for me.

He’d stalked me, just like Adam. Worse than Adam. He’d never been separated from me, never been without me. He’d gorged himself on parts of me I hadn't offered.

I don’t know how long I walked but eventually the mansions made way for extravagant townhouses. The streets were quiet and I was glad for that.

My mind was a violent yet silent place, like watching a horror film with the sound muted.

That sweet silence was cut by girlish giggles as a limousine pulled up. A girl in a ball gown fell out of the car and tripped up the stairs to her front door.

I kept walking. It hadn’t dawned on me before how out of place I was in this part of the city. Me and my second hand skirt didn’t belong here.

The limousine set off slowly, too slowly, keeping pace with me. Fear began to build in my stomach. The horn beeped and I closed my eyes, hating the sinking feeling in my gut. The car slowed next to me and I pulled my arms around myself, preparing to be jeered at by rich boys, when a familiar voice hit my ears.

“Hey, trouble.”

I paused. “Kal?”

Kal Strauss grinned at me as he climbed out of the car, resting one arm on the door. “You look like someone rode yourough and put you out wet.” His blond hair looked a little dishevelled, his shirt half open. “You lost?”

I stared at him for a moment, speechless that the night had somehow brought us together. “I guess so.”

Kal studied me, that scrutinising gaze reminding me too much of someone else. His playful teasing faded just a little. “Come on, I’ll have my driver give you a ride home.”

“I don’t want to go home.” I clenched my fists, imagining myself sitting in my apartment, Alfie watching my every move. He might as well be peeping at me through a hole in the wall. A worrying thought occurred to me and I glanced up at Kal, suddenly suspicious. “Did Alfie send you?”

“Alfie? No.” He laughed. “If Alfie was going to send anyone after you, it absolutely wouldn’t be me.”

“Why?” I asked and Kal shrugged.

“He knows how badly I want to fuck you.” He smiled easily, he really was incredibly handsome. Not like Alfie. Alfie was a marble carved Adonis. Kal looked like the bi-product of a night of passion between an angel and a viking. “So, if you don’t want to go home, where do you want to go?”