Your Exception (19 page)

“I know, I was just thinking the same thing. I won’t complain again about walking all the way up the stairs to bed every night after I get home from a rough day,” Cassidy adds.

We stop and stare at the grass. It looks somewhat like footprints; we both see it. I feel like throwing up everything I consumed the night before as I look up and see my window right above where we are standing.

“No,” I whisper.

Cassidy looks at me, worried. I remove my phone from my pocket and snap a few pictures before the frost has the chance to melt. I go to the kitchen and living room windows where there appears to be more footprints and grass matted down. I take more pictures before forcing Cassidy into the house. As I’m closing all the blinds, I look at her
; tears are streaming down her face.

“Don’t ever forget to lock the doors again, do you hear me? Go upstairs and lock all the windows. I’m going to call the police. I’m not sure if there’s anything
they can really do. I’m not even sure if those were actual footprints out there.”

She nods her head and moves towards the stairs. I double check all the locks and make sure all the blinds are drawn
, then call the police station.

*****

I walk outside and meet the Sheriff. I bring him to the areas of concern, and tell him about the loud noise we had heard the night before. He takes notes and says that he can’t tell for sure if those are, in fact, footprints, but he’ll talk to the neighbors to see if they saw or heard anything. He explains that they’ll patrol the place daily, then reminds us to keep our doors locked and to call if we hear anything else.

Cassidy and I hide out in our rooms for the rest of the day. I watch her walk out to her car when she leaves for work. I get a couple texts from Zach, so
I let him know what’s going on.

Zachary: Do you want me to come over?

Me: No, I’m okay here. But thank you for offering.

Zachary: I have a show tonight, but can come over until I have to leave.

Me: I’m fine, I promise. I have my gun on me and my phone right by my side in case I need to dial 911.

Zachary: If you change your mind or get scared, do you promise you’ll call me?

Me: I promise. Thank you.

Zachary: It’s my pleasure.

Cassidy and I check in with each other throughout the night while she’s gone. I’m not even sleeping when she calls me in the middle of the night to watch her walk from her car to the house. After she is safely inside, I go back to bed and toss and turn until morning.

Sunday morning, I drag myself out of bed. I make some coffee, then sit there, thinking I’ll maybe take a nap later. I could use one. My eyes burn from lack of sleep, and I’m sure they are bloodshot as all hell. After my coffee is finished, I debate bringing a cup up to Cassidy, but if she’s still sleeping I should let her get as much as she can. She probably didn’t sleep well either. I hadn’t heard any noises last night, but something still seems amiss.

Around noon, I hear a light tapping downstairs at the front door at the same time my phone vibrates.

Zachary: I’m here. Open up.

I run downstairs and open the door as he welcomes me with a bear hug. “How are you doing? Did anything happen last night?”

“No, I didn’t hear a sound.”

“Good.”

“Cassidy is still sleeping.”

“Still? It’s after twelve.”

“Neither of us ha
ve slept the past two nights. She needs it.”

“No offense, but you look like you need it too.”

“I may try to nap later. Did you wanna hang out? Watch a movie or something?”

“I really just wanted to check on you two. Make sure you were all right. I don’t like you being so far away from a neighbor’s house.” He removes his shoes and jacket before making his way into the living room. “Have you had lunch yet? Should we order in some Chinese?”

“That sounds really good. I’m starving. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately. I’ll order Cassidy her sweet and sour chicken for when she wakes up.”

After Zach and I are settled on the couch, movie playing while we consume our take-out, Cassidy makes her way down the stairs.

“What smells so good?” she asks, rounding the corner. She looks awful. Her hair is a mess with dark bags underneath her eyes. “Zach. I didn’t know you were here. I’ll be right back.” She runs off. An hour later she makes her way back down the stairs, looking immaculate. “What did you eat, and is there any left?”

“Yours is in the fridge. I didn’t know how late you were going to sleep in.”

She looks over at Zach. “Oh, I wasn’t sleeping. I’ve been up for hours, just hanging out in my room,” she lies. Zach doesn’t even glance her way.

“Sure, whatever you say,” I reply.

Cassidy warms up her food, then squeezes in to sit next to Zach on the couch. When the movie is over, Zach looks over at me.

“Do you girls want to get out of here today? I like the thought of you staying here, safe, but not the idea of you all cooped up.”

“Where are we going?” Cassidy asks.

“I was thinking we could head over to the car show they’ve got going on in Carver.”

My head perks up while Cassidy’s falls against the back of the couch. “A car show? Boring,” she says.

“Well, I want to go. I think that’d be fun,” I chime in.

Cassidy lifts her head back off the couch. “Of course you would. You like cars. I wouldn’t want to go even if it were going to be all men there. I’m lethargic.”

I roll my eyes at her. Zach looks her way and asks, “Do you even know what that means?”

I laugh and lightly smack him on the arm, giving him a look that says ‘be nice’. He shrugs and looks at me.

“Will you be okay to go? We don’t have to go for very long. We can leave whenever you start getting tired.”

“I’ll be fine. Yes, I want to go.”

“Go grab your jacket, I’ll warm up the truck.”

I look to Cassidy. “Keep the doors locked. Call the cops, and then call me if anything happens, okay?”

“Okay. Go have fun,” she says with a wink.

As I sit in the passenger seat, we talk about what our favorite cars are and which ones we think we’ll see. We both prefer the older models. Growing up around three brothers and cars, I couldn’t help but get into them. I enjoy working on them, and would like to build my own someday. Dad wanted to build one with us kids when we were younger, but we never did it. It probably could have been finished by now if we had started then.

Zach and I spend the day walking from car to car, discussing preferences and pointing out flaws. I feel extremely safe around Zach. I momentarily forget someone may be stalking our home as we walk side by side throughout the building full of cars. When we come to the end, Zach asks, “Should we grab something to eat before we head back?”

“Yes, please. All that walking built me an appetite.” I say as we make our way back to his truck.

“So… What are you in the mood for?”

I’m not sure, but the way he just said that sounded extremely sexual.

“Um, I’m pretty open.”

Crap.
Did that sound sexual, too? I really shouldn’t be thinking about sex right now.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having…”

Definitely a sexual game here. I can play.

“I want what you want.”

Poor choice of words on that one.

“You couldn’t handle what I want.”

“You couldn’t handle what I have.”

“Oh, I think I could,” he playfully claims as we stop at his truck, game coming to an end.

I climb in and sit there with pink cheeks and a smile on my face. I hope he thinks the color on my cheeks is from the cold.

Zach gets in behind the steering wheel and starts the engine. Looking over at me
, he smiles. “Stop flirting with me and tell me where you want to go eat.”

My mouth drops open. “Zachary! Me
, flirt with you? I don’t think so. You started that.”

“And you went right along with it,” he chuckles.

I roll my eyes and bite my lip. “Shut up and drive,” I say, pretending to sound cross.

He puts the car in drive and says, “Yes, ma’am,” before pulling out onto the r
oad.

As we walk out of the restaurant, it’s dark
, and there is a light dusting on the ground with the tiniest of snowflakes falling gently from the sky. It’s tempting to stick my tongue out and catch one on my tongue, just like I did when I was a child.

On the drive home
, Zach is surprisingly silent. We just spent the entire day together, and we work together, so I supposed it was bound to happen that we’d run out of things to talk about. I could try to come up with something if I weren’t so tired. I leave him to his thoughts as I watch the snow outside flying wildly towards the front window. I close my eyes and lean my head against the cool window.

I wake when we come to a stop. I see the porch lights of my house are on and realize I’m home. Cassidy’s car isn’t in the driveway.
Where the hell did she go? My guess would be Jack’s. I left my phone on vibrate, and she probably tried texting me while I was sleeping.

“We’re here. Did you get a good nap?”

“I was out hard. Sorry I fell asleep. Thank you for bringing me with you today, and for driving me. You always seem to take my mind off of the bad shit going on.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

I pick up my purse from the seat between us and reach for the door handle.

“Wren?”

I look back at him. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to come over tomorrow? After work?” he asks
.
He’s sounding a bit suspicious.

“Sure
, we can do something.”

“Sweet. Good
night, Wren.”

“Night, Zachary. Drive safe.”

“I’ll text you when I get home.” He winks as I slide out and shut the door.

Damn, it’s cold outside. I run up the stairs to the porch, pull out my keys, and unlock the door but I don’t hear the bolt unlock. Damn it, Cassidy! I let out an exasperated breath and open the door. I shut it, lock it, and flip on the lights. I kick off my wet shoes and set my purse on the floor, opening it to try and find my phone, when I hear a noise coming from the living room. I quickly look up and see Alec sitting on the couch, watching me.

“Welcome back,” Alec’s low voice grumbles.

I stand up quickly and take a step back
in surprise, frozen in fear. Why is he in my house? He gets up and slowly makes his way towards me. I don’t move backwards any more in fear of being too far away from my purse and my gun, and if I reach down he’ll stop me, thinking I’m going for my phone since he has no idea I took the class after we broke up. And if he finds out I have a gun in there, it’s all over for me. There’s no way I can make it out the door and to the neighbor’s house without him catching me. I quickly form a plan to keep him preoccupied as I try to make a run for my gun.

No matter how long it takes.

He continues coming closer. I can see his pupils are dilated, and he has a crazy look in his eyes.

“Did you miss me? Obviously not since you were just out with that tatted up freak. Did you not think I’d find you? That I haven’t been watching you?”

I knew in my gut that it was him; that he followed me and was watching us that night. But hearing him admit it is utterly frightening.

“Yeah, you didn’t know I was watching you, but I was. As soon as I found you, I knew I was going to get you back. I’ve known where you were all this time. I was just waiting for my moment.”

“Alec, calm down. I wasn’t hiding. And why are you here? Did you want to talk?”

“Yes. That’s all I’ve wanted from you.”

“Fine. I’m here. Let’s talk,” I say, reaching for my purse.

“Leave it.”

I stop and walk past him into the living room. I’m starting to shake with adrenaline as I sit down, and he sits next to me. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a long time, and I can’t tell if he’s been drinking or if he’s on drugs of some sort. I hope neither.

“Why won’t you let me call you or see you?”

Choosing my words carefully, I say, “Because Alec, we broke up. You slept with my friend, and I couldn’t forgive you.”

“Why?” He starts to look sad.

“I just couldn’t. I loved you. You know I loved you, but I just couldn’t anymore after that.”

“But I’m sorry. I just want you to come back
, and for things to go back to what they used to be.”

“They could never be what they used to be. You know that.”

“They could be. If you tried harder.”

“I’m sorry Alec, but I don’t want to try. I’ve moved on from you. It took some time, and it was really hard for me at first, but I have. It’s time you do the same.”

“I can’t let you go. We belong together.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I belong with someone else. You’re not my exception.”