“Nova. I think you should come home.”
“What about school?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure something out.”
“What about my apartment, my job, my things? How long would I have to be gone for?”
Gia huffs. “I don’t know, I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“What if he expects you to tell me and is just waiting for me to rush back home? He told you, right? Another letter?”
“He left a note on my door. All it said was King’s Tavern, Gaspar Ohio. After I saw that, I looked at all of your social media pages. Your Facebook page is locked up, Twitter is bare, but then I saw the photos on Instagram. I clicked on the likes and saw his name. He’s probably already elbow deep into your friends’ lives. I’ve already told the police, and they said they can be in touch with the police there if you want, but they’ll likely only send a car out once or twice to drive by. They can’t do anything until something happens. It’s bullshit.”
“Why would he tell you he knew where I was? He’d have to know you’d tell me.”
“We can’t try to figure out why a crazy person would do certain things.”
“I think I should stay. At least until Thanksgiving. It’s just a few weeks.”
“Nova, so much could happen in three weeks.”
“I can’t up and go, G. I can’t.”
“Goddammit, Nova, I need you to be safe.”
“I will be. I’ll have friends stay over.”
“I don’t like this.”
“I know. I don’t like it either.”
When we get off the phone, I can tell she’s still unhappy that I didn’t already have a plane ticket bought to go back home.
I refuse to live like this forever, though. If Mario needs to find me in order to get caught, then maybe it’s time.
The cops have enough proof of his stalking and threats to be able to bring him in, but they haven’t been able to catch him. If the cops from back home can get in touch with the police station here and get them up-to-date on what’s going on, then when I find Mario, I can alert them and hopefully they’ll be able to take him into custody without any issue.
33
As I’m washing the dishes, I spot Royce and Cillian whispering to each other, and then soon after, Midge and London come whisking into the kitchen.
“Hey, Elijah. We’re gonna head out a little early,” London says, coming in for a hug. “Thanks for dinner. It was delicious.”
I try to hug her back without touching her shirt with my wet hands. “You know it’s not a problem. I’m happy to have people here.”
Midge gives me a hug next. “Whenever you feel like teaching Cillian how to make some of these meals, you just let me know. I’ll send him over.”
Cill pops his head into the kitchen from the dining room. “Hey! I heard that. I don’t have time to cook. I’m…”
“In the middle of creating a masterpiece,” we all say at the same time, finishing the sentence he’s been repeating for weeks.
“They both know more than they’re letting on,” I whisper to the girls. “Don’t let them fool you.”
They giggle, say goodbye to the guys, and then leave. It doesn’t take long before Cill and Royce come stomping into the kitchen. Royce crosses his arms as he leans against the counter, and Cillian moves to the other side of me, choosing to sit on the counter.
“What?” I ask, rinsing off a plate.
“What’s up with you? You were extremely happy tonight. You’ve been over here humming while washing the dishes. And nobody does that,” Cill says.
“Yeah, and you had a smile on your face almost the entire time we were at the table. You were with us, but you were definitely somewhere else in your head,” Royce adds.
I chuckle. “You two are insane. Are you trying to tell me I’ve never smiled? That’s not new.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t try to bullshit us. We know what’s going on.”
I turn off the water and dry my hands, then step back so I can see them both at the same time. “What do you want me to say?”
“Okay, we’re not gonna do this again. We’re your brothers. We’re not saying anything to anyone about you and this student. So just tell us the truth,” Royce says.
I let out a breath and then smile. “Okay, so she may have spent some time here recently.”
Their own grins widen. “And?” Cill asks.
“And what? She came over, we had dinner, we talked. She made breakfast this morning, we talked some more.”
“Is talk a euphemism for sex?” Cillian asks.
I give him a look that says I’m not answering that.
“It is,” Royce says with a laugh.
“But hold on, she stayed the night? What?” Cillian’s eyes look like they’re going to pop out of his head.
“So, this is serious?” Royce questions.
I tilt my head back and forth, my arms crossed in front of me. “I wouldn’t say that. It’s more serious than anything I’ve had in a long time, because she did stay the night, and because I am happy when I’m with her, but we can’t ignore the problem. She’s still a student. So, how serious can this be?”
My brothers come together, grabbing onto each other’s arms in dramatic fashion, their eyes wide with shit-eating grins on their faces.
“Did he just…”
“I think he did.”
“He’s happy,” they say together.
They start laughing, and I can’t help but join in while shaking my head. “Did you not hear the rest of what I said?”
“We heard you were happy. I don’t know when I heard that last,” Cill says.
“Dude, fuck everything else,” Royce states. “You’re happy. Let this play out however it’s gonna play out and see what
