“I’m barely hanging on here, Riley. I need you to know that.” He squeezes my hips and then lets me go.
“Me too,” I tell him.
“Go on to bed, and I’ll finish up here.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, goodnight,” I say before impulsively leaning down and kissing his cheek.
“Goodnight,” he murmurs as I walk down the hall, a little extra sway in my hips, just for him.
One month, technically twenty-nine days now. I can do this. I can wait twenty-nine days to execute our contract. Yeah, easy peasy, I lie to myself.
As my birthday looms closer, I get more and more nervous. What if I can’t please him? What if it's one and done and sends me off to live somewhere else? That’s precisely what I had hoped to avoid with my unprecedented demands; that’s what Lilith called them anyway. I don’t want to be alone. Not now, not ever. He’s going out more and more at night now. I try to wait up to help him when he gets home, but I always fall asleep on the couch watching movies. The man has digital copies of every movie ever made. It’s a hobby or something of his. He loves movies. He’s been showing me the classics, like The Godfather and Scarface. You’d think that kind of movie would bother me, but instead, I am fascinated by them. He tells me about the actors, and I swear he knows them all. He’s kind and funny, but I can tell he’s not like that with everyone, his brother, for instance. Caleb hasn’t been back here, and I say good riddance. I got a bad vibe from him.
One night, five days from my birthday, Samson gets a text and has to go to work, but I stay up and watch Fleabag on Amazon Prime until he gets home, but he doesn’t come that night, or the next. He hasn’t called, and I'm worried out of my mind, I called hospitals, and he wasn’t in them. I turned eighteen alone, and I still don't know where he is. I’m crying all the time. I don’t know what to do. I started sleeping in his bed, just to feel closer to him. Surely, someone, like his lawyer, knows I’m here. Caleb for sure knows that I’m here. If he died, surely someone will come and tell me.
At noon on the seventh day since he went to work, I hear the elevator open. I stay in his bed in case it’s Caleb. Suddenly, his door bursts open, and an older red-haired woman comes in. She doesn’t see me at first, but she does when she comes out of the closet.
“Oh goodness, girl. Ya scared me half to death,” she says.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Fiona McCrea. Who are you?”
“Riley Fitzgerald. Where’s Samson?”
“He’s in jail.”
“What?” I shout, bolting out of bed.
“Calm down. He’s getting out today; that’s why I’m bringing him some clothes.”
“What happened?” I ask, a little more calmly.
“Broken tail light.”
“You go to jail for a broken tail light in Georgia?” I ask, confused. In New York, that would be a ticket at worst.
“You do when you have a broken taillight, and your last name is McCrea.”
“Ah. gotcha.”
“Well, I assume you mean something to him, being in his apartment and his bed. I also assume you’re the reason he’s chomping at the bit to get out of jail. Get dressed, and I’ll take you to him.”
“Thank you so much, Mrs. McCrea,” I say before rushing up to her and wrapping my arms around her. I’ll admit, it feels good when she hugs me back. Maybe I should go to therapy like Samson suggested weeks ago.
“Call me Fiona, dear.”
“Fiona.”
I get dressed quickly and follow her down to her chauffeured car. I am sure Leon, my bodyguard, is excited to go somewhere besides the grocery store.
I can’t believe how much I missed him. I can’t wait to see him.
Chapter Five
“Why did you leave me here, all alone? You said you’d never hurt me, but the pain of not knowing was far worse than anything you could have physically done to me. I love you; you know that, don’t you? No, you don’t because you’re not here for me to tell you, but trust me when I say it’ll be the first thing I say to you when I see you again. Yours, forever.” -RF
Samson
My girl is finally legal, and of course, I’m locked up on trumped-up charges, but at least I’m getting out today. I did everything I could to get a message to her, but they'd only let me talk to my lawyer, who technically is my dad’s lawyer. The thought of her out there all alone is too much to bear, but I can’t let my enemies know she exists, at least not yet. Not until she has the protection my last name provides.