“This isn’t over,” he finally stated in a raspy voice.
I should have said something. I should have moved, but I was stuck to the bed as I watched him leave my apartment. I sat there and listened as the door clicked, notifying me he was gone. As usual, I did my thing and searched through the apartment to make sure he did, in fact, leave.
At that moment, I wanted to cry. I wanted to mourn the loss of my stranger who had been such a huge part of my life for so long. After all this time of becoming complacent with him, I never realized he was, in fact, out to hurt me. But why? What had I done that was so wrong, it was worth stalking me all these years, messing up my apartment, and giving me the best sex I would ever have? And I knew he was right about that. Now that I tasted him, nobody would ever compare. But now I knew he did this just so he could hurt me. But hurt me for what reason?
With those thoughts running around in my head, I went to bed and planned what I was going to do next. I needed to think and I needed to think quickly. Lotus left, but before he went, he left me with the knowledge I hadn’t seen the last of him. I had to act. For a change, I had to be in control. It was my turn now. And I was determined to give him the shock of his life.
Chapter 42
I knew it was getting closer to that time. That was why I had to act. I had to get that fucking bastard Dean out of the way. He had been rubbing it in ever since that first day of school, but I wasn’t going to let him get past me now. I knew things. I knew a lot of things. I had friends who knew people, and it was that which sparked my plan into action. I had to get rid of him, but in order to do that, I had to somehow get rid of his parents. So, clutching the letter in my hand, I walked towards the post box. I knew once that letter slipped through the hole, everything would change. Dean would change, Tyler would change, but it had to be done. To get him the fuck out of Tyler’s life, it had to be done. No doubt, he would eventually find out about this letter and then, in turn, he would find out what Tyler had done. Or, shall I say, what she’s supposed to have done?
I had thought about it long and hard. I wondered for a while whether this might somehow put Tyler in danger. I didn’t think so. Dean was many things, but he would never hurt Tyler—no matter how much he thought she had hurt him.
With my mind made up, I stepped forward a little more and placed the letter at the mouth of the post box. Breathing in deeply, I let my fingers loosen and the letter fall from my grip. As I exhaled with a contented sigh, I smiled.
Let the chips fall where they may.
Chapter 43
Tyler
The next day, I went into work and set about my normal tasks. But beneath my normal front at work, I researched. I used my full resources to my advantage and took back control of my life. The other thing I did at work was observe. I observed everybody. I did it in a way they couldn’t see I was spying on them. It was amazing what you picked up on at work once you just stepped back and took notice. Brandy, to my left, bit her lip when she looked confused or lost. Thomas, to my right, picked his nose—quite a lot. Eww. Louisa, to my far right, played with her hair when she read, and Ian, to my far left, frowned when he typed.
It was at that moment, while I was staring at him, that he looked up and smiled. He held his finger up to me for me to wait a second, so I did. I watched as he typed something, then a ping on my phone notified me of a new message.
Are we still on for tonight? It’s Spaghetti Bolognaise night. :)
I chuckled and looked up at Ian with a smile. I raised my thumb to him to let him know that it was still on, then got back to work. I carried on with my research, looking up Lotus first. There must be some significance to this name. I knew that wasn’t what he was really called. I typed it in the search engine and the first thing that came up was the Lotus cars. I knew that couldn’t be any significance, so I carried on scrolling. It was only when I reached the bottom that I noticed another suggestion for a search. I clicked on “Lotus Flower Meaning” and read its significance. It seemed that the lotus flower bloomed from murky waters, just like my stranger had said. It was a symbol of rebirth, desire, and spiritual enlightenment. Still none the wiser, I typed in “Lotus Flower Revenge”, and what came up was very interesting. It would seem that, in Buddhism, the lotus flower was a symbol of cause-and-effect. A live symbol of karma in action. It seemed he lived so much for revenge that not only did he wear its symbol on his shoulder, he also called himself by the flower’s name.
Sitting back in my chair, I pondered this for a moment. So my stranger was, in fact, out to harm me. But why? It was then that a little voice inside my head told me to be careful. The bouncer at the club warned me that he was dangerous. I knew he was. I just didn’t realise just how much he meant to my heart.