Heartless Savage by Ivy Blake
Chapter Eighteen
Megan
When I pulled up to the police station, Sophie was standing outside, looking a bit annoyed until I stepped out of the car. Her face broke into a smile as I walked up to her.
“Someone looks happy,” she teased as we walked into the station. I felt flustered and even more so as we were told to sit in the waiting room until the officers were ready.
“Maybe I’m glad to see my friend,” I said with a smile.
“Nice try,” said Sophie with a wag of her finger. “I can tell a sex afterglow from a mile away.” My cheeks erupted into flames as I looked around at the other people sitting in the waiting room who could probably over hear us.
“Sophie!” I hissed, embarrassed that she had caught me out. “Is it that obvious?” I added, checking my reflection in my phone camera. Sophie nodded then leaned in to me, finally lowering her voice.
“Was it good?”
“Really good!” I said truthfully, because it had been.
Really good and really unexpected. The whole drive to the station, I had played the scene over and over again trying to unpack how me and Austin had ended up in this position when not too long ago we were at each other’s throats. I’d been seriously taken off-guard by his insistence to cuddle afterwards, having got accustomed to his hot and cold moods, I had expected him to kick me out. Lying in Austin’s arms had felt amazing, almost safe even. Which was strange considering the way that I had dreaded going to school because of him.
It was confusing and my emotions were all over the place because it was a lot to come to terms with. Not to mention his confession about all the stuff with his family. I would never have expected something like that to happen to someone like Austin who seemed like he had it all. But that was the thing about closed doors, anyone and anything could be hiding behind them.
Sophie squealed. “Oh my god, you need to tell me everything!”
“Sophie!” I laughed, resigning to absolutely not tell her everything. Before I could continue, an officer had stepped into the waiting room and called my name, saying that he was ready to see us.
Sophie and I quickly shut up, suddenly remembering why we were really here. I had a stalker situation and thoughts about Austin would simply have to wait.
* * *We were seated in a cold grey room at a table opposite a broad police officer who had a pen in his hand poised to write in his notebook. It felt just like those scenes you saw in TV shows, except now I was the one under speculation and my palms were sweatier than they’d ever been, even though I wasn’t guilty of anything.
“Can you give me a timeframe of how long the stalking has been going on for?” asked the police officer. I thought about the first time that I had seen the stalker and how freaked out and confused I’d been.
“It’s been about a month, I think,” I said nervously, my hands shaking in my lap. I hated being interrogated, it made me feel like I’d done something wrong and that I had to prove to the officer why I needed his help even though it was already very clear why.
“I see,” he said as he scribbled away in his notepad. “Has he made any more contact, tried to talk to you or hurt you or anything like that?”
“No,” I said shortly, suddenly feeling lame.
“But it’s still really concerning because we don’t know who this guy is!” Sophie exclaimed.
“I understand that, but this kind of thing is quite common and we wouldn’t want to waste any resources on something that might turn out to be… inconsequential,” the officer said slowly. I felt like I had a frog in my throat.
“Are you kidding me?” said Sophie, her voice getting louder as she grew more passionate.
“How many times have women gone to the cops because some creepy guy was stalking or harassing them, they’ve done nothing and the woman has ended up dead?” I jumped as Sophie’s hand landed on the table, cementing her point. She was right, there were countless stories in the news about shit like that happening. I never thought that I would ever find myself caught in such a situation, but here I was.
The officer cleared his throat and set his notebook down, flexing his fingers, a bored expression on his face.
“If you want my honest opinion- I say it’s probably someone you know,” he said pointedly. His eyes burned into mine and I had to look away quickly because he made me feel uncomfortable.
“What do you mean it’s someone we know?” asked Sophie.
“Exactly that,” said the officer impatiently. “Do you have any ex-boyfriends or lovers that might have a reason to stalk you?” he said, turning to me.
I shook my head, adamant that none of the guys I’d ever had intimate relationships with would stoop to this level.
“No,” I said quickly, then Max and Austin’s faces flashed in my mind. They’d been the only guys who had put me in such compromising positions, who’d made me feel incredibly weak and helpless. Could either of them be my stalker? Austin had far less reason to, but Max on the other hand…
“You sure you don’t have any idea of someone who might want to hurt you?” the officer pressed. “Someone who you might have rejected in the past?” Again Max’s head swam into view but I shook my head clear of it. It didn’t make sense for it to be him, and I didn’t want to give the officer his name in case it wasn’t and then I was even more fucked.
“No, I don’t, that’s why I’m so confused. What do you think they want?” I asked. The officer shrugged and shut his notebook.
“I can’t tell you that I’m afraid. I doubt your description is going to lead us to someone specific, seeing as it’s so vague.” He ran his hand over his face, his boredom now fully apparent.
“Just call in if anything else happens, okay?”
“That’s it?” said Sophie, her arms folded over her chest, signalling that she was not impressed.
“It’s okay Sophie,” I said touching her arm, “I knew this would happen, let’s just go.”
“If this guy does anything, you guys are gonna pay for it,” Sophie hissed as we left the room. The police officer, who probably got thousands of threats a day, simply bid us goodbye, his back still turned to us.
“Fucking asshole!” exclaimed Sophie once we’d found our way back to the car.
“Aren’t they all?”
“He was especially shitty, and smelly too!” We squealed as I drove Sophie back home.
“I really appreciate you coming with me,” I said, “even if we didn’t get any closer to figuring out who this guy is or what he wants.”
“Please buy some bear spray or carry a pen knife or something,” Sophie begged, her eyes wide with concern.
“I swear I could get in trouble for that!”
“Would you rather get a police warning or get hurt?” Sophie raised her eyebrow and I sighed, realising she’d made a point.
“Fine,” I said, making a mental note to pass by the camping shop in town to look for some bear spray. That didn’t mean I’d have the balls to buy it though.
“Thank you!” Sophie beamed at me and pulled me into her arms and hugged me tightly.
“Also be careful with Austin too.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling out of her embrace. Sophie chewed on her bottom lip as my stomach turned in on itself.
“Not to burst your bubble, but now that you guys have slept together, don’t be surprised if he moves onto the next exciting thing,” she said quietly. “No offence.”
“None taken,” I shot back, even though the tightness of my chest suggested otherwise. “I think you’re being harsh.”
Sophie raised her hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to be a good friend, okay? Just preparing you for the worst-”
“I think I can handle myself,” I said defensively.
“I know you can,” said Sophie gently. “Look, all I’m saying is that I’m here, no matter what happens.” She squeezed my shoulder one last time before heading inside. “Call me straight away if anything happens with the stalker,” she called from her doorstep.
“Will do,” I said, waving her goodbye before she shut the door.
As I drove away, my mind worked overtime. What if Sophie was right and Austin would lose interest in me now that he’d gotten what he wanted out of me? I thought back to the hug we’d shared before I’d left for the station. Would it be so crazy to imagine that he was just being polite? Sophie had known Austin for much longer than I had, even if it was from afar, so maybe her worries weren’t unfounded.
My brain felt scrambled from all the things that had happened today. I wanted to be free to do what I wanted without having to worry about a stalker or worry about whether or not I was putting myself at risk of getting hurt by Austin. As I drove past Austin’s house and towards mine I felt a flutter in my stomach. Austin had knocked me down time and time again and yet today he had saved me and proven how gentle he could actually be.
I would never have had the courage to admit to Sophie that I thought for a brief moment, a few moments actually, that Austin’s icy exterior had melted and that he was actually letting me in. Having sex with him had felt like a mutual exchange, something we had done together, not something he had taken from me. I had willingly allowed him to take off my clothes, willingly allowed him to put himself inside me and it had felt good. Really good. The only problem was that I was too scared to see what was right in front of me, to voice my feelings because that meant being vulnerable, which never seemed to work out for me.
I couldn’t quite figure out how we’d gotten here and while I couldn’t read Austin’s mind, I was privy to all my own thoughts. Especially the ones fixated on Austin and the ones that worried about losing him.
How could I worry about losing someone that wasn’t mine?
I stepped my foot on the break hard as I nearly slammed into the wall, my brain occupied with a confusing assortment of thoughts. It was in that moment that I realised what I’d been denying all along. Austin Hunter had stolen more than my attention. He seemed to have stolen my heart too.
