Page 32 of No Control
Emma gasps. “Mason is being freaking weird. You have to get out of there.”
“But I don’t see how the answer is to run to the guy who also freaked me out.”
“Okay, yeah, it sounds a little crazy…But like I said, I’ll start packing. I could use the break from here. I doubt Jared will mind, anyway.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I chew on my lip. Again, is this really the answer for me? Running off to take the deal I said I would never?
“I’ll think about it,” I finally say, just as Duke scratches on the door. I jump to my feet to open it, and in he steps, something stuck to his black collar. I bend down, thinking it’s a leaf or branch.
My knees nearly give way.
It’s a rose. A freaking rose. I slam the sliding glass door, locking it and dropping the bar. However, I can’t help but peer out into the woods through the glass.
“Lydia?” Emma says into my ear.
I can barely breathe as I catch the outline of a figure standing in the tree line, tilting his head from behind a tree, a mask fashioned on his face. “I have to go,” I say quickly, my voice shaking.
“Lydia—“
I hang up and immediately call 9-1-1, shaking as I put the phone up to my ear.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Someone is outside of my house,” I mutter into the phone. “Please hurry.”
twelve
Lydia
“You said he was here?” Deputy Briggins looks at me with an unamused expression, yet again.
I nod, my arms wrapped around my body. “He had on a strange mask with x’s over the eyes.”
“Right,” he sighs, wearily looking around the woods.
“And he brought me a rose,” I hold the flower out to him.
“Like, handed it to you?”
“He attached it to Duke's collar.” My teeth chatter as I speak, cold rain battering my black raincoat. “I know it was Mason. Duke wouldn’t accept a stranger.”
He makes a face at me, peering down at my dog as he stands beside me. “He seems to have accepted me just fine.”
My heart sinks. This guy isn’t believing a freaking word that comes out of my mouth. “I—”
“Listen, with all due respect, I don’t see anything here that’s even disturbed. I see the rose, but maybe he’s just trying to win you back over. Jim said he’s taking the breakup pretty bad, but also mentioned you might…Maybe you need to talk to someone.”
My mouth drops open, seeing right through the accusation. “I’m not unstable,” I argue, shaking my head. At least, I don’t think so.
“Why don’t we call someone close to you? Jim said you’ve got some family that live north of here. Think they’d take you in for a few days?”
“I don’t…I don’t need my parents.” The urge to cry is destroying my ability to argue, and honestly, I’m a little concerned that might end in him toting me off to a psych ward somewhere.
“Yeah...” his voice trails off as his eyes scan the ground.
Mine follow, and my heart stops as I catch sight of something glistening beneath the leaves. I reach down and pluck up the familiar pocketknife, holding it out to Deputy Briggins. “This is his knife.”
Briggins narrows his eyes at it. “And you know that, because?”
