At Home

Chapter Ten

Maya climbs in the back seat and closes the door behind her. AJ stands with his arms crossed waiting for me to get in the passenger seat, his head on a swivel. "What is going on At?" I ask softly. "Where are we going?" AJ turns and meets my eyes with his. "Somewhere safe. Please get in the car Gorgeous." I let out a small huff but do as I'm asked. AJ closes the car door behind me, and walks around the front of the car to the driver's seat. He does one more glance around, before joining Maya and me in the car. Maya speaks up before I have a chance to, "Ok. What the fuck is this about?" Irritation heavy in her voice. "Not here." AJ grumbles before throwing the car in reverse to back out of the parking spot.

    He speeds out of the parking lot, hands gripped on the wheel and eyes hyper focused on the road. We sit in silence for a while, waiting for AJ to explain. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I freeze as a chill runs down my spine. Who would be texting me? The main person I talk to is in the car with me... I swallow hard, before awkwardly shifting to remove my phone from my pocket. I try to keep my face blank when I see the text notification on the screen. I swipe to unlock my phone and click messages.

Unknown: It's not very responsible to play hooky. Does this have anything to do with your special friend from last night?

    I stare at my phone, freaking out in my mind. How does he know about that? HOW DO THEY KNOW I AM NOT AT WORK?? WERE THEY WATCHING US??!?!? AJ removes a hand from the steering wheel and places it on my thigh. I must not be hiding my emotions very well. There's another vibration in my hand as a new message pops up.

Unknown: It's ok sweetie. You don't have to answer me. I saw you in his car. I'll know who he is soon enough. It took me no time to figure out who your other cute friend is. Tell Maya I said hi, will you?

    I feel myself start shaking, and suddenly I feel like I can't breathe. They know who Maya is. Soon they're gonna know who AJ is. What the hell do they want? Suddenly the fear I was feeling turns into anger and I'm doing something stupid before I can stop myself.

Me: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?

     "Maya, what did you just do?" I hear AJ ask, concern and something else, maybe frustration, laced in his voice. "They know who Maya is. Soon they're going to know who you are. I need to figure out what they want." Maya leans forward between the two front seats before speaking. "What do you mean they know me?" I go to respond as I feel another vibration in my hand.

Unknown: There she is. Hello Carter. What makes you think I want anything from you? Maybe I just want to talk.

    "Carter," AJ says, "Do not text them back." His tone full of warning. Part of me wants to disobey him. I take a deep breath, and lock my phone. "Good girl." He says while rubbing a small circle on my thigh. Even now, I feel like he started a fire in me. If Maya wasn't in the car, and I wasn't being stalked, I'd tell him to pull over and jump his bones right now. I bite my lip, trying to calm my body down.

     "OKAYYY" Maya says loudly from the back seat. "Let's get back to what you said earlier. What do you mean they know me?" I shrug and respond, "I don't know. They said to tell you hi. And used your name." Maya's eyes meet AJ's in the rearview mirror, AJ's look almost accusing. Maya sits back in her seat with a huff, and crosses her arms. "What the fuck." She says, clearly agitated this stalker knows her too. What if it's not just about me? What if Maya has something to do with it? I shake the thought out of my mind as quickly as it enters. The stalker is messaging me. It HAS to do with me. If it was about Maya, he could just be texting her.