Beaten By Love

Chapter 8

I blocked my eyes from the searing light pouring in through the window. I forgot to pull the blinds across amidst the admiration of the cityscape and overthinking about the situation I was now in.

That was when my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller – Taylor. I sighed, answered the call and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"What the fuck is going on, Shay? Where are you? Why aren't you in your apartment? Where's Oscar? Is he with you? I'm all for missing school, but Oscar still has a lot of basics he needs to learn, so he really ought to be going to his classes, don't you think? And would you mind telling me why I should know everything about you as your best and only friend yet I currently don't know where you are or why you aren't coming with me to hell today? How am I supposed to cope without you? And – "

I groaned, cutting her off.

"Taylor. It's fine, please. You don't need to worry, like I said in my text"

"Oh thanks for replying back to me by the way – I've been worried sick! Well, maybe not sick. But I couldn't sleep! Although I was up doing a marathon of Friends. But that's beside the point"

"Taylor, I'm sorry. Look, I'm at a friend's house, and Oscar is being taken care of by Ms. Thatcher. She's taking him to school"

I snuggled back into the bed beneath the covers. I'd had the best sleep in months, despite the wakening in the middle of the night to an enraged man smashing his own glasses – who even does that?

"You don't have any other friends. I'm your only friend and I know that because you're my only friend and everyone else sucks and we both know it. So where are you actually?"

How on earth did I tell her I was in Jace Hartlems' apartment? Oh geez.

"Um...okay well you know the other night, when I was attacked and Jace Hartlem kind of saved me?"

"Yes..."

"Well, he ended up saving my ass again last night when someone tried to rob the store, but –"

"Holy shit! Shay! Are you okay? You really aren't having a good week are you, Nugget"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I promise. But...well I think Jace is part of some...gang, or something. Because the night after he saved me and dropped me home, someone broke into the apartment and just left a note. They didn't take anything"

"Hold up – someone broke into your apartment? And you forgot to mention this to me all day yesterday?"

She was shouting down the phone by the end of her sentence.

I sighed, again.

"Taylor, I'm sorry. But the note felt like it was addressed to Jace, and it seemed...threatening. So I was just going to talk to him about it. But then he didn't turn up to school, so I couldn't. And then when I went to get Oscar from his school, a man shoved into me and dropped another note, referring to Oscar, I think. And then Jace hit the guy trying to rob the shop and took me home and that was when I told him about the notes. He said he has enemies, and that seeing him with me the first night, they think there's something between us. And so they want to get to me to get to him...like, use it as a weakness, I think. So Oscar stayed with Ms. Thatcher and I stayed at Jace's place..."

I braced myself for the response to that last part.

"You stayed at Jace's place... Do you know how stupid you are, Shay?"

"Apparently not, but Jace does" I said, recalling his angry confusion at my lack of fear of staying in his apartment, when I barely knew him.

Now I could hear Taylor sighing on the other end of the line.