Page 54 of Hidden

I press my lips to her fingertips, tasting the ghost of her, then lean down and brush a slow, reverent kiss to her forehead. Her skin is warm, she makes a tiny, unconscious sound and shifts closer to me. My chest tightens with something fierce and possessive.

“Sleep well, baby,” I murmur against her temple. “I’ll always take care of you.”

I stand slowly, adjust the blanket over her shoulder, and back out of the room without a sound. The violets and breakfast wait on the counter like quiet promises. I pull the front door shut behind me, the latch clicking into place, and disappear down the empty hallway.

She’ll wake up surrounded by me, and she has no idea how deep this already goes.

Thirteen

Sadie

I wake up rested for the first time in as long as I can remember.

I realize that I’ve woken up naturally and my alarm didn’t wake me up, I like the feeling.

I lie there for a moment. I feel good. That's the simple version. I feel genuinely good.

I turn my head to the door, which is left open, wondering if the flowers are there? Did he come last night?

Throwing the cover off, I walk to the kitchen and smile.

There they are.

Fresh, they’re a deeper purple violet than yesterday. I’m not sure how many more he’ll leave me. The very first ones he left are still going strong, maybe next time he contacts me, I’ll tell him not to leave me any more flowers as there are too many now.

I lean in close and breathe them in. They smell cool and faintly sweet. My eyes glance over to the counter, and my smile spreads even more.

There’s a coffee beside them, picking it up I take a sip, and put it back down as it’s cold. How did he know? It’s my order from Grounds, oat milk and sugar. Next to it, there’s a croissant in paper from the bakery on the corner. It’s the one I walk past every single morning and have never once gone inside because the prices of that place are crazy and I can’t afford it.

Should I be scared? Probably, but he’s not once tried to hurt me. Maybe this is what he wants, me to break my barrier of trust, and then bang, he hits me with something. I look at the flowers again, and I can’t stop myself from smiling.

Warming up the coffee, I grab the back to my bedroom to get dressed. I look over at my phone when it beeps with a message, but it’s not the phone that gets my attention, it's the object next to it.

A bracelet.

I pick it up, it’s silver, delicate, with a tiny charm hanging from the chain, a violet.

My throat tightens. Again, not with fear, but with something that sits right beside it and feels completely different.

Whoever this is has been paying attention since the beginning. Not just to where I live and what I order, but to the small things. The things you only notice about a person if you're actually looking.

I look at the message on my phone.

Ghost

Good morning, beautiful.

Then I fasten the bracelet, and again I’m smiling at how delicate it looks around my wrist.

My phone beeps again.

Juno

Meet you downstairs in 10 mins.

I quickly get dressed, still wondering who this person is. I wonder if they will give me a clue to who they are. Grabbing my phone again, I send a message back to the unknown number, still seeing all the messages from last night.

Sadie