Killing Me Softly: A Thriller Romance Novel [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 12

"I cannot believe you did that," Janice said to me in the ER waiting room with her hands on her hips. "Especially when I told you not to see him."

"I know! But it's Jamie! I didn't see a reason not to hang out with him or trust him. I mean, he didn't hurt me or anything. He just...tried to kiss me, which upset me because he knows how I feel about Theo."

"That's how it starts," Janice said, staring out the window behind me into the dark parking lot.

"What are you talking about?"

"Jamie. That's how it starts. He'll try to kiss you and kiss you until you finally do. And then..."

"You kissed Jamie?" I asked her and gaped.

"He kissed me," she quickly stated, holding a blue latex-gloved finger at me. "I didn't kiss him. Not at first, anyway. He just kept pushing and pushing until I finally gave in to him."

I put a hand over my mouth. "Oh god, please tell me you didn't have sex with him..."

"Janice! Dr. Whitehead needs you in the ER," said the receptionist, holding a desk phone in her hand. "ASAP."

"Ugh," Janice said, pulling her car keys from her pant pocket. "Here. Take my car. Go to my house, and go to bed."

"Go to bed?"

"Yeah, because you have to be back up here at 5:00 AM to pick me up," she said, backing away toward the ER doors.

"Ah, shit. Okay," I said. "Thank you."

"What are best friends for?" Janice said and shot me a kind smile. I was glad knowing she wasn't more pissed at me for hanging out with Jamie. Perhaps telling her how he tried to kiss me and how I escaped him turned her mood around.

When I left the ER and went into the parking lot, I immediately felt watched. I didn't know from where or whom, but there were eyes on me somewhere. I could feel it as I walked all the way across the parking lot to Janice's white Mazda. It was quite a distance.

My overactive mind was thinking how easy it would be for someone to abduct me or hurt me in this parking lot, or Janice even! It was so dark and scary! Perhaps I was a little too on edge with everything going on with Theo and now Jamie. Perhaps I had gotten in a little deep coming to Yoakum. I had forgotten how heavy and heartbreaking this place could be.

Once I got into Janice's car and locked the doors, my phone vibrated and lit up from inside my purse. I picked it up with seven percent battery life left.

Shit.

I cranked the car and turned on the headlights when I saw I had two new text messages. Both from Jamie. Knowing I needed to get the hell out of there and that my phone would die at any given moment if I unlocked it, I threw my phone back into my purse and left.

* * *

Please forgive me, Delilah. I would never, ever do anything to harm or upset you. You know that, Jamie's first text message read once I plugged in my phone and read it.

Then his next one said, I know what I did was a mistake. You don't feel that way about me, and that's fine. Can we just go back to being friends? I'll even talk to Theo for you if you want. Let him know you're worried about him.

"No!" I hollered at the phone. Those last two sentences freaked me out and twisted my guts into knots.

"You alright in there?" Janice's mom asked me from the next room.

"Yes, sorry!" I responded and laid on my back on Janice's bed to read the rest of my missed text messages.

Donnie had texted me once, asking if I wanted to do breakfast with him if I wasn't doing anything else tomorrow morning. He had something new he needed to tell me, and he really wanted to see me. I still could not believe Jamie knew him.