Chapter 10

HARPER

W alking down the shared hallway in our building, I stopped at the front door rummaging through my pockets for my keys, paying no attention to where I was going. Suddenly I tripped over a box that was sitting in front of it.

I yelled out in surprise which was followed by a few choice words. Standing upright and correcting my footing I looked down at the box. And realized it was addressed to me.

The return address wasn't one I recognized. An unsettling fit of nerves immediately balled up in my gut, but I took the package into the house anyway. Placing it on the coffee table and I stood back staring down at it like it would grow legs and walk away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement. Taken by surprise, I let out a startled yelp, clutching my chest and struggling to catch my breath, until I realized it was just Aster coming from her bedroom.

"What is it? Is it going to do a flip? jeez, Harp." she said teasingly. She grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk on her way over to me.

"I'll open it for you," she said, slicing the box open as I held my breath unsure what to expect.

Once the tape was removed, Aster looked back at me questioningly. I gave her a small nod asking her to go ahead and open it. Seconds later she held my purse by the strap with two fingers, wearing a confused look.

She wasn't home this morning when I got up for work so there hasn't been any time for me to explain the happenings of last night's, almost attack and my vigilante. Meeting Mr. Whitlock today actually caused me to put those memories away until now.

"Is this your purse?" she asked, scrunching her nose, waiting for a response. I grabbed it from her and began digging through it to see if anything was taken. Everything was untouched. The only difference was, I found a handwritten note inside my wallet.

"Hey there Ms. Williams, you took off before I could check on you and make sure that monster didn't hurt you. I figured you would need this back. Before you freak out, I found your address from your school ID. I reached out to the school, and with some major persuasion, they gave me your forwarding address. Nice photo by the way. :) Try to stay outta trouble, would you? Feel free to email me if you need anything.

[email protected]

(don't judge me, it's an old account)

-J.W."

After a detailed interrogation by Aster regarding the events of last night, the story was recounted multiple times. She kept asking about the man who rescued me with questions such as, "Was he good-looking?", "What was his age?", "Did he seem wealthy?" and the kicker, "Why didn't you hang around to thank him?" while playfully raising her eyebrows at me.

She got annoyed when I told her it was too dark to see, but the truth is, I didn't get a good look at him because I was too scared to try. I was just grateful not to become another homicide in the streets of Miami.

She finally got bored with it all and I was able to flee to my room. I figured she'd have more questions soon, so I hurried over to my computer to send a quick, thank-you message. The least I could do was show J.W. gratitude for bailing me out and returning my purse as well. It sounded like he went through hoops to get it back to me.

"Hello and good evening,

I just wanted to thank you for all that you did for me. It was very noble of you to step in and help when that man grabbed me. Thank you for also returning my purse. I'll do my best to stay out of trouble, scouts honor. As far as your email address, I did laugh a little, but I held back from an all-out bellow, out of respect for your request of no judgment. LOL. Anyways, thanks again.

-Harper Williams "

I hit send and just in time, Aster came strolling in with a wicked grin and her phone in her hand.

"What's the grin about?" I asked closing my laptop before she had time to nose around.

"Prestyn, you know the guy from the lounge? he invited me to London for the weekend," she said, in a squeal, hugging her phone to her chest as she turned and plopped down on my bed, causing the both of us to bounce a little.

"You must have really put it down on him huh?" I said sarcastically rolling my eyes.

"Don't hate me because I know how to get what I want" she declared, sitting up and flipping her hair. We both laughed at her high-spirited sarcasm, as much as she enjoys life, in the literal sense. She would never do anything like that for gain unless using her baby voice and batting her long eyelashes at her father. I've seen her get out of so much trouble with him.

"When are you going?"

"What makes you think I'm going? Maybe, I want to play hard to get."

"Did you play hard to get last night?" I asked knowingly with my head tilted and my eyebrows raised.

"Shut up bitch, enough about me. what about your little admirer?" She quickly changed the subject because she knew I was winning this banter session.

"I don't know really. It was just one of those, wrong place right time things. I guess." I said, but I had a weird feeling about how quickly he showed up, out of nowhere. As if he had followed me outside or something. The strange thing is I don't remember seeing him inside the lounge. I put my thoughts to rest with the conclusion I was just being paranoid. I giggled to myself thinking about his note.

[email protected], what kind of email address is that for a grown man?