26. Twenty-Six

I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered in the corner while Oscar prowled near the windows. The little cabin he'd forced me into was even more rustic than the one I'd shared with Church. At least the last one had electricity and running water. There was no heat, and the only bed was a rickety, dust-laden mattress with suspicious stains tossed in the rear of the cabin. I'd nearly cut myself on a broken beer bottle when Oscar told me to sit on it.

As bad as the situation was, I could barely focus on how miserable I was. All I could think about was Church. Had I moved him far enough away from the fire? Was anyone there with him, or was he alone and unconscious in the dark where any predator could get to him? Was he in pain? Was he even alive? The cut on his head had looked nasty, and there was no telling what damage the taser might've done.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Oscar used the gun to pull back one of the thin curtains, peering out into the dark. He moved his arm and hissed in pain, putting his hand over the bullet wound.

I chewed on my bottom lip, eying the bloodstains drying on his shirt. "That looks pretty bad. "

"Of course it does," he growled, spinning toward me. "Your bodyguard fucking shot me!"

I lifted my hands so he could see I wasn't armed. "He was just doing his job, Oscar."

Oscar marched back to where I was seated and stood over me. "He was trying to keep us apart. He just wants you to himself! Well, he doesn't fucking deserve you. He doesn't even know you!"

As he ranted, he waved the gun around. I tried to scoot away, but there was nowhere to go. My back was already up against the rough-hewn wood wall. I eyed the door. Maybe if I made a run for it… But no, the risk that he'd lose it and shoot me was too high. Besides, I didn't know how to get back from there. I didn't even know where we were. If I somehow got away from the madman with the gun, I'd probably just fall down some ravine and break my neck in the dark.

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. "Oscar, put the gun down before you hurt yourself."

He lowered the gun, but didn't put it down, turning back to pacing. It was like he hadn't even heard me. "He doesn't know all your songs. I bet he doesn't even know one . And he sure as hell hasn't been to every one of your concerts for the last year. Okay, I missed that one in Baltimore, but my car broke down and I couldn't get a ride. I wrote to you about it, though."

"I know," I lied. I'd never seen a single letter from Oscar. In fact, I rarely, if ever, saw letters from my fans at all. There was someone at the label who intercepted all of them and replied to a few, but the only interactions I ever had were when I posted on social media. Even those were tightly policed anymore.

He stepped closer, eyes pleading. "So you know I'm loyal. You know I would never hurt you, Dante. "

I fought the urge to scoot away when he sat down next to me. "You set the cabin on fire, Oscar."

He shook his head. "I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I…I love you, Dante." He lifted his hand like he was about to touch my face, and I flinched away. He frowned and let his hand fall. "I know you're scared, but once you get to know me, you'll see I'm not so bad. And then you'll love me too."

"Is that why you drugged me at the bar?"

He sighed and looked away. "What choice did I have? I needed to get you alone so you'd have a chance to get to know me better. It wasn't anything harmful. I wasn't going to hurt you. I was going to take care of you, Dante."

"You could've just asked me, Oscar."

Oscar shook his head. "No. No, they never would've let you. They want to keep us apart. It's what they've always wanted. They think they can keep you away from me, but they're wrong. We were meant to be together, Dante, and I can prove it." He shot to his feet and pulled some folded papers from his pocket.

"What's that?" I was almost too afraid to ask.

Oscar answered by belting out the shaky first verse to Electric Love Song :

"Woke up this morning, charged and alive,

Your touch is the voltage, sparking the vibe.

In a world that's gray, you're the neon hue,

Every moment with you feels like something new."

He looked up from the paper, fingers trembling. "When I first heard that, it was like you were talking right to me. Every time I heard that song, I felt the same spark."

Jesus…Was this guy for real? All this over a song I didn't even write? That song was written by someone the band hired. I didn't even like Electric Love Song , and he thought it was some secret love letter to him? Oscar needed some serious help.

"I thought at first that it didn't mean anything," Oscar continued. "I mean, it's just a song, right? I'm not crazy. I knew you weren't talking to me. But I still felt this connection, like you were saying things I couldn't even put into words. It was like we were thinking on the same wavelength. I joined all the fan groups online, but they're full of idiots. All they care about is the music, not you. Not like me. And when you replied to me on that Instagram post? I knew the feeling was mutual. You were so kind. So down to earth. Not like the tabloids said."

A cold chill went down my spine. That was what'd kicked all this off? A single comment I made on social media? One of thousands? I didn't even remember doing it.

Oscar sniffled like he was about to cry. "It was like someone was seeing me for the first time. I sent you an email, but you never wrote back. I tried to mail you letters, but you never replied to those either. You didn't even thank me for the birthday and Christmas gifts I sent!"

"I'm sorry. I…They never gave them to me."

"I knew it!" he shouted so loud I flinched. "I fucking knew it! They've been trying to keep us apart from the beginning, haven't they?"

I opened my mouth to tell him it wasn't personal, but stopped myself. Oscar was already agitated, and pissing off an armed psycho with a gun was probably a bad idea. Was it any better to play into his fantasy? How far was this going to go?

"We were meant to be together, Dante," he continued, jaw quivering. "You have to know that. I mean, you wrote ‘Miles Apart' after looking right at me in Denver. I was in line to get your autograph, but when you walked out, they just shoved us all away. You looked right at me! Don't you remember? The air between us was electric, just like in your song."

I frowned and tried to remember, but it was all just a blur. The Denver show had been a disaster. I was so drunk that I walked off stage halfway through "Just Friends" to throw up and we ended the show early. I was so fucked up, I didn't even remember most of the show. "Miles Apart" wasn't even a love song. It was for my mom, yet Oscar thought it was some secret love song I'd written for him. What the hell was wrong with this guy? I might've felt sorry for him if I wasn't terrified he was about to kill me.

I swallowed some of that fear and turned to face him. The only way I was getting out of this alive was if I could somehow get through to him. "Oscar, please listen to me. I don't want anybody to get hurt, especially you."

He put his hand over the wound in his arm and said sourly, "It's a little late for that."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But you need medical help. We should go to a hospital."

"No!" he jumped up with a shout, suddenly even more agitated. "No hospitals, no cops, and no more fucking bodyguards!"

I lifted my hands in front of my face. "Okay! All right, Oscar. Whatever you want. It's just…I'm trying to understand. What do you want? How do you want this to end?"

Before he could answer, the sound of a stick breaking outside echoed through the tiny cabin. Oscar's eyes went wide and wild. He grabbed me roughly by the arm and shoved the barrel of the gun into my mouth. "No noise. Do as I say, like you promised! Don't make me kill you."

I nodded frantically, my heart pounding in my chest. Oscar removed the gun from my mouth and yanked me through the rotten back door. It was still dark, but the trees were so thick I couldn't see the sky, so I didn't know how close it was to dawn. He didn't give me much of a chance to look either before he pulled me along.

Rather than take me back to the four-wheeler, he guided me deeper into the woods on foot, forcing me to climb over moss-covered trees and through thick underbrush. Without a word, we marched up a rise and down the other side. At the bottom was a creek several feet wide. The water was freezing cold, especially with only one shoe on.

The sound of dogs barking in the distance echoed through the valley just as we reached the other side. I paused, glancing over my shoulder at the far ridge, faint hope surging through me. Someone was out here, looking for me. Help was coming! All I had to do was survive.

"Move!" Oscar gave me a shove, and I lost my balance, falling into the mud. He yanked me up roughly, but not before I managed to kick off my other shoe so that I could leave it behind as a clue. If someone was out there tracking us, it was all I could do to help before Oscar dragged me deeper into the forest.

The rain started as we rushed up the next ridge. I slipped twice and would have fallen back into the mud if Oscar wasn't holding onto me. When I fell, he never bothered stopping, continuing to drag me several feet before I got my legs under me again. For someone so small, he was deceptively strong.

Eventually, we stumbled into a narrow ravine at the top of a ridge. My foot hit something hard, and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming as pain shot through my ankle. Oscar changed directions, dragging me toward what I thought was another hillside at first. I tried to put my foot down to walk, but the pain was too much. Nausea surged, and I thought I might pass out. Maybe I broke something .

As we approached the hill, I realized Oscar was dragging me over a set of dilapidated train tracks that fed straight into the hill. An opening yawned straight ahead with rotten boards scattered all around. A faded white sign, nearly overgrown, announced that we were entering the Moonville Coal Mine.

Inside, the mine was dark and dank. Just a few feet in grimy, icy water engulfed my feet. Without a flashlight, everything was pitch black and there was no way to tell where we were going. Terror churned in my stomach that we might stumble blindly into a vertical drop, or that the low, rocky ceiling might collapse on top of us.

I don't know how deep we went, but it seemed to go on forever with nothing but darkness and the sound of water swirling around our feet. I thought we might go on forever. Maybe Oscar's plan was for us to die together in that mine rather than face what he'd done.

At least I won't die alone. Dying alone in the dark is worse than dying with a crazy stalker, isn't it?

But I didn't want to die. Maybe there was a time when I wouldn't have cared, when drowning myself in alcohol was preferable to facing the world without it, but that part of me was gone. I wanted to live .

A sudden surge of water out of nowhere gave me my chance. I jerked my hand away from Oscar's while he was distracted and backed up against the rocky wall, clinging to it. Oscar gasped, then screamed as the current pulled his feet from under him. Water splashed wildly while he shouted my name, but I didn't answer, not even as the water carried him further and further away.

I waited until the only sound was the constant roar of water. It was up to my knees and had been rising while we walked, flowing in the same direction we'd been walking in the dark. If I turned around and walked against the water, maybe I'd find my way out, but when I took the first step, my ankle rolled, and the water almost swept me away. There was no way I was walking anywhere on my own. With the water rising, it was all I could do to grip the rough, rocky wall of the mine shaft and hope someone found me in time.