26. Ian

Chapter 26

Ian

H azel still wasn’t picking up any of my calls. Two days ago, I’d gone out to get the things I needed for our dinner but when I got home, she wasn’t here. I went after her but she refused to open the door for me.

It was frustrating because I didn’t even know what I did wrong. All I knew was that it was so bad that she didn’t want to see or speak to me again. I considered asking Jade, but I didn’t want to bring her into this.

She was still freaked out by the relationship. The last thing she needed was to be involved in our fight, especially since I had no idea what the fight was about.

I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. I hadn't been able to get anything done since I left Hazel’s apartment that day. I kept trying to figure out what I’d done, what mistake I’d made that would make her hate me so much.

Not being able to see her was starting to physically hurt. I had to find out what I did wrong so I could apologize and get her back. I loved Hazel too much to let her go like this. It had taken me a while to truly get used to my feelings for her.

For some time I was still scared of them but when faced with the possibility of losing her, my fears faded away.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the knocking at the door. The sound floated beside me, like a dull hum before it finally breached the wall and got to me. I sprung to my feet and rushed to the door, hoping it was Hazel.

It was that hope that made me pull the door open without asking who it was. My smile fell when I saw the person on the other side. The lanky, brown-haired man smiled at me. It was Fred.

“I think we should just cut the usual bullshit and get right into it,” he said as his smile morphed into a deep scowl.

“What?”

“I’m not a fan of yours and I don’t live in this stupid building. I only came by here because I wanted to see how the great Ian Carter lives.” He scoffed before continuing. “You know she’s obsessed with you, right? Not a day went by when Emily didn’t talk about Ian Carter.”

I watched him closely. The way he kept one hand in his hoodie told me he was hiding something. A gun, perhaps. I realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to make it out of here without getting shot. It was crazy but in that moment all I could think of was Hazel. I couldn’t believe I was going to die without telling her that I loved her.

When Fred spoke again, he used a high-pitched voice which I assumed was his impression of his ex-wife. “Ian is so incredible. He’s so good at what he does. He’s the best hockey player there is. He’s so handsome. I heard crap like that every single day!”

“That’s not my fault,” I said as I slowly backed up.

Fred followed me inside and shut the door with his leg. “Actually, it is. All of this is your fault. My divorce was your fault!”

“What?”

“You ruined my marriage! It was all your fault. If Emily wasn’t so obsessed with you, then she wouldn’t have filed for a divorce, and we would still be together.”

I shook my head incredulously. I couldn’t believe this man was blaming me for his divorce when he was the one who cheated on his wife. “Emily filed for divorce because of your infidelity, not because she liked me.”

“The affair was a mistake! It was a small mistake, one that we would have worked out together, like every married couple does. I made a mistake, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her.”

“You slept with her best friend!”

“I said it was a mistake!” Fred shouted back. He ran his free hand through his hair and pushed his glasses further up his nose. “That whole thing with Olivia was a mistake. You have no idea how much I regret it. I didn’t mean to hurt Emily. I would never want to hurt her. I… I love her. I begged her to forgive me. I tried to make her understand that she was the woman I loved. Some little affair wasn’t going to change that.”

Little affair? It was easy for him to call it that since he wasn’t the one that got cheated on. I kept that comment to myself while I scanned the room for some kind of weapon.

Fred continued mouthing off. “I begged her to forgive me, but she wouldn’t. She said the only way she would even consider it was if I told her the name of the woman I’d been sleeping with. I couldn’t tell her that! If she knew it was Olivia, if she knew I was sleeping with her best friend, she would never forgive me. She asked me for something I just couldn’t give her.”

A few of the pieces were starting to fall together in my head. Emily knew Fred cheated on her, but she didn’t know that his mistress was her best friend. Fred couldn’t tell her it was Olivia because he knew she would never forgive him for that. It would be the ultimate betrayal.

“So why are you here if your marriage is already over?” I asked.

“It’s not over! I’m here to win my wife back. I came to this godforsaken town because I knew she’d be here. She’s been wanting to visit this wretched place since she found out you grew here. That’s how deep her obsession runs. I’m here to save her from that obsession and get my wife back.”

“Then what are you doing here? In my home?”

Fred paced the open floor before turning back to me. “I’ve been tracking her since she left our house.”

He said it so casually I was almost certain I’d misheard him. This man cheated on his wife with her best friend and when she got a divorce, he tracked her down. He was clearly a nut job.

“When Emily went missing, I was certain she was with you,” he said.

“Me?”

“Yes. It made perfect sense. She didn’t come here to look at this crappy town. She came here to be with you! That’s why I’ve been lurking around your building. And that’s why I pretended to be your fan even though I can't stand you. I was trying to get a look inside his apartment because I was certain she would be here.”

His statement made me realize that he had nothing to do with Emily’s disappearance. If he was responsible, then he wouldn’t be doing all this to find her. He didn’t kidnap Emily, but he was still a very unstable person.

He cheated on his wife yet somehow he believed I was the one who ruined his marriage. How had he managed to blame me when his infidelity was clearly the reason?

My search for a weapon had come out fruitless. The knives were in my kitchen, and I wouldn’t be able to make it there before Fred shot me. I still didn’t even know if what he was concealing was a gun. For all I knew, it could be a knife which meant I would have enough time to race to the kitchen and get one of my own.

The question was if I wanted to risk my life that way. Any wrong move could result in a bullet to the chest. I didn’t know Fred very well, but he seemed very unhinged, if his constant pacing and the aggressive way he pulled at his hair was anything to go by.

“As you can see, your wife isn't here. I’ve never met her,” I said.

“And yet she exalts you like you’re some sort of god. She’s obsessed with you and you guys have never even met. She was willing to throw away our marriage because of a pointless obsession.”

“That isn't why Emily divorced you.”

“Yes, it is!” he shouted.

“She divorced you because you cheated on her!”

That was enough to set Fred off. It was like he hated to hear that he was responsible for his marriage ending. He preferred to blame me for it rather than acknowledge that it was his own fault.

He finally revealed his weapon after I said that. It turned out to be a knife. Once again, when faced with the possibility of death, Hazel was the only person that came to mind. I still didn’t know what had set her off or why she wasn’t speaking to me. And she didn’t know that I loved her.

“If she wasn’t so obsessed with you, then she would have been more willing to fight for our marriage. She would have forgiven me. We would have worked it out. You’re the reason she left me.”

“That’s absurd. It’s not my fault that you—”

I couldn’t finish my sentence because Fred lunged at me with the knife in his hand. The sharp blade nearly pierced my shoulder, but I got out of the way in time. Fred had completely shed whatever cloak of normalcy he’d been wearing. Now I saw him for what he truly was, a lunatic.

He was hyperventilating and shaking like a naked animal in the winter. He almost looked like he was having a withdrawal episode and in that moment I wondered if he was a drug addict. It would explain his jumpiness and the way his eyes darted around the room without ever really meeting mine.

I didn’t have a lot of time to recover because Fred lunged at me again. I fought back as best I could. In the heat of the fight, there was only one thing on my mind.

Hazel.