Flawed Pretense

Chapter 20

“What?” I asked, confused.

He paused, then said in a hard voice, “I said, I never told him where you lived.”

“But—”

“Princess, I haven’t forgiven him since Reed’s party when he practically raped you. And I’m pretty sure that’s never going to change any time soon.” He sounded angry, but somehow I knew that anger wasn’t direct towards me.

I thought for a few moments—if Ian wasn’t the one who told Jared my address, how did he get it then? It didn’t make much sense, and I hoped the feeling I was getting from this was wrong. I knew I wanted to find my stalker, but if Jared was the one, it would feel all too real. It was something I knew that was inevitable, but it just seemed surreal that I actually did have a stalker.

 And of all people? Jared? I knew he was . . . different since he couldn’t quite control himself at the party, but was he really capable of being an obsessive, threatening stalker?

I wasn’t too sure. I knew though, that I would take everything with caution now. But what if I was wrong, and Jared wasn’t my stalker? In a way, it would be a relief, that maybe someone was only pranking me. But if it was him that would mean that this would all be over.

But then I thought, maybe Ian wasn’t telling the truth?

 No, he was definitely telling the truth. Ian sounded so . . . angry that I would even bring up Jared. Spiteful, even. No way could Ian be possibly lying to me right now.

“Princess, are you alright?” Ian asked cautiously.

“Yeah,” I said, distracted.

Should I tell Ian? He might be able to help with all of this, help stop this person. But no, I couldn’t—the stalker already hurt Garrett, I wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of Ian getting hurt as well. That’s just like why I wouldn’t tell Chris.

But wouldn’t it be easier to not handle this alone? For an unknown reason, I trusted Ian, though I knew that might not be the wisest decision.

“Emily.”

I turned towards Ian in surprise—he almost never called me my actual name unless it was serious.

I raised an eyebrow in response.

“You know you can tell me anything, right? It was a bit strange that Jared knew where you lived, but your expression tells me you think it’s a little more than that. Whatever it is, I’ll help you. Whether it’s beating the shit out of him, or protecting you,” He paused to think for a second, “Though I will always protect you. That’s what friends are for, right?” Ian said it with such honesty, it kind of made me want to tear up.

I was speechless for a few seconds. How could Ian still be so nice to me? For an odd reason, Ian took a liking in me, and I flat out rejected him. I hurt him, yet he still cared about me. Ian said he would help me, protect me even. Crap, I really didn’t deserve him as a friend, let alone something more. Granted, he defined us as friends, but it was a start from how I hurt him, right?

I didn’t even know what happened between the first time we met until now. Ian was such a jerk to me when we met, and now he acted like a caring friend. What the heck happened within that time frame? I had no clue, but somehow I couldn’t feel an ounce of regret of these changes.

“Thank you, Ian. I really mean it. But I’m fine, just trust me on this. I will talk to you if I really need it though,” I said back with the same amount of honesty.