I smiled back at him. “You are amazing.”
“I love you, Elena.”
“I love you too.”
He lay there staring at the ceiling for a minute and then he looked at me again. “I never thought I would meet someone like you, you have completely turned my world upside down.”
I held his gaze. “Ditto.”
He hopped out of bed and tossed the condom in the trash and then grabbed his clothes.
“Don’t go. Stay with me tonight.”
“Are you sure, Elena? I have to get up in just a few short hours. I’m leaving much earlier than you and I don’t want to disturb you in the morning.”
“I’m positive, I want to feel your arms around me tonight.”
“There’s nothing more that I want right now.”
We both slept in the nude and it felt so good to feel him right next to me, I just felt right. I drifted off to sleep happier and more relaxed than I had ever been in my life.
When I woke up the next morning Sebastian was gone but he left a note on the pillow next to me. He told me what a great time he’d had the night before, that he would miss me that week, he couldn’t wait to see me that Saturday and that I would hear from him soon. All I could do was believe him because he was already gone.
The concierge was at my door at 8:00 on the dot and I took a deep breath and looked around my room one last time before I left. I would never forget my time in São Paulo, Brazil.
Chapter Eleven – Blind-sided
We made it back to the States, and thankfully we didn’t have to go into work that day and I went home and literally crashed on my bed. My growling belly woke me up around 8:00 and I threw a frozen dinner in the microwave and curled up on the couch to rifle through my mail when the second letter I saw chilled me to the bone. I hadn’t gotten a letter like that in over 10 months so I foolishly kind of thought the ordeal was finally over. It was from the Corlus County Correctional Facility and I knew that it was from Brian. When is he going to leave me alone? I opened the letter, expecting it to be at least 20 pages long again but this one was different, it wasn’t from Brian.
It was a letter telling me that Brian was going to be released the next day due to good behavior and it was dated a week prior, and if he contacted me I was to contact his parole officer immediately. I felt sick to my stomach and I wanted to call Sebastian but I didn’t know if he was already in Paris, if he was sleeping or if I would even be able to get a message to him. I decided to take a chance and call his cell phone but it went straight to voicemail so I left a message and tried not to sound too frantic.
“Hi Sebastian, I hope you had a safe flight. I was going through my mail and I got a letter from the prison where Brian is being held and they wrote to notify me that he is going to be released tomorrow. You told me to let you know when I heard from him and even though this isn’t exactly from Brian well, it’s about him. I will admit that I am a bit freaked out right now so can you please call me when you have a chance? Thanks.”
I tried to get lost in The Real Housewives of Whatever City but all I could do was sit and stare at the television. Nothing was registering, all I could think about was that Brian would be free the next day and I just knew that he would be coming after me. I would have to file a restraining order or something like that but really, what could a piece of paper do? At 1:00 a.m. I still had not heard from Sebastian so I went to bed trying not to think about what he was doing with Sophia.
The next day, the first thing I did before work was go to the police station and get a restraining order against Brian. When I got to work I was told that I was getting a company car and a parking spot in the building. I was so psyched. No more having to rely on Miami’s public transportation. I threw myself into work and I didn’t hear from Sebastian all day. So I had two things going through my head: one, I was sick about Brian and I jumped every time the phone rang, and two, I was sick about what Sebastian and Sophia were up to and I jumped every time the phone rang. So basically I was a total mess that day and I couldn’t wait to go home.
When I finally made it home I called my parents and told them that Brian was out. My dad was pissed.
“What?! They just wrote you about this a week ago? I’m going to have our attorney call the warden first thing tomorrow morning. They have to give more than a week’s notice, this is ridiculous!”
“Daddy, calm down, I got a restraining order today so I should be fine.”
"Honey if anything happens, you pick up the phone and you call us immediately and we will be there as fast as we can. In the meantime, Elena, please be careful.” I hated that my dad sounded so worried about me.
“Yes honey, if anything happens, call us no matter what time it is.”
“I will daddy, I promise. Mom, don’t worry.”
I tried to lighten the mood by telling them about my trip to Brazil but I decided to leave out the part about Sebastian until I knew where things were really going with us. I didn’t want to tell them that their daughter was seriously interested in her boss until I knew that there was something real between us. I would save that conversation for another time.
After I talked to my parents I called Chloe.
“Hey! You’re back! So, how was it?”
“Chloe, it was so awesome, São Paulo was so interesting, I loved it.”
“What’s wrong? I can hear it in your voice.”
My friend knew me so well. “Brian was released today.”
“What?! You have got to be kidding! Why? He’s supposed to be in for at least another six years or something like that.”
"The letter said he was being released due to his good behavior. Can you believe that? His good behavior! So I went to the police first thing this morning to get a restraining order against him.”
“You should get a gun, Elena, I’m serious. He is crazy.”
"Chloe, I'm not going to get a gun. I got the restraining order and I'm just going to live my life. I can't be afraid of him every day for the rest of my life, that’s no way to live. Besides, I knew that this day would come eventually and Dr. Donnelly told me to do exactly what I did and just to live my life, so that's what I'm going to do. I have a great alarm system here in this apartment and it’s a secure building, so I will just keep my eyes open and watch my back.”