Here’s the latest installment of Double Seduction, the collaboration of suspense written with Fictional Kevin.  Find previous chapters here.   It’s my turn this week, enjoy!

Chapter 12 – Admission

Mel finally turned the phone off completely. David had called back repeatedly and when she hadn’t answered, he switched to barraging her with text messages.

“Melody, please, can we talk?”

“Honey, I can explain everything.”

“How can we fix this if you won’t talk to me?’

“Please, Mel you are important to me. I cherish you…”

If that wasn’t bad enough, Anton had called, too. He’d left two purposefully cryptic voice-mails, probably figuring her curiosity would get the better of her.

“Melody, there is more we must talk about. Please call me.”

“Melody, don’t be angry with me. Everything I do, I do because I care. If you are too upset to talk, then it will have to wait until tomorrow. You are still coming for our session, I hope. At least I know I’ve been training you well. That is some small comfort to me. Please let me know you are all right.”

She rolled her eyes. “Drama queen,” she muttered. “Better give him something or he’ll be over here breaking my door down to make sure I’m ok.” She texted, “We’ll talk tomorrow, Anton. Just give me some space tonight.”

Now, with the phone powered down, Mel retreated to the living room with a tumbler of whiskey and flopped into the armchair. What did it all mean? The photo was a few years old, so what? Maybe he’d gained a little weight since then, or something. That was no crime, was it? She sipped from her glass, closed her eyes. And he’d admitted it when she’d confronted him…. But what else could he be lying about? Mel cursed under her breath. Anton was making her paranoid.

She had to think this through. Just how important was this relationship to her? Even though it was limited to texts and phone calls, it felt as real and meaningful as if they were dating in person. They had talked about meeting in real life eventually, after both of them were more healed from their broken hearts. She tossed back the rest of her drink and went to the study. Might as well put the evening and all this emotional chaos to good use. She would try to write.

After powering up her laptop, she went to her blog home page. There were multiple notifications waiting for her. She scrolled through them, responded to the comments on her latest post. As she finished with the last one, the star lit up again, then the comment balloon. She clicked on it. David. He’d commented on an older post.

“I don’t know how else to get your attention, Mel. I’ve sent you an e-mail. I’ve tried to explain everything. If you won’t talk to me, at least please read it. If after that I don’t hear from you… Well, then… message received.”

Mel sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair. Ok, this was good. She could at least see what he had to say. Maybe all of it would make sense. She closed the browser and opened her e-mail.

Dear Melody,

I am so sorry about all of this. I have so much to tell you I almost don’t know where to begin. The most important thing I want you to know is that I really, truly care for you. I am feeling things I never expected to feel for anyone. So I suppose I should just start at the beginning and tell you everything.

I write. Not just ad copy. I began writing fiction years ago, kept it to myself. It’s only recently that I’ve considered putting my ideas together into a novel. I was confident that with the right type of research and enough time, I would have a best seller to publish. That’s when I began my blog.

This is the hard part… Please don’t freak out. The idea for the novel was to see how easy it would be for a killer to find a woman -a victim- online. To seduce her and make her fall in love with him. The trouble is… I didn’t expect to be the one seduced.

I admit, when I first met you and followed your blog, I thought you were perfect for the role I needed you to play. A smart, successful woman wouldn’t be easy prey. If I could make this happen with you, then a killer could make it happen in my novel, too.

But then I got to know you. I found out just how special you are. I love your sense of humor. You gave as good as you got. I found myself wanting to blog just so we could have our back and forth banter. And conversation. I love talking to you. You’re insightful and empathetic. You have all the qualities I love in a woman. And so… Everything that’s happened between us? I swear it’s real, Mel. I can’t lose you now. I know how bad this must all seem but truly, once we’d gone so far down this road, I couldn’t figure out how to tell you the truth. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I’d like to say all the things I want to say to you in person, Mel. If I could just look you in the eyes, maybe then you could believe me. If you want to talk… If you still feel about me the way that I feel about you, then let’s meet. Let’s work this out. You know how to reach me. I leave it in your hands.

Love, David

Mel pushed a fist to her chest to calm her racing heart. This was too much to process. How did she feel? It had felt like she was falling in love. She was pretty sure that’s what David meant, too. She couldn’t be sure of anything, now. Could she trust herself to see him face-to-face? Would she be able to tell if he was lying?

She took a deep breath and turned the phone back on. Before she could talk herself back out of it, she scrolled through the numbers and hit dial.

“David,” she said when he answered. “I think it’s time we met.”