Rory stared into the hot cup of tea in his hands, watching as the steam rose from the mug. Low, tired murmurs filtered in through the chaotic haze of his troubled mind. What are they saying? Are they talking about me again? Probably… I've caused so much trouble these past few days… days? What day was it? With the constant nightmares followed by prolonged bouts of insomnia, Rory had lost track of the days. He glanced up from the tea. Looking around the table at the exhausted, sleep-deprived faces staring at him, he felt his guilt grow. As each night grew worse, those around him became more concerned, losing sleep themselves. His eyes shifted to his phone that sat in the center of the table. Everyone else turned their gazes to it as well, but no one spoke. What could they say? The worst fear was being realized. Rory had another, more dangerous stalker. His heart thudded against his chest as his focus held the screen so long it became blurry.
Across the screen, the messages were still displayed as they waited for the detective in charge of the case to arrive. The first message was a blurry video shot from the balcony of the motel. The next was three laughing emojis… then the taunting words… the words that haunt Rory's waking hours as well as his sleeping ones.
'Do you honestly think I'd be so careless? So stupid? So obsessed with the rest of the pukes you're currently playing with? Oh no, no, no. My tastes have always been singular. And you should know that when I get my hands on you, they'll not find your body.'
Was it a death threat? If it truly was Mike, did he plan on killing him this time? Might as well… I'd rather die than be in his hands again…
A knock sounded on the door, and Maggie sprang up from her seat. "That must be the detective." She hurried from the room.
Rin cupped his hand over Rory's. "Calm down. We'll get to the bottom of this. I promise."
Rory shook his head. "It's not a fan… They flat out said…"
"Stop overthinking things right now, Rory. This person is just trying to scare you."
"It's working…" Rory stammered.
"Come here." Rin pulled Rory's chair closer to his and tugged Rory between his legs. "I have you. You're not going anywhere. This freak will have to pry you from my cold, dead hands. Do you hear me?"
Rory nodded against Rin's chest, but he didn't believe the words any more than he believed his own reply.
**
An hour later, they were no closer to finding out the identity of the person sending Rory the messages than they were the first time he'd received one.
"Due to the threatening nature of the message and insinuation from the previous messages that it was in fact the same person from the hit and run, we will put the cyber team on this…" The detective paused, a slight hesitation in his words as he continued. "But… I wouldn't be too expectant of results… Typically, the program I used can do a pretty good job providing some basic information about the sender, but I wasn't able to uncover a single thing." The detective rubbed the back of his neck as he pushed away from the table. "It's not often I get stubbed up like this. It's a little embarrassing, really…" He shrugged as he stood. "But hopefully the cyber team will come back with some information before long."
Rory watched as the detective gathered things and made one last round of feeble apologies. Rory could only stare down at the hand that clasped his. The numbness that had begun somewhere deep inside him had now spread throughout his entire body, including the very hand the detective was shaking.
Rin and Dillon both stood and offered to see the detective out. Rin sent Rory a quick glance as he ran his hand through his messy hair. "We'll be right back, ok. Stay put." Rin's gaze moved to Sabastian. "You too… Alright?"
Sabastian nodded but didn't say anything.
Rin nodded his approval before leaving the room. By the time he made it to the front door, Dillon was already saying the final goodbyes to the detective. Rin blew out an exasperated sigh. "Well, did he say anything else?"
Dillon shook his head with a frown. "Nothing of use. Just that he suggests Rory see a shrink and stay out of public eye for a while…" Dillon tugged the hair tie free before running his fingers through his long hair. "But I don't see how that's going to work. We have another event coming up in less than a month. We can't have him sit out of the performances, and it's too late to recast."
Rin nodded in agreement. "We could boost security and make all of our interactions private events this time…"
Dillon's frown deepened. "With everything that's going on, do you think Rory will even be able to perform?"
"Ha… You're right… but if he can't, we'll have bigger problems…"
"Your dad…" Dillon supplied.
Rin nodded. "Rodric Perish has never had an issue getting rid of things he deems useless or used up, regardless of the circumstances."
Dillon snorted out a frustrated huff of irritation as he kicked gravel across the driveway. His eyes moved over the cars. "Well, one thing is for sure. We can't continue staying here. We need to return to some semblance of normalcy… whatever that's ever been for us."
Rin nodded. "Agreed. We can try easing Rory back into things slowly, leading up to the event, then go from there and see how he does."
Dillon nodded. "I'll go get everything packed if you want to talk with him and Maggie."
**
Rory couldn't help the way his attention instantly snapped to every black SUV that neared them… or the sudden jerk that plagued his body every time his phone chimed with a new message.
"What is it?" Rin asked as he reached across the car and stroked Rory's hand.
Rory knew Rin could feel the tremble in his hand as he forced himself to open the message. His heart skipped a beat with relief, and he released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "It… It's Sabastian. He said they need to stop for gas and a bathroom soon."
Rin glanced at the GPS displayed on his phone. "Ask them if they can wait another twenty minutes. We'll be closer to a city by then and won't have to pull off on a questionable exit."
Rory typed out the question and was quiet while he waited for the reply. Even though he expected the chime of the reply, it still caused him to jump. "Sabastian said he'll wait if he must, but he'd prefer to go sooner rather than later."
Rin frowned. "Tell him fine then. I'll keep my eyes open for an exit with a station, but if it doesn't have a reentry ramp or the station is shady, I'm blaming him."
Rory smiled for the first time since the motel incident as he typed out Rin's snarky reply and waited for the reply. His heart dropped and his blood ran cold when the phone chimed, and the message that came through wasn't Sabastian.
'Someone is in a chatty mood tonight. I've never seen you online this long. Who might you be talking with? Does your current fuck know you're already looking to replace him? What, is the dick not good enough for you? Are you already bored? If so, I can always help you with that.'
Rory gasped as his phone fell to the floor.
Rin hit the brakes and swerved the car onto the shoulder as his concerned eyes shot to Rory. "What's wrong?"
Rory's entire body trembled as he stared down at the phone sitting on the floorboard. "It's him… he knows I'm on the phone… that I'm texting with someone… he's hacked my account or bugged my phone… or something…" Rory's frantic eyes moved from the phone to Rin. "What do I do?"
Rin frowned as he took the call that was now coming in and refocused on the road. "Yeah?"
"What was that? What just happened? We nearly hit you, man." Dillon barked from the other end.
"Fucking asshole is texting Rory again… he's got Rory's phone tapped or something. Anyway, we'll stop at this next exit. I'm going to forward this to the detective before it disappears. Then, tomorrow we'll work on setting up all of Rory's new accounts."
Dillon was silent for a few seconds before coming back across the phone line. "Drive to your dad's office first before going home. Leave his phone there."
"This time of night? No one's going to be in." Rin replied skeptically.
"You have a key? If not, we can drop it somewhere safe and come back in the morning. If this asshole's gotten to the point of tracking when Rory is active, then he may also have location tracking turned on. You'd be leading them right to your house."
"Good thinking. I knew there was a reason we keep you around."
"Fuck off." Dillon snapped back. "I'm being serious. It's easy to track locations using phones now, especially through social media and messenger apps. Don't believe me, I can send you our current location right now, and it will provide the exact spot."
When Rin's phone chimed, he glanced down. Sure enough, Dillon had sent a pin of their exact location on the stretch of interstate they were currently driving down. "Shit… And there are ways to gain access to this?"
"Yeah, if you're tech savvy enough, and obviously this guy is if he's stubbed up our Mr. Detective," Dillon answered.
"Or the detective was an idiot…" Rin grumbled.
"Or that…"
Rory's voice trembled. "Or I could just throw it out the window…"
Rin clasped Rory's hand. "No, you'll need that phone to set up a new one and to use to catch this prick. Don't worry, babe, we got this."
Rory frowned as his eyes locked on the phone pinned between his and Rin's hands. "Those sound like great last words from a slasher film…"
Rin snorted out a laugh. "And that sounds a tad over-dramatic even for you and the current situation."
"I'd have to agree with Rin on this one," Dillon replied from over the phone. "Mr. Stalker may still be able to talk a big talk, but it will be harder for him now that there are more eyes on him."
"More eyes… Wait! I have an idea…" Rin blurted. "What if we go to our patron with the story? We have some seriously dedicated fans who would kill for us, right? Imagine telling them that some crazy psycho is threatening us to the point we may have to put a hold on events for a while… I'm sure they would help, right?"
"Or it would make things worse… They could start attacking each other or something." Dillon supplied.
"Hum… You may have a point. Well, we have to figure something out…" Rin replied thoughtfully.
"We'll brainstorm when we get back to your place. I say we all stay there for the time being. Safety in numbers and all that jazz."
"That's fine by me. It makes work easier anyway."
Rory frowned as he eased his hand free of Rin's. More messages had come in, but he couldn't bring himself to read them. Not right now. His eyes shifted to Rin, who was lost in work talk with Dillon. Am I overreacting? Is this not as important? I guess I should be thinking of work instead… It's been nearly three months. Rory's eyes shifted to Rin as a deep frown creased his lips. But will I be able to go on stage again… to events again after what happened? The memory of all those eyes upon him as he was receiving messages from the stalker flashed through his mind. His throat tightened as his heart clenched in his chest. How many times had the stalker watched before he let his presence be known? Does he still watch? Had he had access to my location on my phone this whole time? Is that how he knew where I was at the hotel… when we were leaving… where the car would be pulling back onto the road at? Could he have been at the motel as well? Was it too late? Did he already know where Rin's house is and was just biding his time with these games? Rory's heart pounded against his chest, his breathing seizing in his lungs. He began to gasp from the passenger seat as he clung to the seatbelt that now held him too tight.
"Hold on…" Rin frowned as he glanced over to Rory. "Are you ok? What's wrong?" Rin realized instantly that Rory was having a panic attack and quickly whipped the car onto the shoulder once again.
"Motherfucker! Warn someone first, would you!" Dillon barked out over the phone as he pulled over a few feet in front of Rin.
Rin ignored Dillon as he patted Rory's cheek. "Baby, come on, breathe. I got you." He cupped Rory's face and pulled him closer, pressing Rory's forehead against his. "Rory, baby… Look at me." When Rory continued to gasp, Rin clamped his mouth over Rory's and forced air into Rory's lungs. He pulled back as Rory began to cough and sputter. "You ok now?" He asked as he loosened his hold on Rory, but didn't release him.
Rory nodded.
Rin brushed back the hair that was stuck to the cold sweat coating Rory's brow. "We're almost back, baby… can you hold out for another hour?"
Rory nodded again.
Rin plucked the phone from Rory's lap and tossed it into the back seat. "Forget about this, alright." He leaned across the seat and reclined it. "Lay back and try to get some rest."
Rory was about to nod again when a sudden knock on the passenger window caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.
Rin rolled down the window expectantly. "What?"
"Just wanted to see how he was… Sounded pretty bad over the phone." Dillon bent into the car window as his eyes scanned Rory. "Here, drink this." He handed a bottle of water through the window. "Don't worry, it's an extra we picked up at the last stop."
Rory clutched it to his chest. "Thank you." He whispered, but all his mind could think of was the night of the wreck and the stalker trying to pluck him from the car. He hoped his fear wasn't obvious on his face. "Can… can we go now?" He asked, staring ahead; his eyes trained on the dashboard.
Rin frowned as his gaze moved from Rory to Dillon. "Yeah… sure…"