One Last Time (COMPLETED)

Mind Over Matter

Tanner found me with my back to the bathtub and legs to my chest when he came to see why I'd been in here so long. He immediately dropped his own phone on to the counter and crouched down in front of me, fingertips brushing along my jaw so gently I was sure he was afraid the wrong word or movement would break me entirely.

"Mia, baby, what's wrong?" he whispered, eyes roaming my face. "Do I need to call an ambulance?"

I shook my head, trying to steady my hand enough to grab my phone and hand it over. It slipped through my fingertips, but he seemed to get what I was trying to do because he picked it up and turned it on. As soon as his eyes fell on the message, his lips parted, then slowly pressed shut again. He sat there, crouched a few feet away for a couple minutes before he finally said, "You do know this is a warped joke right? This isn't Maya, obviously. Darren saw her body and you've seen the reports and photos. It's just someone being a dick and trying to mess with your head."

I bowed my head, feeling another wave of tears ready to break the surface. "Well, it worked."

"Mia." Tanner set my phone on the counter beside his own and lowered himself on to the ground with a wince of pain from the position he'd been in the last five minutes. Once he'd recollected himself, he finally met my eyes again and breathed out so quietly it was barely audible, "You understand I won't let anyone hurt you or those kids, right?"

"You won't always be here, Tanner." I said through my teeth, the knot in my through making it hard to get each word out. "You won't always be there to protect us."

"Why's that?" he asked. "I love you, Mia. I'm not only in this shit for a few months or until all this blows over. I want you forever. And if that means those kids are part of it, then you're all a package deal. Which means anyone will have to kill me before they get to any of you. I know that Parker feels the same."

I touched both hands to my chest. "You're not understanding me, Tanner. Whether or not you're my friend, or a boyfriend, my husband, whoever is out there is waiting for that millisecond that nobody is around to strike. That's why they're playing so many head games with me. Because they want to turn us against one another to get me alone."

"Mia, baby, you need to breathe." he eyed me worriedly. "When was the last time you got a full night of sleep? I can ask Ma and Grams to help with the twins and we can spend the night here so you can get a good night of sleep."

"This isn't sleep deprivation or paranoia, Tanner!" I shouted, my voice catching in my throat. "You've seen the texts. Parker's heard the recordings. Someone is messing with me, and as far as we know, those babies or myself could be their next target."

He didn't miss a beat and responded. "Did you ever stop to consider that maybe whoever did this was after Maya and Maya only? They could have killed those babies when they had the chance, they didn't. Nobody was stalking you until you started to try and dig into who killed her, Mi. To me it seems like these threats, these texts, all of this, is to get your nose out of where it doesn't belong. I understand you want to know the truth, that you need to. But baby, you're killing yourself. You're hardly sleeping, you're on edge, your paranoid. That's no way to live. Those babies out there need a healthy aunt to take care of them, not the fractured, broken shell of her."

I wanted to scream again, but no words would come through. I couldn't argue with his words, though I knew much of them were fueled by his own concern and need to keep me safe and make sure I kept my sanity. He was right about the kids; though the killer had left them to sit in there own filth, they didn't even lay a finger on them. They'd gone in, killed my sister, and walked out. It had been a hit that was meant solely for her and only her. If that were true, then these threats were as he had said, a way to just get me to stop before I uncovered the truth. But the worsening of the threats and the desire for the killer to turn us against each other was a sign that I was getting too close for comfort.