You Belong to Me – 14

 

Corey made it home from Gary’s place so late that the sun was just coming up on the horizon. Happily sated, but exhausted, he barely managed a shower before falling into bed.

 

He was awakened—he didn’t know how much later—by the sound of his phone chiming. Groggily he took it off the charger, vaguely surprised he’d even remembered to put it there. Without checking to see who was calling, he answered.

 

“You slut. You belong to me,” the caller whispered before hanging up.

 

Corey was instantly wide-awake, his hands shaking as he checked the caller ID. It said Payphone, with the phone number. He figured he’d try dialing it, in case the caller was waiting for him to do that as part of their sick game. The phone rang and rang. Finally someone picked up, and Corey cautiously asked who he was, When the person told him he’d reached a payphone. Corey blew out a frustrated breath and hung up.

 

“Goddamn, motherfucking….” Corey growled, resisting the urge to throw his phone across the room. He checked the time, scowling when he realized it was only 9:00 a.m. He knew that there was no way he’d get back to sleep. He was too tense, and more than a bit afraid. Closing his eyes, he tried to figure out if he recognized the voice of the person who had called, and realized he couldn’t even be certain if it was a man or a woman because they had been whispering.

 

“It has to be someone who saw me at the club. How else would they know I went home with Gary? That sort of eliminates a female, all things considered. Unless they’ve been following me.”

 

He sat up and stared at his phone. How did they get my number? Then he sighed, knowing he had a habit of giving it out to interesting men when he was clubbing. Not that they ever call me, or only rarely, but…. “Is it one of them? Or someone from work? Or… who?” he muttered, slinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Until the phone call, he’d been figuring it was probably a person who had seen him somewhere and, unbelievably, become infatuated with him. The fact that the person knew his phone number scared him.

 

I really should call the police, but can they do anything about it? Probably not. I should have saved the notes. Hell, I wonder….

 

Standing up too quickly, he felt dizzy for a moment, the result, he was certain, of too little sleep. When it passed, he went to the dresser and took out the box with the watch. There was nothing on the top of the box, but when he turned it over, he saw the name of a store printed on the bottom.

 

How stupid am I not to have seen that before now? I wonder if it’s too late to discover who bought this?

 

There was only one way to find out.