Going Together

Chapter Twelve - Xavier POV - The Letters

He was gone.

The man I had come to know as a brother and a friend was gone. It had all happened so fast. One minute I’d been talking to him at breakfast and hours later… gone.

“Babe, I’m going to go make some Coffee. Do you want some?” Scarlett murmured sitting up.

“No I’m alright. Can I borrow your laptop? Mines downstairs still.”

Scarlett nodded and point toward her laptop bag then left the room.

I got up and grabbed the laptop bag and pulled it out. It fell on to the bed along with a bunch of folded up papers. I set them to the side and booted the computer up.

As expected the news had hit the media, except rather than their usual tabloid style story it was mild and truthful. Seeing it there in black and white made it feel real. I ran a hand through my hair and closed the screen. I picked up the papers and went to put them back in the bag but before I could a small letter R dropped out. I unfolded them and stared down confused for a second. The R had come from Scarlett’s name and I was staring at what looked like sick death threats.

My heart began to race, what the fuck were these, why did Scarlett have them, and why didn’t I know anything about them?

She walked back into the room as I read through them, each one more disturbing than the last. I looked up, feeling a mixture of angry and upset. Scarlett’s face was ghost white and I knew that these weren’t some kind of weird prank. She’d deliberately been hiding them from me, they were real.

I threw the letters down on the bed and stood up. “Why didn’t you tell me Scarlett?”

“Xav…”

“Don’t Xav me. We’re supposed to be in a relationship! You’re supposed to tell me about these things. Hell Scarlett you’re supposed to report these things. What if something had happened? What if I’d lost you?”

She shook with tears, which caused me to feel guilty, but I pushed it away. Not telling me about these letters had been really stupid.

“Does anyone else know about them?”

“Ben.” She whispered. “I told him after I got the first one in New York.”

“New York?!” I shouted. “You’ve been hiding this from me for three fucking weeks? What’s happened to you Scarlett? We used to be able to share this stuff with each other!”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Yes I was angry. Yes she should have told me, but I was over compensating, and I was still hiding important details about Arabelle and that night. The day had overwhelmed me, and I was taking it out on her.

“Nothing’s happened to me! I’m the same person I was back then.”

“These letters are evil Scarlett!”
“I know. I know they are, it’s just I was pretending they weren’t real. I didn’t want to think anyone thought that. I thought if I ignored them long enough they’d just stop coming.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I really am. I should have told you. There is no excuse.”

I stood up and shook my head. “Scarlett, we’re calling the police about these. But first I need some air.”

I walked to the door and she placed her hand on my arm. “I could use some-“

“No, I need to be alone.” I interrupted her, I was too angry to be near her right now.

But when her hand fell, I instantly wanted to grab it back, today had already been a complete mind fuck.