Killing Me Softly: A Thriller Romance Novel [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 21

There was a part of me that didn't want to tell my boss about the article yet because I wanted to write it first. Polish it. Make it hard for him to reject it for the Austin American-Statesman. I didn't typically write these kinds of article, so I expected some resistance.

I probably shouldn't have been doing this, but I spent the first half of Monday morning brainstorming interview questions for Theo while I was sitting at my desk at work.

What should I ask without seeming too biased or like I am putting words into Theo's mouth? I wanted Theo to have his own words, his own thoughts about this. I only hoped to bring out the best in him, not the worst. I knew it was going to be a painful process for him, and I felt honored that he had chosen me for it. Like he said, there were several others who had contacted him for an interview. It made me feel good knowing he trusted me enough with it.

But why did Theo trust me? I had not done anything to deserve it. Not yet, anyway.

Why are you avoiding me? I received a new text message from none other than Jamie Wilson.

"Ugh," I sighed and plopped my head into my hand upon my desk, staring down at my phone. Something has to be done about him, I thought to myself as my coworkers passed by, glancing at me from time to time as they passed by my cubicle.

"Everything alright?" Diana, my cubicle mate asked me from the other side.

I lifted my head. "Yeah..." I sighed.

"You don't seem alright. You seem distracted," she said and sipped coffee out of a paper cup.

She wasn't wrong. I was very distracted. I did not get a wink of sleep when I got back home. Between Theo's face echoing in my mind and everything else that happened, I could not get my brain to shut off. When I finally fell asleep from exhaustion, I ended up having nightmares of being drowned. I dreamed of Mary Jo and how afraid she must have been when she was getting killed. The very thought of it kept me up all night.

I had forced myself awake because I dreamed of her attacker. His face shifted from Theo to Jamie to Donnie to other unknown male faces and then back to Theo again. To see Theo's angry face over me with such rage and hate scared me. I woke up screaming.

I woke up thinking, Theo would never kill me, right? Theo did not kill Mary Jo...right?

The heaviness of it all weighed me down in a way that made me force myself to stay awake because I didn't dare go back to sleep. However, it sparked some questions for me to ask Theo. At 4:00 AM, I was up working on a Google doc of questions for his interview. I was anxious to learn more about Theo and Mary Jo's relationship.

I miss you. We should talk, I received a text message from Jamie in the middle of the night when I was awake. But I had ignored it.

I got another text message from him at around 9:00 as well that said, Please talk to me. Is this about the other night when I tried kissing you?

And now that I was sitting at my desk at almost lunchtime, I received another text message from Jamie, stating, I just want to be friends. Nothing more. Please call me.

I deleted it like I did all the rest and set my phone back down on my desk to work more on Theo's interview questions when my phone buzzed again with another text message. "Ugh!" I snatched up my phone, annoyed that Jamie had sent me another message.

Only, it wasn't from Jamie this time.

YHS put me on a sabbatical. Apparently, I am starting to get death threats at the school now. Am I still welcome in Austin? I need to get out of here. This is Theo, btw.

I nearly fell out of my chair reading the message. My heart instantly lodged into my throat.

Theo wants to come see me in Austin? I wanted to jump up and scream, go hug a coworker or kiss a baby! I felt like I had just won the Texas Lottery reading his message. Then again, I felt bad about the other part of his message, about the death threats at the school.