April 13, 2010 (43)
7:15 p.m.
Evalynne’s Apartment

There was a knock at the door, and I knew that Michael had arrived to pick me up for our date. I was less than thrilled. Sighing, I glanced in the mirror one last time, taking in my appearance.
I wore a pair of dark wash skinny jeans along with a black long-sleeved sweater that had a plunging neck line. It showed off a little cleavage, but not so much that I looked skanky in it. I’d also straightened my naturally wavy blonde hair and put on a little make-up. Nothing too dramatic, just some lip gloss, mascara and a thin layer of eyeliner.
I had to hand it to myself, I looked pretty hot. I wasn’t quite sure why I’d gone through so much trouble trying to look good for a guy I hated. But for some reason, I’d decided to “do myself up all pretty” just like he’d said on the phone. And it turned out looking pretty good too.
I smoothed out my hair once more before going to answer the door. “Evalynne,” Michael said when I opened up the door up for him. “Wow,” he murmured, sounding stunned. His eyes slowly traveled downward, landing on my chest. He was obviously enjoying the low cut top.
“Eyes up here,” I told him, pointing to my face. He looked back up into my eyes, a pleased smile fixed across his mouth. “Are you ready to go, or what?” I said, letting my irritability show through my voice.
“Ready when you are,” he replied.
“Then let’s just get this over with,” I remarked. I didn’t bother to tell Addison that I was leaving. Not that I could anyways. When I’d gotten back to the apartment an hour ago, she wasn’t home. I had no clue where she was, and honestly, I didn’t really care. If she wanted to hold a grudge against me for getting back together with my own husband, then fine. I refused to let her get to me.
I followed Michael out of the apartment complex until we reached the parking lot. He then led me over to his car, which was a sleek black Audi. “After you,” he said politely, holding the door open for me.
I rolled my eyes at him as I slid into the passenger’s seat, letting him know that his well-mannered behavior didn’t change the way I felt about him. Letting out a brief sigh, he shut the door behind me and made his way around to the other side of the car.
He climbed into the driver’s seat and started up the engine. We were both silent as he drove out of the parking lot and onto the road. He tried to start up a conversation with me a few times, but I just kept on replying with one-worded responses. I wasn’t about to start mingling with the psychopath who tried to kill me.
So the short car ride to his apartment was mostly quiet. When we pulled into the parking lot, I opened my own door and got out before he had a chance to open it for me. However, he reached the front door of the apartment complex first, so he held it open for me as I walked inside. He guided me up to his apartment, which was on the fourth floor of the building and I waited silently for him to unlock the door.
Once he did, he opened it up and flipped on the lights inside. “Home sweet home,” he said. I followed him inside and he shut and locked the door behind me.
It was pretty dull inside of his apartment. Just a couch, a TV and a kitchen table. I didn’t criticize it though. It actually reminded me of Ash’s house back when he still lived there. Instantly, my heart flooded with memories of last summer.
“So uh, where’s Valerie?” I asked him, trying to clear my mind of thoughts about what had happened last summer.
“I told her to stay in her room while my date is over. Therefore, that’s what she’s doing.” he replied.
“You told your girlfriend about your date with me?” I inquired. How could he possibly expect her not to hate him? He treated her like crap.
“Yep,” he said casually, as if it was no big deal. “I figured she wouldn’t care since she hates me so much. At least according to you she does.”
“Well how could she not?” I remarked bitterly.
To my surprise, an amused grin spread across his lips at my response. “Feisty,” he said, moving his mouth close to my ear. I could feel his hot, minty fresh breath on the side of my face as he spoke. “I like it,” he murmured into my ear.
My heart fluttered in my chest, which just made me angry. Why was my heart fluttering for Michael? This was not supposed to be happening. I didn’t care how sexy his voice was when he whispered into my ear like that. Or how great his lips were. Or how toned his arms were. None of that mattered to me, because he was a killer.
“So what’s for dinner?” I asked, pulling my face away from his.
“Pesto linguini with a side of garlic mixed vegetables,” he informed me. “I even got us a bottle of wine. Crognolo Sette Ponti, it’s Italian.”
“Sounds expensive,” I replied.
“Money isn’t a problem for me,” he told me matter-of-factly. “Why don’t we go get dinner started now?”
“We?” I remarked.
“Yes, you’re going to help me.” He grabbed my hand and led me into the kitchen, where he began pulling out various items: a box of linguini noodles, a bunch of different vegetables, a large pot, a spoon, a cutting board and one very large, very sharp knife.
I swallowed hard as I watched him lay the knife down on the cutting board. My stomach turned uneasily as I thought of the many different ways he could kill me with that knife. He saw me staring at it and smiled haughtily.
“I’ll chop the vegetables,” he told me, picking up the knife and lightly running his finger across it’s smooth stainless steel surface. “You can boil some water for the noodles,”
I sucked in a shaky breath, trying not to think about the fact that there was a huge knife in Michael’s hand. “Fine,” I uttered back to him. So I grabbed the large pot and brought it over to the sink, where I filled it about two thirds of the way with water. Then I took it back over to the stove and lit it so that the water could boil. Once the stove was lit, I turned to Michael who was chopping up a carrot. “Can I ask you something?” I said.
“You just did,” he replied.
I rolled my eyes and bit down on my lip to keep from snapping back at him. “Why do you want me to be your girlfriend so badly? And don’t say it’s because I’m different than other girls, because that’s just a line guys use to make girls feel special. They never mean it though. So tell me the truth. Why do you want me so much?”
He stopped chopping for a moment to think this through. “I’m not lying to you, Evalynne,” he finally said. “You really are different from any other girl I’ve ever met,”
“Why?” I retorted. “Because I refuse to fall for you?” He went silent when I said this, which was how I knew I was right. “Oh my gosh,” I said, proud that I’d actually figured Michael out. “The only reason you want me is because you know I won’t let you have me. I’m a challenge for you and you like that, don’t you?”
He continued chopping away at the vegetables. “Well I do enjoy a challenge,” he remarked, his voice low and gravelly. He glanced back at me, an impish gleam in his eyes.
“Well you might as well just give up now, because I’m smart enough to never fall for you. I know better than to do something as stupid as that.” I informed him.
“It appears that you don’t know me very well. You see, I’m not the type of person to just give up. When I want something, I do what it takes to get it. I wanted to take you out on a date for instance, and now look where we are.” The smug tone to his voice just made me even angrier.
I hated the fact that I had given him exactly what he’d wanted. What other choice did I have though? I wasn’t going to risk Ash’s life just to get out of one date with Michael. I knew now that I was stupid to ever make that bet in the first place. I’d made a deal with the devil and now I was in a living hell.
I turned back to the pot of water, which was now bubbling up to the brim. I turned the heat down a bit and poured the noodles into the boiling water, stirring them around with the spoon Michael had laid out for me.
“Just because you forced me into going on a date with you, doesn’t mean that you won me over,” I pointed out to him. “I don’t even want to be here right now.”
“Why? You don’t appreciate the fact that I’ve invited you into my home? That I’m cooking you a nice dinner? Would you rather me start beating you like my brother did? Is that what you prefer?” His voice was rising and I get tell he was getting kind of angry, but so was I. All he did was bring up Will and how he hit me, and it pissed me off.
“I don’t know why you keep on bringing that up when I’m not even with him anymore. I’m with Ash now, so just stop talking about Will!” I cried.
“Oh yeah I forgot, you think that you and Ash are still an item,” he scoffed back.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.
“That you’re delusional. Ash will never be able to be a good husband to you. He can’t be faithful to you like I can. He finds out you slept with Cole and he gives you the silent treatment. I on the other hand, am acting very mature about the whole situation. I’ve come to accept the fact that you let that soon-to-be-sex-offender talk you into sleeping with him.”
I bit down hard on my tongue, biting back the remark that so desperately wanted to escape my mouth. Angrily, I turned back to the noodles and stirred them around a bit more. As I stared into the pot of scalding hot water, an idea hit me.
“Michael,” I began, “can you come check to see if these noodles are done?”
He set the knife down on the cutting board and turned to walk over to me. I held my breath, bracing myself for what I was about to do. I made sure that I had a good grip on the handles of the pot as he reached me. He looked down into the pot to inspect the noodles, and just as he did, lifted the pot up, pouring the boiling water right into his face.
He stumbled backwards, falling against the counter and letting out an earsplitting cry of pain. I stood there for a second in shock as the pot clattered to the ground at our feet. His hands were pressed to his face, which was redder than I’d ever seen it. The beginnings of a severe second degree burn were already starting to form.
I frantically turned on my heel and raced to the door of the apartment just as Valerie came rushing out into the living room. “What happened?” she cried. She looked into the kitchen to find Michael shouting and cussing at the top of his lungs. “Oh my God,” she said under her breath, her eyes wide.
I ignored her and reached for the lock above the door knob. “Stop her!” Michael roared, his eyes squinting open a bit. Valerie looked at him, then at me. I could tell by the look on her face that she was in a state of panic. So she did as Michael told her and came racing towards me.
I opened the door and was about to take a run for it, but she grabbed a thick handful of my hair and yanked me back into the apartment. I let out a shrill yelp as she tossed me to the floor. She then shut and locked the door behind her.
By that time, Michael had already grabbed the knife he’d been using to chop vegetables and began to make his way over to me. When I looked up, they were both standing over me. My heart was pounding against my chest as fear set in.
“I didn’t want it to come to this Evalynne,” Michael said to me. I cringed as he lifted up his fist. Then it came down on me, punching me square in the face, and then everything went black.