Oh my god!!!" She exclaimed as she stared at her phone dumbfounded.
"What is happening to me? Oh no, no, no!!!" She shook her head in denial, covering her mouth with her hand as tears gradually flowed from her eyes.
******
She walked down the stairs in excitement and anticipation, without even taking note of the darkness surrounding her. She placed each leg on each tiled stair with precision as if she were the rightful owner of the house. Well, a veteran in the house.
She couldn't wait to confirm what Alex just told her. How he got it done wasn't her problem, the problem was that it was done. Thank God for his hacker friend, whoever he was.
Getting to the living room, only then did she switch on the lights. She walked to the couch and ramshackled through the cushions looking for her phone.
With all the anxiety and heated up activity earlier, it was difficult to remember where exactly she'd left the phone.
Picking up the phone from under one of the cushions, she happily swiped through. Her joy was cut short when she saw a pop-up message indicating that she'd just received a new video. It was suspicious, because, just like earlier in the day, it was an unknown number.
She hesitated for a sec, contemplating whether or not she should go ahead and check out the content of the message.
Part of her wanted to know what it was, the other part of her dreaded the outcome.
After a moment of an intense inner battle, she decided to tap open the message.
"Oh my god!!!" She exclaimed as she stared at her phone dumbfounded.
"What is happening to me? Oh no, no, no!!!" She shook her head in denial, covering her mouth with her hand as tears gradually flowed from her eyes.
She stared at the video. She couldn't muster the courage to stop it from playing. Every sound produced by the video echoed in her ears, revibrating over and over. She did not have to watch the action, cos the images of their lovemaking earlier kept playing in her head all over, but this time, it was not romantic or sweet or arousing but rather traumatizing.
She held the phone frozen in the air and for a moment, it felt like she wasn't part of her body anymore as silent hot tears streamed down her eyes.
Her life flashed before her eyes. Everything was ok before Alex showed up. She'd wake up every day and work her ass off and get little pay, but that was ok. There wasn't anybody making sex videos of her.
Alex wasn't the first guy she'd had sex with, well, except anal sex. And the video of her losing her anal virginity is now being watched by others. 'How many?' she had no intentions of finding out.
The last thing she wanted to imagine right now is that maybe the tape had been posted online.
If it has, well, ignorance is bliss.
The first video was less traumatizing, given the fact that she'd thought it was Alexs' doing. But now that she knows that it's not him, she was in his arms at the time when the video got to the phone. The hold setup is fucked up.
' Who the hell wants what from her?' she silently asked herself. Nothing made sense, nothing felt concrete...
' Should she just leave Alex? Maybe it's an angry ex-girlfriend? Because none-of her exes are that petty enough or crazy to do that. Plus they probably would have sent a threat message alongside the video. But whoever was doing it hadn't said why or what they wanted as of yet. That was fucked up.
"Hey, give me the phone."
"Lara!!" Alex called softly for the fourth time, bringing her back to reality.
She gently let go of the phone. Her eyes wouldn't stop shedding tears.
"Come here," Alex whispered as he pulled her in a tight hug.
She stayed in his arms for what felt like ever. Nothing else mattered right now. She let him just hold her. At least the comfort she felt in his arms was enough to keep her sane.
"Whom did I offend to deserve this. I don't mix with rich people, I don't protrude in people's businesses. I go to work and back home, that's all. So why would anyone be spying on me? What have I done wrong?? __ Tell me!!! ___ Tell me!!! Alex."
She poured out her emotions as she buried her swollen face in his chest.
Part of him was present with her, while the other part was scrutinizing the vicinity, hoping to find the exact spot where the bug was planted. He was certain of one thing. *The device was still here, they were still being watched.*
"Hey, hey, hey. It's not you ok? There's nothing wrong with you. I guess it's me they want, not you." He whispered soothingly in her ear.
"I don't want you to beat yourself up about it, ok." He added.
"Who are you even?? What did you do?" She yelled in anger with her voice already sounding broken.
She did realize that she'd know Alex superficially just for a couple of weeks and intimately for just about twenty-four hours. Everything they'd shared was mostly sexual. She had no idea who he was, what he did, or even knowing his last name.
"It's not something I did sweetheart, it's something I can do." He explained. A thousand thoughts were running through his mind but he knew that he needed to keep it all at bay and focus on getting Lara in the right state of mind.
He couldn't open up to her right now either.
"Let me fix all this ok? Then I promise to tell you everything you wanna know about me.
She wrapped her arms weakly around his waist. "Take me back to my house please!" She pleaded weakly.
"Is that what you want?" He asked.
She nodded silently in agreement.
*****
Sitting alone in his living room, he turned on his laptop and there it was, his own copy of the video.
"Looks like someone is bent on me not having peace of mind."