C17 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The past few weeks had been hell for Chloe. Lucas brought out a side of his that she had only suspected but had never seen before, except on that day at her house when she caught him with another girl. He began stalking her at every chance he got and embarrassing her at the diner. She knew that if his friend's parents were still the owners of the restaurant, he would have gotten her fired. Twice now, he had slapped and shoved her around when they were arguing about her breaking up with him, something that he blatantly refused to accept. Each time, he had cried profusely, begged, and said he did not know what had come over him, but Chloe knew that if she provoked him enough, he was capable of beating her up even more badly than he had done to the other girl. Right now, he was sitting outside the diner and waiting for her to come out of it. Now and then, he would come over to check if she was talking more than was necessary with any of the customers.

"Have you decided what you're going to do about him? With the way he's behaving, he might be dangerous, you know." Erin, her co-worker said, glancing at where Lucas was sitting in his idling car outside. He had been there for over two hours, and he showed no signs of leaving.

"I honestly don't know what to do about him. If he shows signs of being dangerous, I'll get a restraining order against him." Chloe replied, not adding that he was already dangerous. She was beginning to loathe the man because of his disgusting behavior, but lately, she was not too bothered about him. She was only biding her time till she could leave this city for good. Her rent was expiring in two days, and she had packed almost everything that she owned. It was not a difficult task as she did not have many belongings anyway. The two-week notice that she had given at the restaurant ended today and so she told Erin that she would no longer work at the restaurant, but did not tell her that she was moving to another state entirely.

"I know that I do not need to ask, but could you please not tell Lucas about it if it happens that he asks? I do not want him to know. Maybe you can just tell him that I went on leave or something. Not that he'll be able to know where I'm going."

"Of course. He can go hang for all I care." Erin replied and Chloe heaved a huge sigh of relief. She was very excited about the fact that she was leaving this city. It was a nice place and she had enjoyed her stay in it, as she had been able to save up some money, even though she did not make friends. But it had been her choice not to make friends here. It was something she would change as soon as she got to the new city since she wanted to settle down soonest. She had never had a family of her own, but had always craved one and hoped that she would meet someone she could love and call her own where she was going. She had no plans of telling anyone that she was leaving, except for the people in her workplace. Luckily enough, she was not that close to anyone for her to feel guilty about it. By the time she finished her shift two hours later, Lucas was still sitting in his car outside the restaurant.

"This guy is a creep. I'm thankful that I would not have to put up with his shit any longer." Chloe thought to herself as she made her way to her car, pretending that she did not see him and his car there. Lucas jumped out of his car at once and made his way over to her in long strides.

"Fuck! It's at times like this that the car door would refuse to open." Chloe thought exasperatedly, frantically trying to get her car keys to open the door. Well, that was what one got for riding a jalopy. She was going to swap the car for a better one at the car dealer's tomorrow before she made the trip in two days. It had served her well, but it had many faults now. The truth was that Lucas scared and terrified her now, so she was determined to avoid him till she disappeared from this city without a trace. She finally unlocked the car and was making to get into it when she felt his strong hands on her shoulder. He turned her to face him, his grip tight enough to hurt.

"You're playing a dangerous game here, Chloe." He said, narrowing his eyes at her and tightening his grip even more on her shoulders until she whimpered. Chloe looked at him with fear. Had he found out that she was leaving? She glanced furtively at the diner. Nobody was outside at this time of the night. Even Erin was not glancing out the window like she always did anytime she knew that Lucas was around. She was no doubt, busy in another part of the restaurant.

"I don't understand what you mean. Let go of me this instant!" she replied him, trying not to show him that he was hurting her or that she was afraid of him.

"You've been ignoring my calls and my love for you. I don't know what else to do to prove my love for you. Other guys would have given up by now, but I'm still here. I love you very much and I would never leave you alone, no matter what you say." He told her, releasing her shoulders when he saw some passersby give them a curious glance and hesitate a little, no doubt, wondering what was going on.

"Besides," he continued in a low tone which he obviously thought was sexy. "It's been a long time since we made love. You've been starving me sexually, but I've not had sex with any woman. This should show you that I've changed because if it was the old me, I would have banged the nearest willing chick. I'm sure that I do not need to tell you that there are many willing chicks throwing themselves at me."

"Very good. Then please choose from one of the willing girls throwing themselves at you and leave me the hell alone. You sound like a broken record. You really should stop disturbing me before I get a restraining order. I don't know how many times you want me to tell you that I'm no longer dating you." Chloe snapped at him in anger and disgust. The man was insufferable.

Lucas had the nerve to look sad and hurt at her outburst, but Chloe did not care a single bit. She ignored him, got into her car, and drove away. In a matter of days, she would be free from him and his stalking and she reveled in the imminent feeling of freedom that she had. The feeling soon evaporated into thin air when she found out that Lucas had followed her home. As soon as she parked her car, he pulled in behind her and got out of his vehicle. To say Chloe was exasperated was an understatement.

"If you follow me, I'll scream loudly." She told him while briskly walking away from him. The last thing that she needed was for him to follow her and see her almost empty apartment.

He saw that she meant to carry out her threat and so he got into his car and drove off in a huff, promising to come back soon when she had 'calmed down.' Chloe opened her apartment, got in, and locked the door before leaning against it and sighing tiredly. Nowadays, she was always tired, mostly from battling Lucas and his disturbance. She rubbed at her throbbing elbow which hurt from where Lucas had pushed her against a wall some days back. If not that she had to swap her car for a better one at the used car lot and she did not know how long that would take, she would have left very early the next morning. As it was, she had had a moving agency move the heavy possessions that she had to the city where she was relocating to days ago. The remaining stuff was lightweight and she could pack them into her car within minutes.

The next day, Chloe swapped her car and got a better one at the used car lot for a fair price. The process took a much shorter time than she had anticipated, but she stayed there longer than she had to because although the place was a dump, she liked the dealers. One of them, a young boy, offered to help her get familiar with the car and she gratefully took the opportunity as she was looking for how to pass the time. This was because while she was there, Lucas started calling her nonstop. She refused to pick and then Erin called her to inform her that he came to the restaurant to look for her.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that you had some errands to run and then he said that you probably lied and you were with some man," Erin said, her tone telling Chloe what she thought of Lucas.

"Well, that's his problem. Just ignore him if he comes back."

When she got home later that evening, he was nowhere around and she heaved a huge sigh of relief, wondering if she should move her remaining stuff into the car that night. She decided against it. It would not do for Lucas to come and see her packing stuff, since he had made it a point of duty to make himself a nuisance every night. She would move them early tomorrow morning before she made her trip. She soon heard his car pull up to her building and peeped out the window to see what he would do. He came out of the car and looked around, no doubt looking for her old car, before pulling out his phone and calling her. He stayed in front of her apartment and kept calling her number even though she refused to pick up the phone. Finally, he left around 10 pm but did not let up with incessant calling. Chloe had to switch off her phone that night but did not bother herself too much about the nonstop calls. As soon as she was settled in the new place, she would get a new number so that he would not be able to contact her anymore. With this thought, she set her alarm and fell soundly asleep. She had a long day ahead of her the next day.