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moved to the city in the first place because it was full of perverts.
    If you only knew, Mom. I forced myself to go into the grocer’s and buy a bottle of water. The clerk gave me a strange look. My face was probably all blotchy, even though I hadn’t actually cried. Some women look elegant and tragic when a tear comes to their eye. I always looked like I had a bad case of the flu.
    I stood outside and concentrated on drinking the bottle of water. My hands were shaking a little. Who could I tell?
    I held my phone in the palm of my hand. Could I call him ? I was supposed to wait until Friday, but did that mean I couldn’t call before that time? Those were the rules of the game, but…
    This wasn’t a game.
    I went ahead and dialed the number, which was still in my recent call list.
    It rang, and my heart rate, which was still high from the incident with Renault, doubled.
    It rang again, and I clutched the phone close to my ear.
    Then it rang a third time and a generic voice mail message played.
    I swallowed, wondering if I should hang up. No, if he saw there was a missed call from me, he’d think…he’d think I was stalking him. I realized he was probably asleep. It wasn’t even 8:30 yet, and I knew where he’d been last night. Stupid.
    The beep sounded. “Hi, sorry to bother you, but it’s Karina. I normally wouldn’t call, but something sort of happened, and I kind of feel like I need to talk to someone about it. And you seemed like you might be one of the only people, well, okay, the only person I know who I think I could tell. That sounds weird I know, but it’s…a very private thing and…and…oh God is there a way to erase messages on this thing? I must sound like such a nut. I’m sorry, never mind, I’ll handle it. Forget I called. I’m okay. I’ll talk to you Friday.” I hit the pound key, hoping it would take me back to the menu so I could erase it, but no such luck.
    “Message sent,” the voice said.
    I let out a sigh. I’d probably torpedoed the whole whatever it was with whatever his name was, too. Great way to start the day.
    I went home and went back to bed.
    * * *
    I must have been really tired, because I fell asleep even though my mind was still turning in circles. I woke with the phone ringing under my pillow a while later.
    I answered it sleepily, without looking at who it was.
    It was Him . “Karina. Are you all right?”
    “Um.” I sat up straight in bed. “Sorry.” It took me a while to wake up enough to use full sentences. “I mean, sorry for calling so early this morning and for leaving you such a crazy message. Everything’s fine now.”
    “Is it? Or are you just saying that?”
    I blinked. Why did I say that? Because I didn’t want him to think I was some kind of basket case. “I’m not actually sure. I’m not in danger or anything like that.”
    “If you’re sure…”
    “Look, I don’t want you to think it’s like I have a…a…” I tried to imagine what kind of mysterious trouble someone could get into. All I could think of was dumb stuff from movies, but okay. “…loan shark after me, or the Mafia or something. It’s nothing like that.” I especially didn’t want him to think I was after his money. I had no idea what he did, but your average, middle-class corporate drone didn’t tool around Manhattan in a private limo.
    “All right,” he said. “If you need my help, you should ask for it.”
    I almost said “Really?” in a skeptical way. We’d only shared a kinky ride in his limo. I didn’t see how that made him a knight in shining armor or why he’d feel obligated to be one. But it was nice to have his support, so I didn’t argue.
    “I think I’m okay now,” I said. “But thank you. I appreciate it.” I still didn’t know what I was going to do about Renault. Sure, there were cases in the news of sex abuse victims winning against their abusers. There were also plenty of cases of them being vilified, their lives ruined. If I wasn’t the