The Internet Told Him to Leave Me, but He's Still Holding Me novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: Doxxed
I didn't answer the producer.
I deleted the email.
Then I dug it out of the trash and read it again.
I deleted it again.
I didn't sleep much.
At 7:40 on Tuesday morning my phone started ringing and didn't stop.
Unknown numbers. A Florida number. A number that left a voicemail of a man breathing and then saying "needy" in a whisper.
I turned it off and turned on the laptop.
Chad had posted at seven.
It was the cover of my last book, about an otter who can't swim.
Next to it was the front window of Dahlberg Tattoo, with the hand-painted sign.
"Needy Girl Watch just got a FACE, fellas. Annika Sandberg, children's book illustrator, Minneapolis. The boyfriend owns this shop. Somebody go in and ask him if he's okay. Blink twice, bro."
It had sixty thousand likes.
Somebody had found my author photo and put it in a meme with a moose head.
My moose-book editor emailed at 8:02. "Annika, are you all right? Call me when you can. Not about the book."
I didn't call anyone.
I put on my coat over my pajamas and my boots without socks and I ran.
Four blocks.
Before I even got to the corner I could see them.
Four men on the sidewalk outside the shop with their phones up, filming the window.
One of them had a gray hoodie that said ALPHA HOUR across the chest in gold.
They went in as I came up the street.
The bell clanked.
I stopped in the doorway behind them.
The shop was full.
The mail carrier was on the bench with his coffee, back for another swallow.
A college girl was in the second chair with the apprentice, getting a tiny lemon on her ankle.
Knox was at the counter with his paperback.
The man in the hoodie walked right up to it and held his phone out at Knox's face.
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