My hand was frozen on the door handle to my hotel room. If I closed my eyes, he would just disappear. This was just another crazy Jessa hallucination. It had to be the new meds I was taking; they had to be triggering some psychotic meltdown. They were warping my thoughts in the most perverse way possible.

I heard a small chuckle right behind me.

He couldn't really be here, could he?

"Hey, sweetheart." The treacherously sweet voice whispered into my ear. It was a voice that I never wanted to hear again.

"I thought you were in jail." I struggled to remain calm. Chills were running down my spine and all the hair on my body stood up as I felt Nathan's body inch closer to my back.

"I just got out a few weeks ago." Nate leaned into me from behind and brushed his fingers through my curls. He fingered a small section for a few seconds and pulled the strands towards him. I felt the air move over my skin as he took in a deep breath to inhale my scent. A barely audible moan escaped his body as he smoothed it back down against my neck.

"What are you doing here?" I turned around quickly and stared right into his dark, soulless eyes.

"I came to see you. I've been seeing your pretty face everywhere I go and I thought it was finally time to pay you a little visit. Did you miss me?" Nathan tried to press against me again and I shifted in an attempt to get away from him.

His wide, hard body followed mine as he blocked my path. He towered over me like a demonic entity preparing to suck the life out of me. He surrounded me in every way possible and it terrified me. I shrunk down into a tiny ball against the wall like it would protect me from him.

The dark lines of the tattoos on his neck and torso were visible under his solid white shirt, which made him that much more intimidating. Even after almost dying at the hands of a madwoman, Nathan scared me more than anyone else in this world ever could. Jenna hurt me physically, but he damaged me in every way a person could hurt someone else. I would go against Jenna a million more times if it meant I never had to lay eyes on him again.

I tried to find my backbone, but it had gone missing. I was a boneless, spineless jellyfish with a stupid wiggly body that was barely able to stand. His presence in my life only brought me pain and shame.

I had to pull myself together. The mish-mash of racing thoughts was distracting me and made me vulnerable to him. It was the same damn thing that happened every time he came around.

I did my best to use some of my acting skills to try to cover the fact that he still affected me this way after all these years. I couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing I still trembled from fear at the thought of his hands touching my body. This time was going to be different. I wasn't going to let him get under my skin.

"Cut the bullshit, Nate. Why are you here?" I croaked out much too meekly.

He stepped closer to me and backed me up against the doorjamb. He leaned his weight against his elbow on the frame. I flinched as he ran his hand down the side of my face. He slowly slid his fingertips between my breasts and down my stomach. He finished his descent until he found my hips and roughly dug his fingers into my skin. Nathan sucked his bottom lip in while his filthy tattooed fingers traced patterns on my skin.

His dark eyes held mine and paralyzed me with fear. I couldn't move; I couldn't look away. He had control of me again.

"Jessa Miller, I love you so much. I have thought about you every day since you left me. Every single day I sat in that jail cell, I dreamt of you. I am here because I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are beautiful and amazing. I am ready to be the man you need. You are the only one for me." He leaned in slowly licking his lips. He was going to try to kiss me.

What the actual fuck? He couldn't be serious. My body shuddered with every shallow breath that he placed against my skin as he inched his face closer to mine.

Nate rolled his head back and cackled with his depraved laughter. The sound bounced off the empty hotel walls. I sunk down lower on the wall. If I could shrink down enough, maybe I could disappear under the crack at the bottom of the door.

"You should have seen your face. It was classic. Why else would I be here, Jess? I want money, you stupid slut." His eyes were small and crinkled at the corners in amusement.

"I don't owe you any money." My acting skills were gone. Now I was just a fed-up woman about to lose her temper on a man who had literally tried to choke the life out of her. Needless to say, my survival skills were in the toilet tonight.

"Well, not technically, but you will give it to me anyway." He ran his tongue over his teeth and nodded his head like it was going to convince me to give in.

"I'm not giving you a dime."

"You will, once you see what I have." He smirked.

"What, a venereal disease and a bent dick?" I swung back.

"Cute Jess, let me in and I'll show you." His face twisted in anger. He didn't think the teasing was so much fun now that he was on the receiving end of it. Nathan had always been better at dishing out torment than taking it.

"I've seen Mr. Lumpy before. He's not that impressive." I whispered like it was a secret. If I kept it up, I knew my mouth was going to get me in trouble. He had hit me before and wouldn't even hesitate to do it again.

"You're hilarious. I wonder how funny you will think this is when the tabloids see the videos of you from my studio taking a fuck ton of dick like a good little whore." He smiled.

"Videos?" I swallowed.

"Sweetheart. Did you really think I only recorded you singing? Jess, I had cameras everywhere watching you. I have things on video you won't even remember doing because you were too high to even care. What do you think your fans will say when they see you in action after I release it?" He threatened.

"Go ahead. Release them, Nathan. I have made my peace with my past." I was calling his bluff. He didn't want that stuff leaked out there as much as I didn't. If he taped everything that happened, there would be a lot on those tapes that could get him in trouble too. Bringing me down using those tapes meant bringing himself down in the process. He had much more to lose by putting them out there than I did. Everyone already assumed I was a wreck who spread my legs to get attention. It would only solidify their view of me.

"Oh, I plan on it. Before that happens, I have something else to show them, something extra special they'll love just a little bit more." From the look on his face, that something was way worse than amateur sex tapes or videos of him feeding me drugs like I was a baby bird.

"What is it?" I asked nervously.

"I can't wait until the tabloids hear that Jessa Miller's boyfriend set up an innocent man to go to jail." Nathan was almost dancing with excitement. He finally showed his hand; this was the real reason why he was here tonight.

"Who?" I was confused.

He stopped smiling and looked down at me with an annoyed expression creeping over his face.

"Cameron." He sneered.

"No, I got the Cameron part. Who is the innocent person he set up?" I asked.

"Me." He said like it should have been obvious.

"You have never been innocent, Nate." I snorted and shook my head in disbelief.

"Neither have you, sweetheart. That's why this is going to be so easy." He leaned down and brushed his slimy lips against my cheek.

"You are an asshole." I pushed him back even though it didn't do anything other than boost his already over-inflated, sadistic ego.

"Let me in so we can discuss the terms. I think you will be more than interested in hearing what I have to say about my best buddy, Cameron."