On the Edge (The Grange Complex Book 1)

“Bugs, cockroaches…”

I was staring at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about. He pointed at the walls and ceiling like there was something really there, crawling up and down. I swallowed hard. He was hallucinating. I didn’t know how to act, so I stepped inside and switched off the water.

“Dexter, hun, come on let’s get you out of here,” I finally said and touched him. His wet skin was burning. I needed to stay calm, but deep down I was freaking out, wondering if he had finally lost it. Eventually he listened to me and stepped out of the shower, shaking wildly. He kept mumbling that there were insects everywhere, on his legs and arms, and he tried to flick them off. I closed the shower doors and put the towel around him. In the bedroom I realised that it was shortly after five in the morning. Dexter didn’t have to be at work until eight. This was getting stranger with every passing second.

It took a few minutes for him to stop talking. I knew that I had some Valium in my apartment, so I told him to go to his apartment and get dressed and went to fetch it.

I began throwing stuff around on the floor, searching through my bag frantically. It took me ten minutes to finally find it. When I barged into his apartment, he was already in his suit.

“What are you doing?” I asked, bewildered.

He shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his tie in the mirror. The pupils in his eyes were still dilated, but he looked more like himself. “Getting ready, what does it look like?” he snapped.

“Dexter… you can’t, we have to go to the hospital,” I stuttered, pushing him down on the bed.

Was it possible that he was pretending the incident in the shower didn’t happen? He seemed annoyed.

“I’m fine, Sasha; I freaked out. Don’t stress. I thought that I was seeing things,” he said calmly.

I wasn’t buying this. “No, Dex. You were convinced that there were bugs everywhere. You can’t go to work; you need to see a doctor. This isn’t normal,” I insisted.

He shoved me away and stormed back to the living room. “Don’t be fucking stupid. I’m going to the office.”

“Dexter, it’s five a.m.,” I shouted.

He glanced at his watch, then at me again. “Bullshit, you fiddled with the time,” he growled.

I opened my mouth to say something, but no sound came out. There was something very wrong with him, with this whole situation. He sounded like he thought it was me that was acting crazy. I needed to call his mother or someone from the family.

“No, Dex, I haven’t. The noise from the bathroom woke me up and you were inside—”

“Sasha, I don’t have time for this bullshit. I need to go. Just lock the door behind you. I’m fucking fine,” he snapped and stormed out of the apartment.

I couldn’t catch my breath. My panic was rising. Now I was going to go through a meltdown because of him. I thought that he would realise that it was only just after five a.m. and come back. He didn’t, so after an hour I started looking through his drawers. All his numbers were listed on his landline handset. I found the contact that said Mum and exhaled with relief. I didn’t want to call her just yet, but I was on the verge of losing my sanity, so I saved it to my mobile just in case.

I locked the door and went back to my own apartment. At six fifteen I had a phone call from the agency asking me to do a day shift instead of night. I agreed, not even knowing why.

I knew Dexter was very moody—it was part of his bad-boy appeal—but I’ve never seen him like that, almost psychotic. It was the first time and I didn’t want to pretend that it hadn’t happened. I went to work an hour later, knowing that this was very serious. I was worried—really, really worried.

Dexter

“Sally, get me another coffee,” I barked at my secretary. I was pissed off with the world and convinced that Sasha was playing games with me. She must have changed the time on my iPhone and the clock in the kitchen, but when I got to the office, no one was there. Something clicked then. But I wasn’t crazy; I had just lost track of time.

“Here you go, Mr. Tyndall,” she said, placing a fresh cup on my desk.

pest control. There were bugs in her bathroom; how could she not

others were staring at me, bewildered, as I sped through my presentation. It was only nine fifteen when I finished, and it seemed that they

are you sure that you’re all right?” Robert

“I’m great, why?”

the clients won’t be able to follow you. Maybe you should slow

slow, Rob,” I

on the back. “No it wasn’t, mate. You were going like two

had no idea what he was talking about. My thoughts were racing frenetically when I went into my office. I was taking the pills that the neurologist had prescribed, but they didn’t seem to have any effect on me anymore. I needed some weed, but I still had a whole day to get through. Was Sasha working

fetch me lunch. By the time the day was over I had completed twenty reports, responded to over a hundred e-mails, and planned three new projects. I deserved a reward, so on the way home I went shopping. I had this urge to spend shitloads of money today. I went into the Armani store and saw a plain blue t-shirt, so I bought the same one in every colour that was available. Then I bought twenty new ties and a couple of expensive watches.

a joint. I didn’t want to move, but I was horny. Maybe it was time to

what time it was, but I stayed up until three o’clock in the morning. Sasha came back

this morning. You thought that you were seeing

wrong with me Barbie. I’m good, so stop worrying about me. Let’s fuck. I really want

isn’t a

fought then, so I told her to get lost. It was the same thing all over again, but I didn’t want to listen to her banging on about my health. I had never felt better in my life and I was

on my door. She was dressed in her robe and it looked like she had

asked,

came to check on

you again,” I said and wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her up.

me happy, then let me take you to the hospital. You

my hand over my head. “I’m done talking about this, Sasha. For fuck’s sake,

you have psychosis, Dexter. Using sex as

leave me alone! Come back when you get your shit together and want to have sex!” I shouted at her, cutting her off. Then I slammed the door in her face. I heard her door close moments later. That night I stayed up again, feeling angry and frustrated.

was up again working, drafting e-mails and creating exciting new projects to work on. I felt invincible, accomplishing all this work by

waiting for her, I spent my evenings shopping. I bought new suits, new shoes and splashed some cash on a new car. It was an

the complex, going over some paperwork. I had just picked up the phone and dialled a number

Someone was listening in to my private conversations. I stared at the phone for some time, remembering the story that Joey had told me. He said that the government could bug the phones to spy on people. Now everything made sense; now I knew why I was losing the bids for

hair and paced around the office, thinking, trying to calm the racing thoughts. I deleted the files I was working on and shot

to her terrace doors, so I started banging on her door. It took a while, but finally

the hell, Dexter? I was sleeping.

in the office are bugged,”

are you talking about?” she asked, yawning. Fuck, she wasn’t getting it. Everyone was slow, talking slow, acting slow.

phones; probably in the entire complex.

Sasha

through another episode? I had tried to make him go to the hospital during the week, telling him that he needed help, but he acted like he didn’t have a problem.

phone. Why don’t we go to your apartment and

we strolled back to his place. We hadn’t seen each other properly since Monday morning after the episode with the bugs in the shower. We had fought outside in the corridor when I insisted that he needed to see someone—a specialist. I couldn’t let him distract me with sex, so I kept my distance. He was very stubborn and he slammed the door in my face. I wanted to get him diagnosed so he would get the help he needed and we could move forward,

paediatric wards of a neighbouring hospital had closed down, so more children were being admitted to the hospital I worked in, and the agency was on at me to do more shifts. I’d had a really difficult night and Dexter