Bonus Chapter
Jamison's POV
(When he leaves her place to get food)
The light overhead flickers in and out. It's on the verge of dying, the moments of brightness cutting shorter each time they dare to flare up. In the ten seconds of darkness, the light glows behind my eyelids, the impression almost permanent. The only thing that rivals it is the image of Selena stepping out of her bathroom in nothing but a towel.
Loops of her long, wet hair had clung to her elegant throat. The steam had left a sheen across her naked shoulders. When she bent forward, the mounds of her creamy breasts begged to be caressed.
An urge rose in me instantly; raw, ferocious, ignited by such potent lust I'd started to tremble. All of my body's cells roared at me. I already knew how soft her skin felt—how sweetly her heart races when I get close.
I thought the pull couldn't get worse. Then she'd spilled her lingerie everywhere.
In the reprieve where she'd sealed herself in her bathroom, I'd bolted.
Get a fucking grip, I snarl to myself.
When the light blinks on again I push off the stucco wall of the building. She's up there on the second floor—layers of concrete between us—but it feels like she's hovering over my shoulder.
Shaking myself until my brain rings, I turn to look at the stairwell through the steel grate. The camera I spotted when I first arrived is perched like a vulture in the shadows. Most people would miss it. I scan the windows, counting the units; 8 of them.
The Los Angeles air is cool for a summer evening. Out of view, down the street, I can hear and smell something being barbecued. The food carts know how to target the cheap clubs in this area.
Selena says she has the money to pay me... but she lives in a place like this. I'm not stupid; LA is ridiculously expensive. Living alone, even in a rat hole of an apartment, isn't cheap. But how could she have so much cash set aside? What does she do for a living?
You don't know as much about her as you think you do, I remind myself.
Still... she knows a lot less about me. And I plan to keep it that way.
"Oh!" An older man gasps when he spots me. He's opened the gated entry from the inside. In his grip is a leash, of which a small white chihuahua is yanking on. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." He hesitates, keeping the door half open, debating on if he should let me in or close it up.
I smile kindly and put my hand on the door, removing the choice from him. "My fault, didn't mean to scare anyone. I was looking for my cat, she slipped out of my apartment back that way." I gesture broadly. "Have you seen her? Black with white paws?"
He relaxes and shakes his head. "No, wish I had. Coyotes been snuffling around here lately. Hope you find her soon."
"That camera," I say, before he walks off down the sidewalk. I nod at it and he follows my eyes. "Think it might have recorded her if she came around?"
His gray, overgrown brows lower across his eyes. "That camera hasn't worked since I moved in here five years ago. None of them do."
"That's a shame," I sigh. "Well, enjoy your walk. Watch out for those coyotes."
The man pulls his dog closer to his heel, eyeing the dark streets as if the coyotes he brought up are waiting to pounce. Once he's far enough away I bend down, scooping up a loose brick from the half-hazard garden beside the entrance. Wedging it into the door so it can't lock shut, I head the opposite way the man and his dog went, towards the smell of food.
I can't leave her alone for long.
Things like cameras are easy to handle. It's people that screw up plans. They're unpredictable, even when you convince yourself you know what they're capable of.
They always let you down.
Always.
Controlling Selena is my goal. To do that... I have to make her terrified of me. So absolutely petrified she'll obey my every word instantly.
Fear is the ultimate domination.
When I'm through with her, she'll see me as a monster. That may sound cruel, but I swear, it's anything but.
Her hatred of me is the best ending for us both.