Chapter 18
Greer
Ithink he killed someone.
But how? Why?
There's got to be a reason he did it. Trying to figure out why a serial killer kills is probably the stupidest thing ever.
His typical MO is to cut them up and display them, which makes me wonder if he snuck off to do so while I slept.
I sip my coffee, which he handed me, as I walked out this morning.
He's in his 'stalker room’, and I’ve been left to my own devices, reeling.
I took my coffee to enjoy by the pool.
A nice cool breeze moves through the woods surrounding the house, the chill feeling stark against the warmth of my mug.
I ruined his thrill last night when I wouldn't let him use my body to come down from his kill.
Something about that fact makes me giddy. Like I've gotten back at him for what he did to me my first night here.
Rolling my eyes at myself, I set my coffee down on the small teak table beside me.
For a killer, his home is beautiful.
Its seclusion makes me yearn to create a similar life for myself.
I had a home of my own, far outside of town, but it was nothing like this.
And I still had him, stalking me, making life hell.
That hasn't changed.
My curiosity has piqued after last night, and not for the better.
I still plan to get out of here by any means necessary. If I have to use my body, so be it.
He already admitted that Allison is on the hunt for me. I can't imagine it'll take her long to get to me.
Though my stalker has been operating for a very long time under the radar.
Bear pads back towards me from where he'd been chasing a squirrel up a tree.
"You're a menace," I tell him.
He pants in reply, dropping onto the travertine stones that line the pool and lanai.
"Is that why you get along with him so well? Two menaces found one another?"
I realize I sound insane, talking to my dog, who huffs and ignores me as he closes his eyes.
I can only hope the cameras I know are out here don't have sound like the others.
I hate that he's still watching me. I hate feeling like every move, word, and breath is on display.
He's got a twenty-four-seven Greer channel whenever he wants to sit down and watch it, and I'm so sick of being on high alert.
Though being here, I feel more at ease than ever before. Which I also hate.
I hear the sliding glass doors open.
Bear leaps into action, making it through them in a flash of movement before I even look over my shoulder.
"You'll catch your death out here," my stalker says.
I shrug. "Better than catching it in there."
Turning back around, I watch the sun bleed through the trees as it rises in the sky.
"Remember what the rules say?" His voice is close; he's hovering over my left shoulder, his breath fanning my ear.
"They say I can't put myself in danger. Being outside in September isn't dangerous."
"You're delicate, at least wear a jacket."
I scoff. "I'm done, anyhow."
"You didn't finish your coffee."
"Yeah, well, I can't stomach it with everything going on." I dislike how curt it came out, as I want to maintain good decorum with him. I want to get the fuck out of here.
But he'll grow suspicious if I'm too nice, so mixing it up a bit will be fine, I tell myself.
I'm unable to play nice today, as everything from yesterday is milling about in my head.
That was blood on his cheek, and he didn't deny it.
Someone walked into that bar and didn't walk out.
"What's going on, poison?" he asks, genuine confusion in his tone as he follows me inside, my coffee mug in hand.
"Everything." Unbidden, tears begin to fall down my cheeks, and I close my eyes against their sting.
"Poison," he breathes, rounding me.
I feel his presence, even with my eyes closed, like a wave of energy surrounding me, encasing me like a protective bubble.
But he can't protect me while killing others.
It's a reminder I need to keep at the forefront as I try to get free of him.
I grip onto the bar, steadying myself as more tears fall. My body quakes, culling every emotion out at once as if it's finally catching up with me.
Suddenly, I have the expressed desire to lie in the middle of the drive and scream and cry until I feel better.
It worked before, why wouldn't it now?
I scold myself at the thought. I'm in jeopardy of becoming as unhinged as my stalker if I'm not careful.
Part of me wonders if I already am.
I've spent years with the guilt he left me with that night, and now I'm a captive, with no hope of escape unless by the grace of god himself. Or fate, which I’m not sure I believe in anymore.
"Poison?" He lifts my chin, and I flutter my eyes open, lashes wet and thick from crying. "Talk to me."
"Why? Nothing I have to say matters."
This stops him in his tracks. "Who told you that?"
I scoff in disbelief. "No one had to tell me shit. Nothing I say matters. Why would it? I'm just a stupid girl who now belongs to someone who may or may not kill me for what I almost did years ago." I'm rambling, sobs choking me.
Storming through the house, I realize how stupid I sound, as the embarrassment bleeds through me, and I also recognize that none of what I just said made much sense.
"Poison!" My stalker shouts as my hand coils around the library door handle.
I freeze.
"Stop right there! Don't you move another muscle."
The bratty side of me that he brings out begs me to turn the handle and find solace in the stacks just beyond the door.
The saner side of me is what keeps me still. He just killed someone last night.
I don't want to be his next victim.
My heart races, emotions blazing through my stomach, searing a hole.
His hand on my shoulder shouldn't affect me as it does, and I try to push away the tingling sensation and the immediate urge to curl into him for comfort.
"What's going on with you today?"
"Nothing."
"Something."
Words I very much want to spew burn the tip of my tongue, but I have to remind myself I'm trying to remain alive until Allison finds me.
If I raise any red flags, he could get antsy and kill me.
If he thinks I know what he did last night, he could also kill me.
Fuck, if the wind blows wrong, he could kill me.
"My period is coming," I blurt, hoping it'll keep him solvent and get me off the hook for my meltdown.
His brows furrow as his gaze narrows on me. "You're right. Next week. I didn't realize it makes you so emotional."
He knows my fucking cycle?!
Of course he does.
"Well, if you ever kept me alert instead of drugging me, maybe you'd have known."
His eyes darken. "I'm going to let that one slide on account of how keyed up you are. But period or not, you'd best remember how to behave."
I swallow, using every ounce of energy I can muster to nod. "I'm sorry."
Appeased, he straightens. "I'll leave you alone to calm down. I have an errand to run. I'll bring dinner back. Hopefully, I'll find you right where I left you, being that you should've already learned you can't escape."
I bite my lip, watching him turn and exit the hall.
Taking a deep breath, I pivot and enter the library, running my fingers along the spines of the books as they give me comfort.
I hear my stalker's truck fire up before gravel crunches on his exit.
Bear hops up into a fluffy chair near the window, turning in circles before lying down.
If only I were as good as he is at being held captive, I'd have it made.
Jostled awake, I look around in confusion.
"Just me." The warm spiced scent of my captor invades my senses.
My heart speeds at his proximity, and I have to will myself to calm down.
"Put me down," I rasp out.
I'd been reading all afternoon while he was off doing whatever it is he does, probably cutting a body into smithereens.
I must've fallen asleep.
My neck is stiff as I pull my face as far away from his as I can.
He doesn't drop me.
Slowing to a stop in the kitchen, he kicks back a chair before plopping me down into it.
There's a spread of Chinese food on the table from my favorite little spot in Columbus.
Of course, he'd know all my favorite things. I've been his primary study for the last two years.
Even so, a man who knows something I love and goes out of his way to get it for me makes my stomach burn. Fucking idiotic butterflies gnaw at the lining as they try to escape.
"Eat." His command is firm and even-toned.
He moves around the kitchen, putting groceries away as I pull an egg roll out of the bag to my right, taking a massive bite as I watch him.
Something's off. His energy is strange.
"Are you alright?"
It dawns on me I'm worried about my stalker, who kidnapped me, but it's too late to take the concern back.
"You don't get to ask me that."
Anger pools low in my belly. "What? Why? After all you've done to me, I think it's the least I'm entitled to."
He scoffs, throwing a box of cereal across the room.
Gives new meaning to serial killer. I nearly snort at the thought.
Fuck, I'm losing it here.
Allison needs to hurry her rescue mission.
"Just... eat!" he shouts.
Something happened to him today, and I'm a bit concerned about what it was, because he’s angry. So angry that I worry about what he could do to me if provoked.
Walking across the room, much like one does the walk of shame, he picks up the cereal and places it in the pantry beside the fridge.
My hands are busy, opening food containers and eating my fill. I watch my stalker as he cleans the kitchen and then heads down the hall to the room I'm now forbidden from entering.
"Alright then." I sigh.
Once dinner is cleaned up, I meander a bit in the living room, wondering if he'll emerge at some point, but he doesn't.
I shower and get into bed, staying on high alert for when he comes in.
Worry keeps me awake when he never does.
If I ruined my shot at getting free of him by using the attraction he has to me by throwing my fit this morning, I'm fucked.
Sure, Allison is looking for me, he said as much, but I need a backup plan.
For all I know, he's in his stalker room, watching, plotting how to kill me.
The anxiety of how badly I fucked up settles as I switch gears.
I've got to get him back on my side.
Even if deep down he knows it's bullshit, I need him to question his feelings, question my motives.
I need to create enough reasonable doubt that he keeps me alive.
A thought pops into my head about the rules and the stipulations for breaking one of them.
A red blinking light in the corner tells me the camera in here’s hot, and I decide it’s about time I get past being stalked and put on a show.