Dante
I read Luna’s message for the hundredth time. The warm feeling I crave washes over me as I taste her praise on my tongue.
Luna has over fifty thousand followers and still chose to reply to me.
That’s saying something, right? Divine intervention or some shit like that?
It was easy enough to track her down to the Ozark Apartments in Boston's North End. Luna moved in a couple of months ago to apartment twenty-three on the third floor, but I couldn’t find anything else about her other than that.
Before living in Boston, it seems like Luna Stirling never existed.
I ran her name through several of my databases, and no one by that name was living in the area or in America, for that matter.
So, she must have paid someone to wipe her history, or she simply fell from the sky, like the angel she is.
Luna currently lives alone and isn’t in a relationship.
I knew she wasn’t in a relationship because I broke into her apartment.
There has been no sign of a man or partner in her life for the last couple of weeks, as evidenced by the cameras I installed in her apartment, which tells me she’s not seeing anyone.
My mind goes back to the night I decided to see her apartment in person.
I saw on my camera that cops were at her apartment, and when I pulled up my police scanner, dispatch warned of a possible peeping tom in the area.
My heart flipped in my chest, and I had to get to her to make sure she was safe, but when I got there, I found her fingering her pussy.
Luna gets off on the thought that someone’s watching her.
If that isn’t a sign from the universe we’re meant to be, then I’m terrible at reading signs.
She’s perfectly fucked up just like me, and since then, I’ve been watching her movements.
Luna has developed quite a routine. She does the same thing almost every day: She gets up, goes to the gym, goes to the grocery store, and then goes back home.
She deviates very little from her set routine, which makes my job of stalking her that much easier.
I look up from my phone, watching my cameras intently, waiting to see her.
The cameras I installed in her apartment are tiny, no bigger than a grain of rice.
Yet they offer 4K camera quality, allowing me to see every inch of her apartment in real time and in high definition.
One camera’s positioned in her bedroom, facing away from her bathroom, and concealed in an air vent.
Another is in her kitchen, sitting in a plastic pot on the windowsill.
The last is in her living room, hidden atop her TV, giving me the best view of the entire apartment.
I turn on the bedroom camera and zoom in on her. She’s still sleeping, her chest rising and falling rhythmically. Luna’s alarm starts to go off at seven on the dot, and she’s startled awake, turning over and turning it off.
Good morning, angel.
I take a deep breath and try to calm my excitement, but I can’t contain myself.
Today’s the day that I will talk to her at the gym.
It’s time I take our relationship to the next step, and my heart’s beating out of my chest at the thought.
I can’t wait to sink my teeth into her flesh.
I bet she was as soft as a fucking pillow, and tasted like the closest thing to heaven I’ll ever get.
An itch at the nape of my neck is begging to be scratched; having Luna in my life will fix that.
“Good morning, handsome boy.” Luna’s voice says, coming from my laptop. My head snaps up, thinking she somehow found the camera and is about to call the police, but she’s just talking to her cat, Binx.
“I’m jealous of a fucking cat,” I say, brushing the sleep out of my eyes and standing from my chair. I look out the window next to my bed. The sound of rain hitting my window helps calm me.
Luna will be leaving for the gym in 20 minutes, which should be enough time for me to get breakfast on my way over. I walk back over to my computer to shut it down, but before I can, I find Luna standing completely naked, staring at herself in the mirror in her bedroom.
“Fuck,” I breathe, my mouth watering over the sight I’m seeing.
Luna trailed her hands up and down her curvy body, inspecting everywhere.
I’m utterly mesmerized by the irresistibly shapely woman on my screen.
Her long, wavy brown hair tickles her lower back, leading me to the mouth-watering sight that is her perfectly round ass. Luna’s admiring herself, and so am I.
I shake my head, quickly come to my senses, and slam my laptop shut. “Get a grip, bud,” I sigh, grabbing my keys off my coffee table and heading to my bike in the parking garage. “Here goes nothing.”
There she is.
Luna Stirling.
She’s running on the treadmill, and a light sweat glistens on her skin.
Luna’s hair is tied into a messy bun, and she wears an all-black spandex jumpsuit and an oversized zip-up hoodie.
Luna likes to wear headphones at the gym, so getting her attention will be difficult but not impossible. I just need to time it right.
She should really be more aware of her surroundings. She hasn’t noticed me staring at her once, so whatever she was listening to must be good.
Luna stops the treadmill and moves to the weightlifting zone. She completes her reps and is about to move on to the bar, but she sits on the bench and grabs her water bottle.
Move, Dante, now’s your chance.
I hesitate; my feet don’t get the message to move. What the fuck was wrong with me? Move, you idiot. I stumble off the elliptical, where I’ve been hiding, and calmly walk over, but Luna stands up, heading for the bar, and picks up her weights before I reach her.
Shit.
I stand behind her, debating whether to turn around, when she notices me in the mirror and drops her weights.
The bar clatters to the ground, and I kneel, feeling like a dickhead for scaring her, and help pick them up when we come face to face.
“Oh, sorry. Hi, I kind of made a mess of things,” I say apologetically.
“No, it’s my fault. I was too into my music.” Luna laughs and picks up the other weight, sliding it on the bar. I pick up the last weight and am mesmerized by her beauty now that I’m so close to her.
Luna’s too stunning for a camera to capture her raw beauty.
My eyes wander down her body, and I swallow hard, remembering what I’d just seen on my laptop earlier. I snap back to reality when Luna clicks the lock to secure the weight. “I’m Dante, by the way,” I say, holding my hand for her to shake.
She’s hesitant to shake my hand, but she does so anyway. “Luna,” and when our palms touch, I feel a tingle travel up my arm and into the nape of my neck. She quickly pulls back, and I immediately miss her touch.
“Sorry, my grip is kind of strong. I didn’t mean to hurt your hand.”
“You didn’t. Sorry. I don’t people very much, and I’m rusty on social interactions.” Luna says, rubbing her palm.
Does she feel it, too? “That’s okay. I can relate. I made you drop your weights because I couldn’t figure out how to ask the prettiest girl at the gym on a date.” I say, giving her my best smile.
“Oh, where is she?” she asks, looking around the gym. “Maybe I could help.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I’m looking at her.”
Luna’s shocked eyes meet mine. “Me?” I nod, and a blush rises to her cheek. “I’m very flattered, Dante. But—I just got out of a bad relationship, and I’m not looking for anything right now.”
My mind shuffled through thought after thought of what a bad relationship meant for her.
Did someone hurt her? Is that why I couldn’t find anything on her?
Was she on the run? If I find out who it is and what they did, I will gladly kill them for her.
I calm myself, realizing I’ve been staring at her too long without saying anything.
“That’s a shame. I’m so sorry you had to go through a bad relationship.
” I hand her my card. “Whenever you’re ready, text me.
I’ll be there.” I give her a playful wink, and her blush is now crimson.
“And if I’m never ready?” Luna asks, cocking an eyebrow.
“That would be a shame. I think we’d have fun together, Luna. But only if you’re ready.” I say, smiling. “It was nice to meet you, Luna. I hope to see you again.” I turn and leave the gym.
Luna will remember me now. She’ll be less hesitant the next time she sees me. I’ve set my trap, and now we wait for another opportunity. Luna will come to me.
When I arrive at my bike, I pull up the tracker and see that Luna’s blue dot on my phone is moving towards the exit. I turn my bike on, the engine roaring in the parking garage, and head home.
I watch Luna’s dot on my phone as she finally leaves Spines and Steins, a local bookstore and beer-cafe thing.
I don’t remember exactly what Google said, but it’s a place that sells books.
I hacked into her messages and saw she’s going to Pyre tonight with her friend Olivia, who owns the beer-cafe thing.
This is my chance to run into her again.
I’ll dress in all black and devise a plan to get into the club without raising red flags.
I’ll sneak into the service entrance and pretend to be a new hire.
Once I’m in the club, I’ll disappear into the crowd until I bump into my wifey-to-be. Bada-bing-bada-boom. Easy peasy.
Unless everything goes horribly wrong, and they call the cops on me—or Luna does.
I tuck that silly thought away and switch gears to prepare for tonight. And just as that thought crosses my mind, my phone pings, letting me know that Luna has made it home and is now in her apartment. I breathe a sigh of relief and head for my shower to get ready for our date.