Chapter 10
Jayce
When I made it around the corner, I carefully removed the mask so that Alana wouldn’t hear anything suspicious. I readjusted my ear buds before I muted the call so that she wouldn’t notice me start the car. She was too absorbed in what was going on to realize I hadn’t done it earlier. She never took her eyes off of me while I was outside. After I changed my clothes, I started driving.
I’d have to check out her foot when I got there. If I’d known she would be carrying coffee, I wouldn’t have spooked her that bad. Her scream had chilled me, though- in the best way. It sent electricity racing down my spine and I had to hold myself back from going inside. I could imagine the panic in her eyes as she tried to escape.
This thing couldn’t be rushed. It all rode on a gradual progression. It was entirely possible it wouldn’t play out how I intended at all, but that was the case with everything in life. I was going to wake her up and make her discover parts of herself that she didn’t know existed. She’d fall in love with the version of me that was unobstructed by our past, then I’d merge them into one person. It would overshadow everything else and we could finally be free.
While I drove the few blocks to her apartment, I thought back on an interaction I had with my brother. It was a few years ago when he’d shown up at my place drunk as fuck and ranting about the issues they were having. He wasn’t adventurous or open to new things when it came to sex. Alana had brought up something that freaked him out and for some reason, he thought I would validate him.
I never lied to my brother, except when it came to my feelings about Alana. He never explicitly asked, so I didn’t really have to worry about it. So, when he told me that Alana brought up CNC and he voiced his disgust, I didn’t condemn the idea. He was pissed about that, but I didn’t care.
As far as I knew, they never actually tried it, but it became a part of my fantasies about her. It was enough to tell me that she had desires that were previously unfulfilled. I was happy to grant her every wish and then some. Even if I took her body without her consent, I would make her enjoy it, whether she admitted it or not. I’d planned this out extensively and I knew how far I was going to push her. It was directly off the fucking deep end.
I whipped into a parking spot and ended the call before I sprinted up the stairs. She opened the door and immediately fell into my arms. I lifted her until we got to the couch, then sat down and pulled her against my chest.
“Hey,” I cooed. “It’s okay, Alana. Are you alright?”
She shook her head. “I’m so freaking scared.”
“I know.”
“He just… He just popped out of nowhere. It was so creepy. One second there was nothing there, then he hung his head in front of the door. Who the hell is this messed up?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna figure out who he is. Do you want to come stay with me?”
“No, I want to be here. I mean, he can’t get in, right?”
“Not unless he breaks something. Let’s get you an alarm. That way, if any point of entry opens, it’ll notify us.”
“Fine, but I don’t want cameras.”
“Why not?”
“Maybe he could find a way to tap into them and watch me. That creeps me out more.”
I laughed as I stroked down her back. “I doubt it’s that simple, but okay. No cameras. If things get worse, though, I’m not giving you a choice.”
“Worse,” she repeated in a whisper.
“It won’t. Everyone is fallible. You should make a police report.”
“Is a guy staring at my window enough to make a report? He was on the roof, but not my balcony, so technically he hasn’t been on my property.”
“I don’t know what the requirements are, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”
She let out a heavy breath. It drifted across my skin, making me shiver. Pushing her back, I looked down at her foot.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
“Oh, it’s just from my coffee cup.”
I took her ankle and brought it to my lap. The cut wasn’t too bad, but it was still bleeding a little. It needed to be cleaned and bandaged. I’d have to be more careful if I was going to pop in at random times. It’d be easier if she agreed to the cameras, but I was sure she’d be begging for them soon enough. And I, best friend that I was, would make sure to monitor them for her so that I could stay abreast of any suspicious activity.
We wouldn’t want her to be at the mercy of a man harboring a long-standing obsession. That shit was dangerous.
*****
I told her not to go. Damn near begged her, actually. Yet, here she was, sitting at a table in a mid-level restaurant with the bastard I should’ve skinned alive for kissing her.
It was going better than the last date. She’d laughed a few times and was talking more. They were in the middle of their meal and she hadn’t excused herself to send me a desperate text message.
It wasn’t going to end well. Apparently, I had to teach Alana hard lessons. We’d start out on the softer side, though.
Erebus: I don’t appreciate those who try to steal from me.
She flipped her phone over and her lips parted. Her eyes scanned the windows, searching for some glimpse of me, but it was dark where I stood and the lights on my mask were off. After a moment, she returned her attention to Mike and smiled. They continued their conversation as if everything was fine.
Erebus: How do you feel about orphans?
After she looked at the message, she put her phone away. That was something she’d regret. Would I kill the guy? Not if I didn’t have to. Exactly what it would take for me to pull the trigger was still up for debate. The lines I was willing to cross had been shifting lately, so I was interested in that answer too.
I’d been stalking this woman since we were teenagers, so I clearly had a loose sense of morality from the get-go. I had no issue with watching her in her most intimate moments. Never with my brother, only when she was by herself.
The first time I killed for her was in college. There was a guy in her art history class who kept asking her out. It got to the point where she didn’t want to go anymore because it was daily. He was a rich prick who enjoyed doing blow, which made it easy. All I had to do was sneak into his dorm and replace his stash with coke mixed with a shit load of fentanyl. It ended up killing him and one of his friends. Another nearly died. I bet he never touched the shit again, so maybe I did him a favor. There were a couple others along the way.
When she was nearly failing one of her classes, I replaced her final paper with one that I wrote, which got her an A on it, allowing her to barely pass the class. Nobody could say I wasn’t devoted to this woman.
What had Jaykob ever done for her? In high school, he was good, sure, but I had my suspicions about the things he got up to. Vicky didn’t continue flirting with him simply because he was on the football team. I was on the team and made it clear she needed to fuck off, so she did. No, he flirted back. Maybe more, but I never caught him.
Years of all these missteps added up and after I found out about his daughter, I was done. I gave him a chance, but a month later he still hadn’t fessed up, so I decided that enough was enough. He needed to be out of her life for good. So, I made sure that he was.
Now, I had a fucking single dad to deal with. Worse, she worked with him, so there wasn’t much I could do about her talking to him five days a week.
Taking him away from his kid was toeing a line I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross. She’d forgive me for the others when she found out about them. I wasn’t going to keep secrets from her once we were together. This one, though, might be too much for her.
I could scare him off. Erebus might come in handy. Getting someone else involved posed a risk, though. Dealing with the police if Alana made a case was easy enough. There wasn’t going to be any proof and they probably wouldn’t put much effort into it. If there was a second person to corroborate the story, it got more complicated.
After I turned on my mask, I watched her and waited. Let’s see how clever she was when she found herself cornered.