Stalker - Clarissa Wild Page 0,103

fire I’ve not felt in years; sweat drips down my back.

I’m feeling a different kind of emotion, one I haven’t felt in a long time … And it terrifies the living shit out of me. Not because I don’t want to feel it, but because I don’t know what to do with it.

After everything we’ve done to each other, there’s no going back. There’s no innocence here. No love. Only pain and blood. So how could I ever call whatever it is that I’m feeling good? It’s wrong. Just wrong.

I can’t love her.

I just can’t.

Except, no matter how much I think about it, I always come back to the same conclusion.

I want her. I need her. I can’t live without her.

When she’s lying here tucked away in my arms, still shivering from what just happened, probably repeating the memory of him wanting to shove his cock up her pussy in her head … it all makes me want to help her instead of being her number one enemy.

I can’t even hurt her. Not like this … not at all. I can’t bring myself to kill her, no matter how much my brain is telling me that I should.

I should hate her. I should kill her and get it over with, but I know that when I do, there will be no turning back. Time does not move backward. Once she’s dead, that’s the end of everything.

And maybe, deep down, I don’t want it to end.

I never wanted it to end.

She did.

I grip her chin and force her to look up at me. “Tell me why. Why did you betray me that day after prom? I need to know.”

“What? Why now?”

I tighten my grip on her jaw. “Tell me!”

“All right,” she mutters. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry won’t help you. I need an answer now.” I shake her. “Why, after everything we’ve been through, after I fought for you, after you told me that you loved me, did you choose him over me?”

“I didn’t. I never wanted to. What I said was true; I loved you. I always did.” She winces, and then it comes pouring out of her. “I didn’t choose him over you. It wasn’t my choice … it was my mother’s. She forced me to lie.”

“How? Lying is your own choice,” I growl.

She takes a deep breath, preparing for the words that’ll destroy everything I knew and believed. “She threatened to kill you, Miles. I gave you up to save you.”

CHAPTER 27

VANESSA

Prom Night

Miles drove me home after our night together. It’s way past midnight, and I’m sure that when my mother finds out that I’m back home, she’ll kill me. Especially if she finds out I ran off with him … And then there’s the fact that I’m no longer a virgin.

Oh, god.

She’s really going to kill me, which is why I’m not going through the front door.

I make my way to the back of the house where there’s a tree, and I grab a tree branch and pull to see if it’s safe. It seems thick enough, so I put one foot against the trunk and pull myself up.

Something’s stuck on my foot, however, and I can’t hold my balance. I’m pulled down the tree and land on the dirty soil headfirst.

Only when I open my eyes do I notice my mother standing right above me.

It was her hand that dragged me down.

“What are you doing?”

“Mother, I—”

“Trying to escape my punishment, hmm?” she says.

She kicks the dirt around me, and I spit out the earth that’s almost inside my mouth.

“Get up!” she spits.

“Mother, I’m sorry—”

“Ah,” she interrupts as I get up from the floor. “I don’t want to hear any of it.”

“But—”

“You’re late. You didn’t come home with Phillip. And now I find you here, trying to climb a tree? Have you lost your damn mind?”

“I can explain,” I say, as she grabs my arm.

“No, you’re coming inside right now,” she says, pulling me toward the front door.

As we step inside, I see someone sitting in the living room, and it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. In shock, I stare as he turns around to face me.

“Hello, Vanessa.” It’s Phillip.

“What are you doing here?” I say.

“The question is, why weren’t you here?” my mother says.

I exchange looks with the two of them, but I come up with nothing. He’s here, but why? After what he did, he shouldn’t even dare to come near me. I’m almost inclined to pick up a glass from the