Stalking Her Sweetly - MINK Page 0,38
know how you listen to all those true crime podcasts and read true crime and live and breathe true crime?”
“Yeah.” She says it so quietly I almost miss it.
“That’s what you are to me. I live and breathe you. I exist only for you. I am yours. And if you tell me you don’t want me to kill anymore, I won’t. If you don’t want me to watch you anymore, I won’t. I can turn off the cameras and bust up all my shit right now. I’ll do anything you tell me to do. Anything, dreamgirl. Just, please, don’t take your light away from me. Without you, I’m lost in darkness. And I don’t want to be lost anymore. I want to be the man you believed I am.”
I bounce my forehead on her door. “Please, dreamgirl.”
She sniffles behind the door.
My heart breaks. “Jamie, I love you.”
“You should go.” She sniffles again, and I think she’s sitting.
I sit, too. “Can I stay?”
“On my porch?”
“If that’s where you’ll allow me to be, then yes.”
“You can’t come in.”
“All right.” I take that as a yes, so I settle with my back against her door, my ears attuned to every sound she makes.
After a long while, she asks, “What happened to Lindsay?”
“She’s gone.”
“Like gone as in she’s on vacay, or do you mean like gone?”
“The second one.”
“I figured.” She sniffles again. “She was horrible.”
“Yes.” I could swear I can almost hear Toby purring in her lap. “She killed her stepfather so he wouldn’t warn you. And she killed Sarah because she wanted the commissions in your account so she could have the money once she replaced you.”
She gasps. “Mr. Martin was so nice. Sarah wasn’t, but she didn’t deserve to die.”
“I agree.”
She goes quiet for a longer time now, but I can feel her on the other side of the door.
I rest my head against the door jamb, and I hear a little snuffling behind me, as if she’s getting comfortable.
“So you saw everything? Everything I did in my house?” Her voice is close, but tired.
“Yes.” I hope with everything I have that she opens the door and lets me hold her.
“And you …” She pauses for a while. “And you weren’t turned off?”
“Never.” I shake my head even though she can’t see me. “I saw you once. Just once. In that little coffee shop you like. And that was all it took. One look at those curls and the whirl of life you brought with you, and I was hooked. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Never even dreamed it possible. But you changed everything.” I tell her the truth of my heart. “You changed me, dreamgirl.”
“What were you before?” She sniffles.
“Lost.”
“And now you’re found?” she asks, drowsiness coating the words.
I imagine her in my arms, her curls tickling my nose. “Yes. Because once I found you, I found everything.”
24
Jamie
I stare at the door, wanting to open it so badly. I’m in love with him. It sounds crazy, but I can’t deny it. I’m in love with a man that has been stalking my every move. I should be outraged. Yet, whenever I think about him watching me, my body starts to tingle.
He needs me. So much so that he’s done crazy things to protect me. I should be frightened, but I could never be afraid of my Silas.
I don’t think anyone has ever needed me. I’ve been lost, too. Since Silas has come into my life, everything has felt right. I no longer have those feelings of being alone or not fitting in. With him, I fit.
“I want to be found,” I whisper. In a matter of moments the door opens to reveal Silas.
“I’ll always find you. I’ll always protect you.” He steps inside and picks me up from the floor. I wrap myself around him and bury my face in his neck. His scent immediately calms me, just as it always does.
“I wanted you to break in,” I admit. I sniffle and wipe my nose on his shirt.
“I know.” He carries me through the house into my bedroom. He lies down on the bed with me in his arms. My eyes fall closed as I listen to his breathing. I shouldn’t be doing this. He stalked me. He killed people, too. I know it’s wrong, but why does it feel so right then?
The exhaustion threatens to take me, but I try to fight it off. There’s so much to be said, so many more questions that need to be