Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Today, though, I get to strut down this hallway, take a long, hot shower to wash off the stench of death, and then climb into bed and sleep until Knight gets home after his shift this afternoon. It’ll be amazing.
A yawn rips out of me as I make my way into our bedroom and pull off my scrubs, carelessly dropping them on the floor as I stride through to the en suite bathroom. I shower for what feels like forever, and by the time I’m stepping out of the shower and pulling my towel around me, I can barely keep my eyes open.
I trudge out of the bathroom, letting a wave of steam waft out behind me, and just as I go to cross the room to our walk-in closet, a figure by the door brings me up short.
My head whips up, my eyes widening in surprise as I find my stalker watching me, his vampiric mask just as terrifying as always. His stare seems to cut through my skin like lasers as my heart races with fear.
The last time I saw him, he was stabbing a blade into my waist, and now . . . Who the fuck knows? I’ve angered him by not being easily accessible in my old apartment, so he knocked me out in the back of my car and taunted me by leaving the rose on the doorstep. What more could he possibly want?
I immediately back up, but what’s the use? He’s blocking the one exit out of the room, unless I were to throw myself out the window, and while it sounds extreme, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save myself. He’s already proven how violent he can be, that taking my life isn’t something he’d think twice about, and with no weapons at my disposal, I’m not left with many options.
“What do you want?” I spit, clutching my towel tighter around me, while having uncomfortable flashbacks of the moment my imaginary stalker showed up in my apartment bedroom. I was wearing a towel just like this, my hair damp from my shower. He had touched me, pushed his fingers inside me as that dark stare locked onto mine through my mirror. It was terrifying. Yet, while he made my body come alive, something inside me knew that he wasn’t there to hurt me. This is not the same.
The stalker laughs and takes a step into the room, making my blood run cold. “Oh, you’ve been such a naughty little kitten.”
The fuck?
“Moving in with your boyfriend,” he continues. “You threw me a curveball. You belong entirely to me, so you must understand how you’ve upset me. You need to be punished.”
“I don’t belong to you,” I spit, anger coursing through my veins like molten lava. “He’s going to find you, and when he does, you’re going to regret ever laying a hand on me.”
He laughs, and the sound makes my skin crawl, but not as much as when he takes another step into the bedroom, his confidence unwavering. “Oh, you poor, delusional little girl. He won’t find me. He won’t even get close.”
I scoff as my gaze darts to the window, wondering just how quickly I’ll be able to throw myself through it. “I’m delusional?” I argue back, all but laughing at his audacity. “Knight is the best SWAT officer in the country. You’re sitting way too high on your fucking throne if you think for even a second that he won’t slaughter you for everything you have done to me.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it. I know what he would do to me. I know everything about him. So tell me, kitten, if he’s so good at what he does, why hasn’t he found me yet?” He takes another step, and then another, closing the distance as my body begins to tremble with fear. “Why hasn’t he come to defend your honor, huh? Could it be because you haven’t told him? Because deep down you don’t want this to end? You know you belong to me, kitten. You fucking love the thrill every time I show up in your life, and you can’t deny it. I see it in your eyes. You want me to touch you.”
“Holy fucking shit. And they call me crazy,” I say. “You are seriously messed up in the head if you think for even a second that I want your filthy hands all over me. You’re nothing.”
He scoffs, his happy little delusion keeping him from believing a word I say.
“You want to know why I haven’t told Knight about you?” I ask, watching the way he watches me. “It’s because you don’t matter. You’re nothing to me. When you’re not around, I don’t even remember that you exist, because next to him, you’re a joke. He is all the man I will ever want or need, and you . . .You’re a fucking joke. You’re a loser in a mask who has to threaten women to get their attention. You’re not a man, you’re literal vermin.”