“Let’s get you home.”
He puts his arm around me and I automatically lean into him for a second, before looking up at his face.
“Stan,” I whisper, like someone could hear us, “ you don’t understand...I think I know who it was.”
6
Stanmore
Looking down at those green eyes, my heart jolts.She knows? Can’t be.I doubt she would have thrown herself into my arms had she known. Yes, Amber is bold but she doesn’t seek out danger.
“Who?” I ask, my arms hardening around her, so hard that she lets out a low whimper and I immediately loosen my grip, not wanting to hurt her.
“Think its best if I show you,” she whispers, glancing at me and then her cheeks turn red as if it’s not until now that she realized that we’re walking down the street like a couple, tightly together, looking deep into each other’s eyes.
She tries to put some space between us. But I don’t let her. I can’t. The way she clung to me when she saw me, did something to me. It ripped me right open, shook me to my core. The way she said my name, the way her fingers dug into my shoulders, the way her eyes shone with a light that said,
I trust you.
What would she do if she knew it was me? Would she try to fight me?
Something inhumane stirs in me.She could try...
“Stan?” she says, jerking me out of my thoughts and I look down at her and she shivers when I stroke her back.
“Yes,” I say gently and she licks her lips, brushing some hair off her forehead.
“What were you doing out?”
I circle my fingers around her lower back, leisurely massaging her to make her relax and it seems to work because the worry in her eyes that was there before, starts to fade.
“Woke up, saw you were gone and figured you’d gone out for a run and I wanted to join you.”
Lie. It pains me having to tell them, but it’s necessary. I can’t tell her the truth. That I followed her as soon as she left the house, that I watched her as she ran like a prey and that thoughts I shouldn’t have started playing in my head.
Thoughts about how easy it would have been to lie in wait, take her by surprise, move her down to the ground and attack her sweet throat with my teeth. Keep her under my control.
Those thoughts...
They sickened me. They excited me.
Just like my obsession with her both sickens and excites me. I’ll never fully be able to accept it unless she does it too.
“Oh,” she murmurs, shaking her head, “I’m happy you were there at least. I was about to crawl out of my skin for a second there.”
Fuck, I never meant to frighten her. Never meant for her to feel me. But just like me, she’s an animal and she can feel her surroundings. She could tell she was being hunted.
She still is. Only that now she’s not running. Because she trusts me.
“Are you okay?” she suddenly asks and I want to kiss her mouth. “You’re frowning?”
I make an effort to smooth out my features, trying to appear normal again but it’s harder now. The façade is slipping. I don’t know for how much longer I’ll be able to keep it up.
Until she gives into you.
How long will that take? Weeks, months, years? However long, I can wait.
“What was it that you wanted to show me?” I rasp and she nods, opening the front door and I walk in behind her. A neighbor is watching us from his garden, watering his flowers and my lips pull over my teeth.