Page 9

Ronan

H e touched her .

That son of a bitch touched her– and I let him live?

Fuck.

I should’ve just finished the job, but she needs me. She may not know it yet, but I’ll make sure she understands soon enough.

My perfect little nightmare came into my dreams at just the right time, and I'm not going to let her drift away that easily.

I can still hear the blood pulsing in my ears as I pull into the driveway of my townhome. Grabbing my shit, I run upstairs to my motherboard as I like to call her.

The motherboard is where I play all my games and stream. When I’m not streaming, I may or may not have picked up a couple of tips and tricks on how to keep track of someone’s movements.

Look. I never said I was a good guy, okay?

I power her up, a soft thrum of electricity filling the room as the glow from the screens brings me out of the darkness. The last place I saw her was at the skatepark, so that’s where I begin my search.

Following her car through town is easier than expected. Just had to hack into a couple of business cameras until I found the right ones. Lucky for me, most people are just dumb enough not to change their passwords when they get new WiFi, which makes this even easier.

Once I have her address, I can feel the weight of unease slowly lift off my shoulders.

She’s safer now that I know where she is .

I straighten my back, taking a deep breath. I know she’s home for the time being. I’m able to hack into her neighbor's doorbell camera and have the feed live streaming in the background of my phone.

They already have the motion sensor feature set up, so I just rigged it to send an alert to my email, phone, and desktop in case she leaves.

I’m not willing to take any risks when it comes to her.

I strip my shirt and jeans off, making sure to toss them in the hamper before I crawl into bed. My warm skin hits the cool satin sheets, and I’m ready for sleep.

It’s time to visit my little nightmare.