Page 39 of Peripheral Vision (Tethered in Darkness Duet #1)

His eyes snap back to mine. “Is that what you were doing out there? Protecting yourself? Walking around by yourself in the middle of the night out in the woods without not only your so-called gun, but your phone too?”

Heat rises to my cheeks, but I force myself to hold his gaze, refusing to let him see how much his words hit home.

“I didn’t exactly plan on being stalked through the woods tonight, and for once I’m not even talking about you despite the fact that’s what you were doing too.

I was just trying to clear my head. Not hunt for trouble. ”

His lips press into a thin line. “Trouble doesn’t care about your plans. You walking out there alone was like a flashing fucking neon sign saying rape me !”

I bristle at his tone, stepping closer as if proximity will help me win this argument. “I don’t need your lectures! I can handle myself.”

Fletcher’s eyes narrow slightly, and for a moment, I swear I see a flicker of that darkness I know lurks beneath his skin.

But when he speaks, his voice is unnervingly calm and I know well enough that this is the version of him I need to be afraid of.

“You keep saying that. Yet here I am, the one who made sure nothing happened to you tonight… that you didn’t want, that is. ”

“That’s because I didn’t know I needed—” I stop myself, realizing too late that I’m walking into his trap. His eyebrow arches again, daring me to continue, but I bite down on the words.

“Exactly,” he says, his tone softer now but no less firm.

“You didn’t know. And next time, not knowing could get you killed.

Think what you want of me, but I’m not nearly as sick, nor deranged as that fuck.

I would never do anything like that to you unless you asked for it.

” His words hang in the air, heavy and unshakable, and for the first time I let myself consider the possibility that maybe he’s right.

But admitting that out loud? Not happening.

“So again, what would you have me do?” I ask, throwing up my hands. “Stay locked inside forever? You want to be my shadow every time I step outside?”

“It’s not like we weren’t pretty much already there, so yes, if that’s what it takes,” he says without hesitation, and I realize he’s serious.

“You’re welcome to hate me for it—even though we’ve already determined you don’t, but I’m not backing off, even when I know you’re out of danger. So get used to it.”

I would fight back but I know it’s useless. I turn back around, stomping toward the back door of my house. “Fine, but you’re not staying in the house. You can sleep outside like the animal you are.”

His low chuckle follows me on the wind like a gentle caress and I hear him say, “We’ll see.”

I was, indeed, wrong. Fletcher didn’t even entertain the idea of staying outside of my house for a moment. He’s propped on the couch, Alaska sprawled across his lap. “Thea was right.”

He looks up at me. “About?”

“I told her about the times you broke in back in Norfolk and how Alaska, the traitorous bitch, hadn’t done anything about it.

She asked if it was possible it was someone I knew…

turns out it was. Even though you barely spent any time around her before you vanished for the last time,” I deadpan, glaring at him and then at the traitorous dog on his lap.

Fletcher's lips curl into an amused smile, completely unbothered by the accusation, and I have to wonder which of us is the crazier one—me for allowing him not only in my body, but also my home, or him for stalking me and acting like it isn’t a big deal.

“Sounds like Thea was being a little too insightful for her own good. Was that the girl you were with at the coffee shop the day you ran into me, literally?”

I glare at him, exasperated. “That was you?”

Fletcher chuckles, his hand absently running through Alaska’s fur as she curls up on his lap, as if she isn’t fifty pounds.

The sound of his laughter is oddly calming considering the storm of confusion and dread brewing inside me, the tension that’s filling the room.

“It was me. It had been a coincidence that we were both there at the same time. I was in town for the funeral. But then your friend got all loud and I wasn’t trying to be obvious, but at that point I just needed to see for myself. ”

I narrow my eyes, every part of me bristling. “See what for yourself?”

“I had to see if you were still… the same.” His gaze lifts from Alaska, locking onto mine with unnerving intensity.

“I couldn’t help myself by that point. I knew you were struggling, and I thought that maybe you had seemed happy enough in that moment, but something flashed in your eyes as you looked away from me when I walked in the door and I knew that you weren’t, and that I would do anything in the fucking world for you.

But not in the way I did when you were younger.

This version of you, all grown up, called to me like a fucking siren begging for me to claim you.

God knows when I looked at you, you were everything except the daughter of my best friend. ”

“And you didn’t just decide to do what other people do and strike up a conversation, because?”

He peruses my body, now clean and in new clothes, before he answers. “I’m not like other people.” I don’t know what I expected his answer to be. Obviously something got screwed up in his head over the past eight years to make him like this.

“So what did you find out? Am I the same?” I walk into the kitchen, getting a glass of water before hopping up on the counter. I hear shuffling in the living room before footsteps approach. He hangs his arms above the archway, leaning in.

“I think we both know the answer to that one, little viper. But in case you need me to answer it anyway…” He drops his arms and walks toward me in a measured way that only he can do.

There isn’t an ounce of uncertainty in the way he moves, like he knows that he can make my senses ignite without even touching me.

He places both arms on either side of me by my legs, still taller than me even as I’m on the counter, and runs his nose over my jaw.

I shiver, trying to steady my breath, but it’s impossible when his presence pulls everything tight, making the air between us feel like it’s vibrating.

“You ar e everything but the same. In fact, you’ve always been more.

More than what you let anyone else see. And that’s what keeps drawing me closer. ”

I bite my lip, my heart racing despite my warring emotions, feeling both exposed and entranced by the way his words sink into me like a quiet, insistent pressure.

“You think you know me,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, but it’s a lie I myself can’t believe anymore. “You’re just a shadow of the past.”

He chuckles softly, the sound like velvet over steel as it runs down my spine.

“Is that so? Then why is it every time I come near you, you still can’t pull away?

” He lifts his head just enough to meet my gaze, his eyes darkening.

“If you were still the same, would you be biting that lip of yours and rubbing your legs together to hide the desire that I know is building there?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” I snap and try to push him away, but he grabs my wrists, holding them together before leaning over me.

“Nobody likes a liar, Dylan.”

I glower up at him. “I’m not lying.” I am lying through my teeth.

He lets go of my wrists, securing them more firmly in one of his hands while he walks his hand up my thigh.

“No? Shall we test that? And what will your punishment be when we find out you are lying?” I grind my teeth, willing the arousal away, but it’s no use as that hand creeps under the cotton of my shorts, his fingers pulling my underwear away from my pussy before he rubs one back and forth through my center.

The sound is almost embarrassing. A crooked half smile takes over his face as he withdraws his hand and brings his finger up to his mouth.

He holds my gaze as he sucks it dry. “I’ll let you pick this one time.

But in the future, the choice will be mine.

If you refuse to pick, it doesn’t mean you’re getting out of it—I’ll still pick for you, but with less patience. Don’t keep me waiting.”

He turns and walks out of the room, leaving me flustered and infuriated.