Page 6

I’ll just climb out the window. It won’t be the first time. But when I look up, there are actual bars on the outside of my window. How could he have had time to do this? I wasn’t even out that long tonight.

I pace back and forth while my parents knock on the door trying to get me to come out and talk and to “be reasonable.”

Be reasonable. There is absolutely nothing reasonable about any of this.

“Go away! You’ve done enough. You have ruined my life!”

I know I sound like a petulant teenager right now, but they really have. They have ruined me. They have forced me into the arms of my stalker, and I will never ever forgive them.

My phone rings then. I dig around in my bag and see Erica’s name lighting up the screen. Dammit, I forgot to call her again. I pull the phone out. There’s only 9% left on the battery. I plug it in to charge and answer.

“I thought you died for real,” she says by way of greeting.

I can’t stop the tears. Heaving sobs.

“Oh my god, Maddie, what happened?”

“Do you remember that kid, Aidan Stryker?” I ask.

“Your weirdo stalker? How could I forget?”

“Do you know what the Stryker corporation is?”

“Shut up… he’s THAT Stryker?”

I nod, and then realizing she can’t see me through the phone I say, “Yes.”

“I mean, okay…?”

I probably should have set this up better but my thoughts are not exactly organized right now.

“Apparently it’s a front for some kind of organized crime.

Oh, fuck. Shit. Shit. He’s probably tapping my phone somehow.

Oh god, he’s going to kill me for talking about it.

I’m sure the police don’t know, unless he pays them off…

Maybe he pays them off. You can’t say anything, Erica, okay? Promise me.”

I know I must sound like I’m completely out of my mind.

“Um… okay? I won’t… Maddie… but what are you trying to tell me, exactly?”

Oh yeah, I sort of buried the lede there.

“My dad owes him some money or his family or something, and now they’re saying I have to marry him.”

The silence stretches on the other side of the phone so long I think the call got dropped.

“Erica?”

“I’m here. I’m just processing. You’re not kidding, right? Like this isn’t some kind of early April Fool’s thing?”

I laugh bitterly. “I wish.”

“How much does your dad owe?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“As soon as I get back, I’ll pick you up and we’ll run. You are not marrying him.”

I’m still crying and can barely get the words out through my tears. “I think I am, Erica. He’s got guards outside my bedroom door and bars on my window. They aren’t going to let me out of their sight for the next three months. I need to go. Call me when you get back into town, okay?”

“You know I will.”

I only realize after I’ve hung up that I didn’t tell her about what happened in the alley or the mysterious hot guy. That entire situation feels minor now in comparison to what’s about to unfold in my life.

I strip out of my clothes, crawl into bed, and pull the covers over me, then I take my vibrator out of the bedside drawer. I just need to escape. If I can’t escape in real life, I can escape in my head.

I want to think about anything but this wedding to my childhood stalker.

Even the guy from the alley. I spread my legs and visualize my unlikely rescuer as I press the vibrator against my clit.

There are guards standing outside my door, but I don’t care, I need something to calm me down so I can sleep.

I imagine that the guy from the alley keeps tabs on me—something that was terrifying before I learned my fate tonight.

I imagine him rescuing me from the wedding, protecting me from Aidan.

Suddenly I feel weirdly good about the fact that I told him where I lived so he could bring me home.

He wanted me. And he did say “see you around”.

Maybe it wasn’t just a line, maybe he’ll be back.

I bet he wouldn’t be threatened by Aidan. He’s probably twice that twerp’s size.

I arch up against the vibrator, moving with it, a soft sound escaping my mouth as the pleasure starts to build.

I stay on the outside, on my clit. I’ve never gone inside.

I’m afraid it will hurt. There’s nothing magic about a dick that makes it different from a vibrator, and I’ve heard the first time hurts, and I’ve just never been brave enough to breach that barrier.

My cell phone buzzes with a message.

It’s from an unknown number.

I hope you’re fantasizing about our wedding night. I am very possessive. That virgin pussy is mine . Do you understand me?

I sit upright in bed and pull the covers up high around me.

Security and Surveillance, Maddie . Great, let’s be even more stupid.

My stalker who has been obsessed with me practically my whole life now runs a criminal enterprise where they do fancy stalking.

He’s got guards in my house. Of course he’s got cameras and shit hidden in my room.

I would wonder how I could be so stupid, but it’s just been a string of dumb tonight, so why not?

I’m sure I go pale as I realize Aidan Stryker saw me naked when I was getting into bed. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. That pervert.

I scan my room looking for anything out of place. Aren’t surveillance cameras tiny? What if it’s too small to find? I turn off my lamp so I’m in darkness. If I want to get my clothes back on, it’s going to have to be in the dark.

The phone buzzes again.

We’ve got night vision, so don’t bother trying to escape my view.

We’ve? Is it more than just him watching me?

I type my own message into the phone. Please just leave me alone. We were just kids. You don’t even know me. You don’t want me.

Another buzz. Believe me when I tell you, I want you. That fucking tight ass and pert tits. God, I want to devour you. You have no idea the things I want to do to you. Pull the blankets back, I want to look at what’s mine.

These very adult words coming from him are so foreign from all of the things he tried to say to me when we were kids, when he was still trying to win me over the honorable way.

These are the words of a man who knows he’s already won, and so he doesn’t have to maintain the pretense of wooing or kindness anymore.

That lovesick boy has grown into a ravenous beast of a man.

I freeze in the dark. He’s watching me right now, only it’s far worse than when we were just kids because now he can do something he could never do then, get inside my room, see me in my most intimate private moments.

I type back, No . Leave me alone.

Another buzz. It’s cute that you think you can refuse me, but you should think about what would please me and how keeping me happy will improve the quality of your life.

I want you to touch that pretty pussy, and I want to watch.

Keep that in mind going forward. How long can you go without an orgasm? When you break, I’ll be here.

I don’t reply, and no more messages come through.

I slide my vibrator back into the drawer, furious that he’s taking this one small comfort from me.

I was so close before he messaged. I fall into an uneasy sleep dreaming about the guy from the alley and wishing that he was the guy who had claimed me instead of Aidan. Anyone but Aidan.