Page 11 of Taking Adalisa (Montgomery Syndicate #2)

ADALISA

S everal days have gone by without hearing from Matthias. Maybe he has forgotten about me. Maybe leaving the apartment before I normally do, not wearing the bracelet, and keeping a distance from the places I normally go—not my work though—has kept him away from me.

That is what I like to think, but he could have just been busy. Maybe this is the perfect time to leave on my mini-vacation to get away from him. It has to be, but I can’t just leave, not when Margery needs me and especially not when work is starting to get busy.

“I think someone is following me,” Margery whispers from next to me.

My eyebrows furrow. “What do you mean?”

“I think someone is stalking me. Leaving me presents. I can feel their stare.” She looks at me, worry painted all over her face.

“How much sleep have you gotten?” I ask.

“Just a couple of hours last night since I got another stuffed animal. I brought it in, and it just kept staring at me. I don’t know what to do. They are all the same stuffed zebra,” she rambles.

“All the same color? Everything is the same?” I look in her direction. “Maybe they had a mix up at the store and you got another one by mistake. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. He’s going to come forward soon.”

She shakes her head, wrapping her arm around herself.

“Take some sleeping pills tonight and get some rest. Do you want to go home and sleep?” I ask. “I can look after the shop if you want. Boss doesn’t have to know you weren’t here.”

“I can’t. I shouldn’t. I need to be here and I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts,” she mumbles.

“But you need your sleep. Maybe you should get some food. Fill your belly up with something warm and then go to sleep. I think that will help,” I suggest. “But I really think you should go home and sleep. Maybe you should take a vacation.”

If she takes a vacation, then it means I wouldn’t be able to, but Margery looks pretty rough. Out of the two of us, she needs it more. And it will give me more time to think everything through. Get everything in order so I can get the most out of my escape.

“I don’t know,” she whispers, looking at me, unsure.

“Have you called the police?” I ask.

“Yes, I have. They told me it was just a secret admirer and to let it run its course. But I don’t think it is. This is different.” Her voice contains a note of panic.

I place my hands on her shoulders. “Sometimes, it can take a little while for a secret admirer to come forward. It can take a lot of courage to tell a girl you like them. I had a guy in high school take more than a month to get the courage to talk to me. He made me a paper flower every single day and left it in my locker.”

“Really?” she looks at me thoughtfully.

“Yes, really. Why don’t you go get something to eat and then go home and fall asleep? I think it will help you,” I tell her, pulling her into my embrace and hugging her tightly.

I look over at the front door of the shop, making sure no one is coming into the shop. They don’t need to see Margery like this; no one does. But as I look out the windows, I suck in a breath.

Matthias.

He is standing outside the window, looking directly at me. My hold on Margery tightens a little as we continue to stare at each other. I thought he had forgotten about me.

I look away from Matthias and pull away from Margery. “Now, I want you to go home and get some sleep. You will feel better tomorrow, I promise. Make sure you get some food before.”

Margery nods and grabs her purse. Matthias walks in as Margery leaves, neither one of them gives the other a glance. My eyes stay on him as he slowly walks toward me, his eyes never leaving me.

“What do you want?” I ask. “You need to leave. You are not welcome here.”

But it falls on deaf ears.

“Matthias, I’m serious. I have cameras here that are capturing your face right now. I will take it to the police. I don’t care what you think. I told you to leave, and you aren’t, which is trespassing.” I’m making stuff up as I word vomit.

I have no idea if it is trespassing or not. I do know I have the power to kick anyone out of the store if I need to.

“No,” is all he says.

“No?” I take a step back.

Matthias stops in front of me and smiles.

“No.” He leans forward and takes a big breath. “I’ve missed the smell of you.”

Abruptly, I hold my hands in the air. “Stop. Do not say things like that to me. Do not talk to me. Leave right now.”

I need to be strong. I need to get him away from me.

“No,” he repeats. “I will say things like that to you if I want to. They aren’t bad. They are showing my appreciation for you and how much I have missed you.”

I shake my head, but he’s not wrong.

“I think you like them, but you are trying so hard to stay away from me and prove to yourself that you don’t need me.

That’s okay, I like a girl with a bit of fight in her,” he purrs.

“We are going to have so much fun together. But I am a patient man and will wait for you, don’t worry.

I’ll just need to work a little harder to show you that we are perfect together. ”

I push against his chest, trying to get him away from me. “We are not perfect together. You and I will never be together. I won’t allow it. Get it through your thick skull that it will never happen.”

He smiles.

Fucking smiles at me.

“Oh, but baby, we are perfect together. You can see it, but you don’t want to admit it. That’s okay. Not everyone wants to accept things immediately, but you will see it eventually,” he declares. “Just wait. Everything is going to work out with us.”

I push at his chest again, trying to get him away from me, but he won’t budge. What does he do to make him so solid? It’s infuriating that I can’t get him away from me.

“What do you want?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

Maybe if we talk about this, he will get away from me. The sooner I get through what he wants, the sooner he is going to leave my shop.

“You can’t get me away from you that easily.” He stands to his full height. “Don’t rush our conversation.”

“Won’t be a conversation much longer,” I say under my breath.

He grips my chin with his fingers. “You will not mumble in front of me. If you are going to say something, you are going to say it to me. Understand?”

“Yes,” I reply.

“Yes, Daddy.”

I stare at him, my eyes widening a little. Does he really expect me to call him Daddy? There is no way I am going to do that, not in a million years.

“Yes, Daddy,” he repeats.

“Yes, I understand,” I tell him instead.

I want to call him Daddy so badly, but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction.

Not yet. Hopefully never. Never would I have thought of calling my significant other Daddy, but Matthias makes it seem so easy.

Or so I think. I haven’t called him that, but the way I want to and the way I’ve almost, shows me how easily I want to.

His grip on my chin tightens a fraction. “You will one day. I can see it in your eyes. You want to call me Daddy so badly, but you are holding yourself back. You are holding yourself back from me.”

I am, and for good reason. But I don’t tell him that. It will only make him want to try harder and want me more. I don’t want him figuring out what I am trying to do and stopping me.

Nope.

“Did you need something?” I ask, arching one of my eyebrows. “Or are you just wasting my time?”

“Sassy,” he murmurs. “I wanted to take you out to lunch, but I can see you can’t leave the shop since no one else is here. That’s okay, I can go get food for us and we can eat in here.”

“Oh, too bad. I brought my own lunch, so we can’t eat lunch together.” I fake the sadness, but inside I’m so happy.

“That’s okay. I can get someone to grab me food and we can eat together.” He smiles innocently at me.

“I really can’t. I don’t have time to sit down to eat. I have stuff to do around the shop since Margery is gone,” I rush to say.

“Margery,” he mumbles.

“Do you know her?” I ask.

Please say no. Please say no.

“No,” he replies. “Her name is familiar. I know a guy who is in love with a girl named Margery.”

“There are a lot of people named Margery,” I nervously giggle. “Anyway, you should go. I’ve got work to do and will be walking around and eating while I work.”

“No.”

I clench my jaw, hating that he keeps telling me no.

“You are not going to eat while you work. You will sit down in a break room and eat your lunch with me. Then you can work. It’s not good for you to eat while you’re busy,” he tells me, finally letting go of my chin.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I bark at me.

“I can and will. You are not going to eat while you work. It is not good for you,” he repeats, saying each word slower this time.

“I’m not a two-year-old you can order around. I can do what I want because I am an adult.” I take a step back. “Now, please go. I don’t need you here.”

He opens his mouth, but before he can get a word out, his phone rings. I smirk and he just stares at me.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” I ask. “Wouldn’t want you to miss something important because you are hanging out with me.”

“This is not over.” He looks into my eyes before lifting his phone and answering it.

I sit in the chair behind the counter, taking a deep breath and letting myself relax. I really need to get away from him. I need to figure out how I’m going to make him forget about me when he is so hell-bent on keeping me as his.

“I need to find a way to disappear,” I whisper to myself.

But it’s going to take money, and I can’t just spend all my savings on it.

Not when I have to think about hotels, transportation, and food.

I groan and close my eyes for a couple of seconds.

Maybe I can look this up online and figure it out myself.

Someone has to have written about it before, right?