Page 20 of Veil of Obsession

Lucio

And you know what’s good for me?

I contemplate whether to answer him or not. But I bite the bait and fire back a text.

Me

Of course I do. Who else would know you better than the one who’s watching you 24/7?

He reads the text, and instead of texting me back like I expect him to, he slides his phone back into his pocket. And he moves out of the range for the camera feed I have up.

Shifting to a different camera angle, I watch him move through his apartment. He makes his way to his bathroom, and I’m cut out. There are no cameras in there. I might be obsessed with him, but I don’t want to violate his space inthatway.

Two. Three. Four. Five. Seconds tick away and all of a sudden, my phone rings. He’scallingme.

What the actual fuck? I know this man is ballsy, but calling your stalker?

My finger hovers between the accept and the decline buttons. Groaning, I quickly press accept. Fuck. I know I’m going to regret this.

His voice comes on. “Hello?”

I frown, confused. Is his shower on? When I don’t answer, he continues.

“Tell me you’re a chick at least.”

I stay quiet, not wanting to answer him.

“Are you going to answer or should I end the call?” he asks.

Oh, what the hell? It’s not like he’ll recognize my voice from anywhere, and I’m not going to be talking to him face-to-face anytime soon.

“Hi, Lucio.” I finally say something.

“So she does speak,” he teases.

Ignoring him, I ask, “Do you have the shower on?”

“Clever. I do.”

“Why?” I probe further.

“Because I’m pretty sure my brother has my apartment bugged.”

I decide to relieve him of the worry. “He doesn’t.”

“And how would you know that?”

“I know because I’ve checked every crevice in your apartment for listening devices.”

He groans before saying, “Jesus, you’ve been in my apartment? How come the front desk has never seen you?”

I muffle a laugh. “That’s because I don’t walk in through the front door. That defeats the purpose of staying anonymous and untraceable. Speaking of which, I have to go.”

“Wai—” he tries to argue, but I cut the call.

7

Lucio