Page 34 of Stalker
Technically, I also entered her apartment after she passed out, returned all of her scattered items from the woods, and intentionally positioned her phone on her bedside table so I could see her clearly as she slept.
But the invasion in her bedroom was the only part I felt bad about. It didn’t stop me, though. I was a runaway train, unable to stop or control myself after having just a taste of her perfection. I was a man of order, control, and routine. Yet within a week of meeting Peyton Everett, I threw it all out the window and ignored my own limits.
My phone rang, pulling my attention from the screen, showing a sleeping Peyton still passed out in her bed. She would get up soon to come in for work, but I didn’t want to lose a single moment of watching her, so I ignored the call.
True to form, the phone rang once more, and with a sigh, I reluctantly picked it up.
“What do you want?” I barked into the speaker, throwing myself down in my chair to stare at Peyton.
As my brother chuckled unimpressed on the other end of the phone, I clenched my teeth, bracing myself for his annoying mood.
“Well, good morning to you too, sunshine. How have you been?”
“Tamen.” I growled in warning, cracking my knuckles.
“You’re grumpy for whatever ungodly hour it is there right now. Did someone piss in your morning cereal? Surely Mrs. Straight wouldn’t treat you so poorly.”
“Tamen!”
My brother ignored my warning though and kept right on in his over-the-top theatrical way. “Oh, that’s right, Mrs. Straight isn’t there is she?” He asked, and I paused, knowing full well I didn’t tell him about my housekeeper’s departure. “Of course she isn’t, because I just saw her walking around the shops in England.”
“Leave it alone—” An icy chill broke out over my neck as I realized my brother knew something he shouldn’t.
“She had the most fascinating tale to tell about a bright and bubbly young woman taking her place for three months there, locked away with my crass older brother.” He jeered and my blood boiled. “What on earth would you be thinking to let someone like that near you?”
“Fuck off, Tamen.” I snapped. He wasn’t wrong, he was one of the few people in the world to know the real me. The fucked-up parts of me.
And that was only because he was just as fucked in the head as I was.
“I’m coming to visit, Linc.”
“No.” I growled, envisioning him anywhere near Peyton, turned my vision red with fury. “Stay the fuck away from here.”
“See you soon, big bro.” He chuckled, ignoring me in typical little brother fashion, “Can’t wait to meet your new toy.”
“Tamen—” I yelled, but he hung the phone up before I could even finish my threat. “Fuck!”
Thanks to our awful upbringing, we were both equally fucked in the head. But where I was sly and sneaky, using technology to get what I wanted without even having to go near my target, Tamen was more hands with his damage. He had a blood thirst that knew no limits, and his skills to get that blood were unmatched.
And the idea of him stepping foot on Hartington Estate was enough to throw me into a tailspin. We’d never used our skills against each other, basically because we were each other’s only allies in the world. But he was just psycho enough to rile me up by threatening Peyton for a thrill.
And I would be damned if anything or anyone ever got near her. As if on cue, her sleeping form moved on the screen and she stretched her arms up over her head, waking up as the sunshine started peaking in through her curtains. Her blankets slid down her body, revealing her sexy form.
I pushed aside my anger with Tamen, ready to watch my most fascinating show as Peyton’s eyes fluttered open.
She was wearing a thin sleep tank and her full breasts barely remained covered as she moved around. It was as if it took her a few minutes to remember everything that had happened last night though, because she paused after a while and froze, staring up at the ceiling.
I could almost hear her thoughts racing through her mind. She looked over at the clock on her bedside table and noticed her phone propped up on the charging stand, and cocked her head to the side.
She had dropped it in the woods last night with her purse, but I retrieved it and returned it after she went to sleep. The trail I led her towards after fucking her led right to the back of the guest house, meaning she never even bothered to get her belongings. Instead, she’d walked right back into her apartment in a daze.
Peyton leaned up on one elbow and stared at the phone and then looked around her room, clocking the freshly cleaned high heels she ditched in her run, as well as her purse laid out on the chair by the mirror.
I leaned forward on my desk, completely entranced by her realizing I’d been there while she slept. I didn’t know if she’d throw the phone and freak out, or just accept that I was always around now.
“Dane?” She spoke with a sleep heavy voice, breaking the silence around her as she stared at her phone. “Are you watching me?”
I should have remained silent, letting her wonder. But I couldn’t stay away when she so openly beckoned me into her life.