Page 10 of Out of the Darkness

His hot breath tickled her ear as he chuckled. “Did you really think that fancy new security system would keep me away, little dove?”

In that moment, Madelyn wanted to slap herself because she had believed it would keep him away. While he continued to text her, she hadn't found any more gifts or notes in the house since Melanie had it installed, so she had thought that was the end of it. Clearly, she had been wrong, and she was furious with herself for getting complacent.

Xavier leaned down and ran his nose along the column of her neck like he was smelling her and trying to memorize her scent. It sent chills down her spine and managed to knock her out of her shocked and fearful stupor. What was she doing? She wasn’t a helpless little girl anymore. She had prepared for this.

As hard as she could, Madelyn stomped on his foot. It didn’t do as much as she hoped because he was wearing boots, but it did cause him to lift his head. The moment he did, she struck. She threw her head back, slamming it into his face. She had been aiming for his nose, but because he was so tall, she only managed to hit his mouth, and she felt his teeth dig into her skull. It still had the desired effect though as he ended up releasing her in surprise.

Madelyn didn’t look back as she bolted out of the room. Her only thought was to get away and keep the towel wrapped tightly around her body. She wished she had her cell phone so that she could at least call Melanie or maybe even the actual police this time, but since she didn’t have that, her only option was to get out to the street and then run to a neighbor's house. Surely, he wouldn’t come after her if she wasn’t alone.

She was only a foot away from the stairs, and that much closer to freedom, when Xavier managed to catch up to her. He snagged her around her waist again, causing her to scream, and then slammed her against the wall, knocking the wind out of her once more. She fought against his grasp and somehow managed to get a hand free, which she used to punch him in the side of the face. His head snapped to the side, but it didn’t seem to hurt him as much as it did her.

It felt as though she had punched a brick wall even though she knew she had used the correct form. She had practiced her punches countless times, but it seemed as though his jaw had been made out of concrete.

Before she knew what was happening, Xavier had her wrists pinned to the wall above her head with one massive hand, and all she could do was silently pray that the towel shielding her nakedness didn’t fall as he grinned at her, his blood staining his teeth from the cut on his lips. The blood was from either her headbutt or her punch, she didn’t know which.

“Well, that was fun,” he breathed, his body pressing against hers so hard she could feel his erection pressing against her belly. “Little dove’s got some bite to her.”

“Let me go, and I’ll show you just how much bite I have,” she spat bitterly. He laughed but didn’t let her go, making her growl in frustration. “What do you want, Xavier?”

It was something that she had been wanting to know the answer to ever since she found the first note. It was driving her crazy, trying to figure out what this guy wanted from her, and since she was incapable of getting away from him, she wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to find out. That was, of course, if he would even tell her.

He lifted his free hand and brushed those tattooed knuckles down her cheek. She flinched away from him but only because it was the right thing to do, not because she felt she needed to. Which was strange.

Even now, in her precarious situation, she didn’t feel like she was in any danger. If anything, she felt safe, secure, and that really threw her for a loop.

His fingers continued their gentle caress down the side of her neck to her bare shoulder. “You already know what I want. We are meant to be together, you and I.”

“Bull,” she hissed back at him, not knowing where this boldness came from. Here she was, face to face with her stalker, and she was provoking him. She had to have a death wish or something. “You don’t even know me. You can’t possibly know that we are supposed to be together.”

“I can, and I do,” he retorted, his eyes following the path of his fingers from beneath his hood. “And I know more about you than you think.”

His fingers traced a lazy path from her shoulder to her collarbone, and her chest was rising and falling with her rapid breathing as goosebumps erupted in the wake of his fingers. The fact that he felt like he had every right to touch her was unnerving, as was the fact that her body found it rather pleasant.

He pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth before continuing. “I know about your parents, Madelyn, and I know what they did to you. I know about your foster father too. I know you haven’t had any lasting relationship apart from Melanie and that you work at the police station as a receptionist. Your favorite color is yellow, your favorite animal is a platypus, and when you are concentrating really hard on something, you get this adorable little crinkle right between your eyebrows.” He smiled, lifting his eyes to hers. “See, I know you?”

“H-how?” She gasped, her voice finally breaking. “How do you know all that?”

His fingers teased the top of the towel. “I’m good at what I do. I’ve been waiting for this, you know. The chance to meet you face-to-face. I know you feel it, Madelyn. This pull between us, the connection. It’s fate. And we both know, you can’t fight fate.”

There was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right. It made no sense to her at all, but even with him breaking in, pinning her against the wall, preventing her from leaving, and touching her as if he had every right to do so, she still didn’t feel threatened. She was angry and pissed off, sure, but she didn’t feel like she was in danger at all. She wouldn’t go so far as to say she trusted him, nor would she say that it was some kind of pull or connection, but something was going on. It was just something that she hadn’t figured out yet.

She lifted her chin to meet his eyes, which she now realized were a beautiful ice-blue color. “If you are so convinced that this is fate, then why not approach me like a normal person and ask me out? Why follow me? Why stick to the shadows?”

He chuckled, his breath caressing her face. “Because one—I’m anything but normal, sweetheart. And two—you aren’t quite ready to know the truth about what I am, about what you are to me.”

Her breath hitched when his finger dipped in between her breasts. She hated the way her body reacted to his touch and the fact that it clouded her mind so easily. If she were anyone else, she would be fighting him and trying to get away, not carrying on a conversation like they were old friends. So, why wasn’t her body getting the message?

“W-what does that even mean?” she asked, the question coming out far more breathy and aroused-sounding than angry and firm as she had intended.

“Don’t worry, little dove. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Madelyn shook her head, trying to clear her mind, and let out a nervous laugh. “You’re crazy,” she told him bluntly. Though, in all honesty, she didn’t think ‘crazy’ was a strong enough word. Delusional, completely unhinged, or maybe even psychotic would be a better fit.

“Don’t I know it,” he agreed with a laugh. “Though, a lifetime of being alone will do that to a person.”

Xavier released her wrists but didn’t step away. Instead, he placed one hand on either side of her head. If she wanted to, she could easily kick him in the balls and take off, and she had been planning on doing just that. However, the words that came out of his mouth next made her pause.

“We are a lot alike in that regard, you know. My father was abusive too, and he made me watch as he killed my mother. That happened when I was eleven, and I’ve been pretty much on my own ever since.”

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