Page 63 of Locke

She gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“He won’t last if you don’t swoop in, Kali.” When I didn’t answer, she said, “I’m going to invite him for dinner, how about that? Tomorrow or something. You can cook up your pasta—”

“I really don’t want him anymore,” I cut in.

Eric was old news. He was pretend dangerous. I had tasted the real thing, and damn, I was hooked.

Suddenly needing a breather from Sylvia, I avoided her glare and went to the balcony in the living room. The apartment was so ridiculously small, it was barely fifteen feet away. I slid the door open and peeked below, scanning the streets again, hunting down the black Mercedes.

Where was he? Why wasn’t he stalking me today? Was he murdering other people? Had he felt up a poor new victim who might have witnessed it? The thought made me sour.

“What are we cooking up?” Sylvia called out, still sounding haughty.

“I got some stir fry,” I replied, flatly.

“Every ingredient except the meat, babe.”

I exhaled, irritably. How did I forget the meat? “Um…I think we have some left in the freezer still.”

She didn’t answer straightaway. I could feel her stare on my back as I rested my elbows on the railing and continued to hunt this beautifully suited man down, but I knew I wasn’t going to find him. I knew I was simply crazy—

Except he had broken into Derek’s room and questioned him about me. Dude was lingering around. If he was asking Derek what he knew about me, it meant he was unravelling me like I itched to unravel him. Shame Sylvia barely gave me any insight into him.

But what did I really need to know more of? I had agreed to keep our secrets to ourselves. Besides, dude killed two men in one night, then proceeded to drug me, choke me while he fucked me to hell and back, and then discarded me like a used tissue.

I should have been enraged that he had the audacity to show his face—sort of—around. That he was meddling with Derek, asking questions about me.

Maybe he wants to kill you.

My fingers trembled from the terror of that thought, and yet…my core tightened at the same time as I relived the feeling of his cock buried inside me.

“What the fuck, Kali?” I whispered to myself. “What is wrong with you?”

So much.

Too much.

I was lusting after a murderer.

I needed help. Maybe I should schedule an appointment with those online doctors or something. Unlike waiting in line at a walk-in clinic, if I made an appointment that meant I couldn’t chicken out of it. What would I even say?

Hello, doctor, I have severe anxiety. I’m getting the same panic attacks I got when Aurora died, but I’m also feeling turned on. I think this dangerous man is following me, he’s poking around my life, and I’m probably going to get fired from my carer job because he broke and entered and scared the shit out of my employer. I’m scared, but my pussy is still throbbing for his cock because he sort of forcefully fucked me, but I consented in a fucked-up way. Do you have pills for that?

So fucked up.

“I didn’t know you found your phone,” Sylvia said next. “Did Labyrinth or that officer call you or something?”

Confused, I twisted around to look at her rummaging with the groceries in the kitchen. “I’m using my crappy old one.”

“Yeah, but I’m talking about the one you lost.”

“What about it?”

Now she looked at me like I was mental. “Uh…it’s right here in the grocery bag.”

My heart jumped as I raced inside, practically charging at the kitchen like a bull. “Where?”

---