Page 19 of The Villain

“You’re delusional. Go back to bed.”

She laughs and sweetly says goodbye.

Shade

I pick it up before it finishes the first ring.

“Well?” I demand.

“The coffee shop the day after tomorrow. She said you can pick the time.” Tera sounds exhausted and my conscience hits me. I deflect it and keep going.

“Five thirty.”

“Ok,” she sighs. “I’m going to give you a few warnings.”

“Ok?” I try to sound impatient but inside I’m all ears. Any info I can get is good info. I haven’t been able to find shit about her. I’m looking forward to cloning her phone so I get full access. She just thinks she knows how to stalk someone.

“She’s not happy that you’ve been interrupting my sleep and she wants you dead over it.”

That’s… not good.

Shit.

“She said she would behave but don’t push it, Shade. She’s going to be tired and cranky.”

“Should I make it later?” I ask defensively.

What the fuck am I doing? I never backtrack with Tera or anyone else yet I’m quick to change things around for her?

“It won’t help,” she assures me.

“She’s ready to gut you,” Max laughs.

“Why am I on speakerphone?” I grit out. If she didn’t have something I wanted I would hang up right now. She usually warns me when the line isn’t safe.

“Because I want witnesses to you being weird. Why are you so obsessed all of a sudden? You wanted her gone and she listened to you. She hasn’t done anything, and I’ve apologized a million times for asking her to do it.”

That’s just it. She listened to me. I’ve been regretting it ever since. I’ve been trained that my demands won’t get met so this threw me. A lot.

I thought she wouldn’t care. That she would keep on doing it whether I liked it or not. I was a job that she was refusing to quit because it was easy. I could fuck with her, just like she was with me. It would prove she was like everyone else and I was nothing to her. Obsession over.

Talking to Tera when she called to vent about me making her leave proved me wrong.

South was serious about it. She was losing sleep following me around and trying to work at the same time. All the expensive fucking drinks every morning and I never thanked her. All the random food deliveries weren’t Tera, like I thought. She had no idea what I was talking about when I brought up her not needing to do it anymore.

It was all South. Doing her best to take care of me while obeying Tera’s no contact rule. I wish Tera had never given her that one. Would she have talked to me? I won’t know until I meet her.

When I don’t answer, Tera gets firm with me. “Ok, be on your best behavior. No insults. No telling her to eff off because she will. She won’t hesitate.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to talk about?” I blurt out without thinking it through.

“You don’t have a plan?” Max sounds like he can’t catch his breath for all the laughter.

“Why are you meeting her if you don’t have a plan?” Tera asks in a bewildered tone.

I just want to see her. Face to face and not teasing each other with hide and seek the stalker version. I want to know her. To have her attention on me to see if it’s as good as I think it is or if I’m deluding myself. I want everything.

“Do you like her?” Tera sounds like she’s getting excited.

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