Page 21 of The Ripper

His job at the Laundromat was supposed to ground him before he would become my second in command upon my promotion, but the lunatic asked to run the place because he liked to deal with murder after the fact, leaving me to find a replacement for a position that was rightfully his.

Fucking asshole.

“You should ask him yourself,” I said, giving him a pointed stare which was meant to scold him, upon which he wrinkled his nose.

“I did, he said I should call him when I come to my senses and return to claim my birthright,” he rolled his eyes.

“If you ever want it, Klaus, it’s yours,” I softened my voice as much as I could. “How much do I owe you?” I asked, reaching for the checkbook I had in my jacket pocket.

“As if I’d ever take your money,” he flipped me off and laughed as I looked at my phone again.

“I owe you one,” I said as I walked towards my car.

“Try fifteen, asshole,” he shouted behind me.

*

I parked in front of her building, seeing that the lights in her apartment were still on, her bedroom window wide open. It looked inviting, and I was tempted to take a peek into her world, but I didn’t. Instead, I preferred to wait until I could catch a glimpse of her, if only for a second.

Soon enough, she came into view, walking out onto the balcony wrapped in a fucking towel, her long, wet hair falling down her back and around her face. She sat down on the small wooden bench, lit a joint and crossed her legs, then scrolled through her phone, not realizing she was being watched.

Whatever happened during her shift was so bad that she needed weed to sleep, because Arella only smoked when she was really stressed or sad, and I would have bet my life on the latter.

Still, I wanted to punish her for flaunting herself like that, so openly for everyone to see, and at the same time, I also wanted to worship at her feet for offering me such a delectable image.

I bit down on my fist as temptation lurked, then I snapped a photo of her for later and opened my messages.

As I was typing, I suddenly froze, eyes wide as I realized what I was doing. I quickly deleted the text. The day would come when I could write to her whenever I wanted, but that day was not today, so I leaned back in my seat, content with only looking at her.

I sighed and closed my eyes, thinking about my options, because I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my distance.

CHAPTER 5

GLOBE THISTLE BLUE

ARELLA

I was being watched.

I was becoming more and more aware of that fact every day.

There were two options, I either had a guardian angel or a stalker, because every time I went out with a new guy, a photo of him doing something incriminating would randomly pop up into my inbox, like one where he would have his tongue down another woman’s throat, or he would disappear from my life altogether, as if he never existed, without so much as a breakup message.

I didn’t mind the stalker though, as he only seemed to be protecting me from sleaze bags and not interfering in other aspects of my otherwise boring life.

Sometimes he sent me food, like last night after the horrible experience in the parking lot when I came home to find a bag from my favorite Chinese restaurant on my doormat with a note that said:

“You’ve been neglecting yourself.

G.”

Well, G, thanks for noticing.

Whoever this G was, he hadn’t left me any notes until last night, which meant something had triggered him, and I wondered if he was there when it happened.

I rolled onto my side and looked at the time, then my eyes ran over the handprint on my forearm. It was but a red stain last night as the blood had rushed to the spot, but because the hemoglobin had degraded during the night, it was now deep purple, and I shivered at the memory of his rough hands on me.

I sighed.

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