Page 11 of Stalker

I don’t know.

She thought avoiding the real answers would give her something. Perhaps protection from the truth, or even maybe a bit of her sanity, I wasn’t sure. But until she had the answers and was willing to give them, I couldn’t make a move.

Well then. Until you find the answers or the bravery to give them, goodbye P.

She sank back into the cushions again as I remotely closed our blank conversation window and resumed her dirty movie, but she paid it no mind. She knew nothing about me, yet I’d be on her mind for a while, nonetheless.

Which was exactly what I wanted.

Chapter 4 – Peyton

Istared at the blinking cursor in the blank message bubble before suddenly the entire thing disappeared. Poof. One minute, the most complex and terrifying thing was right in front of me, and then it was gone like it never happened.

Did it happen?

Did I imagine the entire bizarre interaction?

After exiting the porn video I had been engrossed in, I completely left the dirty site and then opened the anti-virus software that my sister had installed on my computer when I bought it. I ran a scan to check for any security problems.

But I had a feeling even before it was done, there’d be nothing new to find. Something about the blank chat window and the creepy messages already told me there would be no trace of its sender.

And something about that intrigued me, as well as terrified me. Someone knew what I was doing at that exact moment, down to the scene playing on the video in front of me. Yet I was alone.

I was always alone.

I closed my laptop, running the messages back through my head while I tried to decipher something from them that would give me a clue as to the sender. And the entire time I was doing that, I heard my monster’s voice in my head with his last warning from earlier tonight during my nap.

Be ready for me when you wake up. Because you’ve always been mine, and I’m done sharing you.

My monster. His warning had been make-believe, something dreamed up in slumber from some deranged part of my psyche. Despite my longing for him in real life, I was educated enough to know that it wasn’t possible.

And then there was the messenger. Though he didn’t just give me a message, he dove deep into the hidden parts of me I thought only I knew. Maybe he knew more about me than I could fathom.

Maybe he was a stalker.

Two different men playing with my life.

Both were dangerous, real or not.

Both were also the only things that made me feel alive for as long as I could remember.

I swallowed down the heat that rose in my stomach where fear should have been. I should have been terrified that someone hacked into my computer to watch me search for porn. Instead, I was fucking horny.

“Get a fucking grip, P.” I groaned, standing up and pushing my laptop under the couch. I didn’t need to leave it open so my stalker could watch me through the webcam.

I paused as that thought crossed my brain and heated my blood even more.

Nope, we’re not doing a free cam show. I shook my head and forced my feet to take me away from the offensive piece of technology before I did something stupid. The internet was for forever, after all.

I knew I was too wired up to sleep, thanks to the impromptu nap earlier, even though I had my first real day of work for Mr. Lincoln in the morning. Suddenly, a better idea came to mind, one that would prevent me from becoming a perversion for anyone’s personal gratification. In a hurry, I switched into my bikini in my bathroom and grabbed an extra bath towel.

As I passed by the couch, I looked over at the blue blinking light of my laptop from underneath it, beckoning me back to it while I wondered if my stalker would reappear if I did. But I refrained from giving into temptation and went out the front door of the guest house instead.

The night was hot and muggy still as I walked up the brick path to the peaceful water of the large, in-ground pool. I leaned over the side and dipped my toes into it, sighing when the cool water lapped at them. “I can indulge. It’s allowed.” I reminded myself as I glanced up at the main house above the pool for any sign of Mr. Lincoln.

I didn’t know when he was due to return, but I doubted he would wander out to the pool in the middle of the night if he did. Didn’t old people go to bed early?

My dad always fell asleep in his recliner with the ten pm news.