Page 12 of Scary Suitor

“If you scream, you’ll wake your friend,” he notes, hand slotting behind my neck to lift my limp body to his chest. “She hasn’t met me yet, and it’s for the best.”

A vulgar, despicable part of me wants her to meet him—to force a connection between them until his obsession with me turns to her.

Finny is beautiful and kind. She radiates happiness with a character that makes people laugh. She may be blunt and insensitive at times, but there will always be compassion in her tone.

She is my friend, but he’s my stalker.

Don’t look, don’t look, don’t—

The wicked glow of green flits to Finny’s sleeping form. The breath of air I try sucking in gets caught in a hitch. His face smudges from above me as my eyes burn with tears, and his piercing gaze almost immediately gleams with spite.

“We’ll talk outside,” he whispers, kissing my temple.

I can see the fuzzy glimpse of formless patterns on his arms as he stands from the bed. My body nearly topples back without his support, noting the uneven strength in my arms as I swing my legs to the edge.

I bite my lip, stopping a tattered scream from resonating throughout the apartment building.

Cassio could have a weapon on him, but the bulging muscles on his body say he has no problem using them to his advantage. With a sharper mind, I test out various ways to get him out of the apartment and keep Finny in the dark about it.

Having privacy invaded wouldn’t sit well with anyone.

“Put your shoes on,” Cassio mumbles, his head turning to the kitchen counter where the knives are hanging beside the wooden cutting board.

“Where are you taking me?” I delicately clear my croaking voice.

“Home,” he says simply.

The stunning lines of tattoos bring out the brilliance of his green eyes when he bends at the waist to pick up my work bag.

“You live next door, don’t you?” he asks, rhetorical.

I shouldn’t be surprised, yet my heart slams behind my ribs as it blindsides me. What else does he know? Fear rolls in riptides, crashing with the clatters in my ears as he motions me to step out the door.

The hallway never looked so ominous.

“I’m just taking you home,” he insists, eyes devoid of emotions.

With a clench of my fist to my gut, I press my trembling knuckles there to ease the churn of pain. My voice locks away a genuine reaction behind an erratic breath that I manage to swallow with taxing force.

“You said you wanted to talk,” I mumble, taking the rest of my energy tonotbring up his illegal entry to Finny’s home.

Being an asshole on the date didn’t work in my favor. Normal people find dismissive answers and uninterested scoffs a red flag.

Honestly, Cassio is a scarlet kingdom.

It’s impossible to shake the dreadful feeling when he stares with steely interest. Finny’s door closing guzzles the last bit of my confidence, claustrophobia toeing wordlessly over us as he ushers me to my apartment door.

“Don’t worry,” he consoles, with a key in hand.

This time, I’m not surprised. Why should I be? Having my key, the lost one or cloned, is the least despicable thing he has done.

“It’s not the first time you’ve been in here,” I blurt, finishing his unspoken words.

It’s confirmed when his eyes widen fleetingly before his lips tug into a grin. His demeanor consumes the lies when he denies my accusation. He shamelessly makes himself at home, expression softening as he turns to me.

Like a husband welcoming his wife back home with a shared kiss at the door.

My feet freeze to the ground, goosebumps slithering to my toes as I stare at the shoes neatly stacked on the rack. They were messily kicked to the side when I ran late this morning for work.

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