Page 33 of Stalker's Toy

Mia closes her eyes.

Maybe she thinks it will help, but I know better.

The demons will just follow her into her dreams. “I lost everything.”

She opens her eyes.

“How did you end up here?” I ask, trying to split her open, to indulge in the world of getting to know someone, despite the fact that I already do. “In London?”

“I applied for an art scholarship. And got it.” Her voice catches. “Somehow.”

She runs her finger over her art, sighing wistfully.

“That’s how I ended up at the Slade School of Fine Art. Which is how I ended up here.” She blinks.

I don’t.

She swallows.

I don’t.

She keeps going, unable to stop herself.

I keep watching, unable to look away. “I already have my bachelor’s and now I’m a year into my master’s program.Debt-free.”

I nod.

“Before this, I worked at a pub.”

Before me, she was nothing.

After me, she’ll be even less.

“Somehow managing to keep my head above water. And then… you hired me to clean, so… now I’m here… I guess.”

“I’ve been planning a show for local students,” I say, watching her for a reaction. “Though there is a stipulation.”

Her voice is raw and amused. “You and your damn stipulations. What is it this time? Do I need to pose nude?”

She’s putting herself on the line.

She’s putting herself at my mercy, at my feet.

It’s where she belongs.

“No.” I leave a chasm between us.

A distance she can’t cross without falling. “Your body is for my eyes only, Mia.”

I watch her swallow hard.

I watch her come undone.

I let the silence strip us bare.

Her eyes meet mine, and the effect is devastating.

I should have mercy.

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