Page 24 of Crazy for You (Loco, Texas 1)

“Don’t move,” he snapped.

She sucked in her stomach as the knife sawed its way down until he parted Finn’s shirt, exposing her bare breasts and stomach.

“Please stop. Why are you doing this to me?”

“For so long, I have watched you. So unhappy. So lonely. An outsider like me. I would watch you sleep, the way your mouth relaxed and tilted into a small smile, just for me.” He ran his finger across her mouth for a split second before she jerked away.

He pulled his palm back and slapped her so hard, her ears rang and she tasted blood in her mouth. “You were mine. You were supposed to wait until I came for you, but you’re just like the others.”

“Others?” Her voice trembled as she stalled for time, praying Finn came back before it was too late. “Please, I have no idea who you are. I’ve never met you before. How was I supposed to know you liked me?”

“Never met me?” He slapped her again, his eyes blazing at her. “I showed you. I showed you every day. Didn’t you get my tokens?”

For some reason, his gaze softened, and his hand came up, trailing across the bare skin of her shoulder.

Resisting the urge to move away again, she thought about what he said. Tokens? Tokens? What was he talking about?

The rumble of a truck outside broke into her thoughts, and he cursed. He hadn’t found Finn’s gun, which had been a relief, but there was no way to know if Finn had it on him. She opened her mouth to warn Finn, but cool steel bit into the skin of her neck.

“Make a sound, and I’ll gut you in front of him.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks unbidden as she whimpered behind the hand that had covered her mouth. As she stared up at him, she racked her brain for who he was, how he knew her…

He pulled a rag from his back pocket, mopping at his brow, and it hit her like a ton of bricks. He was the new janitor at the high school, had only been there a few months. She had met him briefly one night when she had been working late and had barely spoken to him in passing, just a friendly hello here and there.

And then the apples had started showing up. Every day for the last few weeks, she had found a perfect red apple waiting for her on her desk. She had assumed it was one of her students, but none of them had admitted it.

“I know you now. You left me the apples.”

He jerked his gaze back to her, and she recognized the warning. If she didn’t shut up, she was dead.

But so was Finn.

The knob turned, and she felt a warm trickle of wetness on her neck. He had cut her.

“Hey, De, I’ve got food. How about we…”

Finn, loaded down with bags of groceries and a beautiful floral bouquet, had spotted them.

Oh Finn, I’m so sorry.

“Do not move,” her stalker said. God, my stalker. Who would have ever thought she would have a stalker? A crazy, homicidal stalker.

Finn hadn’t moved. His jaw ticked, and his gaze fixed on the man holding a knife on her. She tried to say she was sorry, but the janitor’s hand was still covering her mouth.

“She’s bleeding,” Finn stated quietly.

“It was just a little scratch. She’ll live. The question on your mind should be, will you?”

Finn’s mouth kicked up in a small smile. “I like my odds.”

The hand over her mouth moved, and he suddenly gripped her hair, yanking it hard. She cried out, and Finn dropped the bags to the floor.

“Don’t,” he growled, taking a step around the couch.

“If you come closer, she’s going to get a lot more than a scratch and a little hair pulling.”

Deana winced as her head was jerked again for effect. “Finn, he wants me, not you. Go.”

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