Page 3 of Stalked

I backed away from the open door and watched as the crowd grew around her. Though it was the only way she would not suffer, I wanted to stop it from happening. How could I watch the woman I loved die in front of me?

I silently crept out and followed the crowd as if I were just another greedy peasant waiting for Death’s show. They brought her onto a platform and pulled a noose around her neck that dangled from a large oak tree.

A man standing next to me shouted, “Witch! Witch!”

“Hang her now!” another bellowed.

Mercy stood calmly on the platform, scanning the faces of the rage-fueled villagers as if taking in their bloodlust and religious fervor. Her eyes were shining, but she did not weep, nor did she scream for her life. Instead, they fell upon my face, and her lips twitched just a little. A small smile for me and my grief.

I looked into her eyes one last time and whispered, “Come back to me, Mercy. Promise you’ll come back to me.”

CHAPTER 1

Mercy

Present Day

THE FRAGRANCE OFcologne stung my senses as a man hustled by toward the kegs in the far-right room. I craned my neck to look up at the tall spiral staircase, watching my best friend Riley head to the second floor of the fraternity house. Snuggling up under his armpit was a dainty blonde girl with an hourglass figure and long, slender legs.

My anxious heartbeat thumped against my ribcage when I realized I was alone again. I massaged my thighs nervously, swallowing down my spit to moisten my achingly dry throat.

It was then I realized I’d had way too much to drink and going to the party was an idiotic idea.

The Kappa Nu fraternity house was one of the few homes off campus near Brown University. They decorated the walls with old yellow wallpaper with sand-sized golden dots covering it from floor to ceiling. It made it appear as if tiny stars were glimmering around the room. All the antique furniture and paintings gave it character—but the old rustic piano that stood proudly in the corner of the room appeared out of place. It didn’t belong in a room filled with boisterous men getting drunk and coked out on a Friday night.

This may have been the last night of my junior year at Brown, but I still had another year left before I graduated. Everyone here would see me again, and this would be their last memory over the summer until the fall semester. Too drunk and having a silent panic attack.

I looked up from my jeans and cocked my head to the right as a well-built man came sauntering over to me. All black clothing covered his body, with tattoos reaching from his elbow to his chin. His bulky muscles strained against the way-too-small shirt he tucked tightly into his pants. The flutter in my stomach clenched again as he bent his knee to be at eye level with me.

“Mercy Brawling,” he hummed, his cheekbones stretching high into a smile. “Are you still alive in there?”

It gave me a sense of pleasure that I couldn’t remember his name after the fifth time he had reminded me that night. With the number of times I had told him to leave me the fuck alone, it surprised me he was still around, trying to make small talk.

“You …” My voice trailed off, trying desperately to search my hazy memory for what he had called himself earlier that night.

“Nick,” he said, as if reading my thoughts. His eyes heated as his cocky smile dropped. “Let me take you upstairs to sleep this off.” Nick reached out, trying to grab my arm, but I slapped it away.

That wasn’t what he wanted to do with me up there.

“Whoa, buddy,” I said. That shiver of fear had rippled up my spine again. My instincts screamed throughout my body to move, to get up, but the damn alcohol kept my limbs numb.

Run, my thoughts yelled.Get out!

The stone-cold look on his face at the rejection caused every hair on my body to stand straight. I had seen him several times around campus. Never knew his name, though. He was notorious for being a total dick to women, and apparently, that night, I was his new conquest.

Not a chance, asshole.

I met his gaze and flashed him a mocking smile, all the while trying to adjust my shirt higher on my chest so he couldn’t look at my cleavage. The expression on Nick’s face was predatory at this point, and I could see his hand balled into a tight fist.

Sheer panic suddenly flooded me when my eyes searched the room. It was empty. All the partygoers had moved on to the kitchen for what sounded like beer pong. My girlfriends, Shannon and Cami, were nowhere to be found.

Fucking hell, did they leave me?

Nick leaned forward until his lips touched my ear, his fingers wrapping around my thighs. “Let me get you some water, then.” After removing one hand from my thigh, he placed the tip of his index finger under my chin to tilt it up, forcing me to look at his pretty face.

The only thoughts going through my head at this moment were that the room was starting to spin and that I really should have eaten something before I started drinking. My stomach churned.

“I think I’m going to be sick, so you might want to back up,” I told him, squinting my eyes, but it only worsened the spins.

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