The picture isn’t grainy, as if he had to zoom in. It’s angled in such a way that it looks like he was walking only feet away from me.
“Roo,” I call quietly.
My tone catches her attention immediately, and she glances around us, instantly on guard. “What? What’s wrong?”
I turn my phone so she can see what has my skin crawling.
Her worried expression drops like a stone, morphing into something bloodthirsty and livid. “Is that?—?”
“Daniel,” I confirm, nodding as I study the crowded sidewalk at her back.
“We’re leaving,” she tells me, snatching her purse over her head so it sits across her body. “Now.”
Back at Roo’s townhouse, I drop onto the couch like my bones are full of bees. I’m buzzing so much I feel as if I’ll vibrate right into the floor. All this adrenaline needs an outlet.
But murder isn’t an option at this moment.
“I didn’t even go home until this morning,” I say as I watch Roo pace like a feral animal. “So, he followed me from the bar last night, and then he waited for me to leave. How else would he know when I left if he wasn’t waiting?”
“He’s pushing it again,” she all but growls. “Do you want to call the cops?”
“And tell them what?” I ask with too much calm. “My unblocked ex sent a creepy text and a photo of me on a public street? If I bring him under that much attention, then I’ll have to ask Gem to clear it from the records, and I don’t really want to owe a favor.”
“Block him.”
“I have. Three times in the first week. He keeps changing numbers.”
She curses under her breath as she paces laps through her townhouse. There is no talking to her when she’s thinking like a wild animal. But I suspect before the day is over, she’ll have worked out how we’ll dismember his body and where we’ll leave the pieces.
I open the app… because I’m a sucker with nothing better to do.
Eris:
He texted me again. And he sent a picture.
How is he always one step ahead? I can’t figure it out. He’s not good with tech, so I’m assuming it’s just regular stalking…
Whatever that looks like.
The reply comes instantly.
Locke:
Because he’s obsessed. And he has no rules.
But I do.
My brows lift, a surprised smile crawling across my lips.
Eris:
Ahhh, still here, huh?
Are you pretending you’re not as obsessed as he is? Or is that where your rules come in?
Like… You’ll watch me through the cameras you installed in my apartment, but you won’t take still images of me because that crosses your boundary?
Locke:
