I will see you tomorrow.
In person.
This time, the pause is a full ten-minute stop, and I imagine them freaking out on the other side of the screen.
I haven’t found them yet, haven’t even started looking really… But if I were a betting woman, I’d wager a large sum of money on them not covering any tracks. They likely thought they’d never need that kind of protection.
Locke:
Good.
I smile up at the camera as I type, trusting my memory to guide my fingers over the keyboard.
Eris:
Do I even know who you are?
Do I want you?
Are you mine?
Or am I just another user testing your limits?
I close the app before they can reply and toss my phone onto the couch as I wander back into my bedroom. Roo is still straightening her hair, so I sit at my vanity and start my makeup.
I’m not avoiding HimLock because I’m afraid of the truth, but because I’m not sure which version of the truth I’ll believe right now.
And because I’m done being handled.
I’m not quite as dangerous as Roo, but I’m not as soft as I appear, either.
I’m not the woman who gets intimidated by a nepo baby in heels… Or the woman who curls up and cries over a stalker. Or the woman who lets someone else decide the narrative.
While having stalkers isn’t ideal, I’m in a much better place to deal with them than most of the population.
If the country club princess thinks she can make me jealous of someone she’s clearly already lost… Then she doesn’t understand who she just challenged.
I like them, for some ungodly reason, so she should be thankful that when I take them out of her grasp, I’m doing it because I want them… not because the petty monster inside my chest demands retribution.
Although I will also be petty.
I grab my leather jacket and a shade of lipstick I only wear when I’m done being polite.
Roo comes out, adjusting her earrings absently, and stops when she sees me. Wicked delight crawls across her features.
“Damn,” she purrs, circling me and smacking my ass. “What’s this look?”
“I think I’ll call it reprisal,” I answer, snorting when she shakes her head. “How about revenge?”
“Ah, that’s my favorite color.” She grins, bumping me with her elbow. “Doesn’t it just feel so… Crimson coded?”
I smile as I nod, her words settling in the center of my chest.
The hunt has officially changed direction.
And it’s time to show everyone who the apex predator is.
“She’s wearing new lipstick.”
