So, I don’t fight.
I get up and do as I’m told.
When I dare to gaze over, he’s on the bed, one arm behind his head. The ski mask with the skull is on his face, and he’s in all black, tactical boots on his feet as he crosses one leg over the other.
The only thing left bare is his arms beneath his short-sleeved shirt. They’re covered in dark tattoos, gripping his muscles tightly.
I swallow, looking at Bear, snoozing by the man’s feet like a traitor.
“Bring Bear. He won’t misbehave for me quite as much asyouwill. It’ll be nice to have one obedient creature in the house.”
Tears track down my cheeks as I grab all my things.
He leads me out the back of Allison’s house and loads Bear and me into a beat-up pickup truck. I look at Allison’s house as the life I knew fades away, blending into the shadows as we drive further.
I hold Bear tightly in my lap as the man shifts gears, picking up speed as we head out of town.
The sandalwood scent of my stalker, my once-victim, washes over me and keeps my heart racing as life as I know it changes forever.
10
GREER
His house is a small cabin in the middle of the national forest surrounding Oakland. I thought we’d never stop driving, and the deeper he took me, the more my heart leapt with fear.
There’s smoke coming from the chimney and light spilling through the front window.
If I didn’t know who lived inside, it would look picturesque—like a vacation spot.
There’s a fern hanging from the ceiling at the porch entrance, giving the illusion that this man cannot only take away life but also maintain it.
Putting the truck in park, he sighs behind his mask. “When I let you out of this truck, you will do as you’re told. If not, you remember how much I like punishing you when you misbehave. No one will hear your screams out here, which means that I’m not limited to what I can do to you. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “I understand.”
His black eyes narrow behind his mask. “Get out and go wait for me on the porch.”
Listening, I open the door with a shaky hand and drag my bag out with me.
Bear follows him out the driver’s door, and my heart breaks to see him go.
It seems my stalker has a special bond with my dog. How could he not? He’s been sneaking into my house and doing god only knows what while I’m in a fog of drugs for years.
With a tight grip on my bag, I stand on the porch, watching my stalker take Bear to do his business before striding toward me.
I’ve been trying like hell to recall any of his features. His face is a blur to me as I try to remember his lifeless body lying on the pavement behind my car.
His eyes are all that have haunted my dreams for years.
Though even now, they seem dead, like there’s too much haunting him for life to bleed into their depths.
“Good girl,” he says, dropping his nose to my hair. He inhales. “Keep that up, you might earn yourself a reward.”
I turn to follow him inside, willing my feet to move as fear ripples through me.
Allison is going to find me, I remind myself.
She has connections all over the state.
