When I didn’t say anything, he continued talking. “I’ve always been obsessed with you, Av. There hasn’t been a fucking moment I didn’t want to be in your presence. First as your brother, but then it changed. It got intense. I hated listening to you talk about other boys at school. I couldn’t stand the thought of you going on dates or… kissing someone else.” He was breathing heavily, like even just talking about it was getting him worked up. “When I saw you touch yourself for the first time, I realized I wasn’t just a protective older stepbrother. Iwantedyou. All to myself.”
I blinked slowly. “You… you saw me touch myself?”
He nodded once. “I warned you how fucked up I was, how deeply embedded you are inside me.”
My heart was pounding loudly in my ears. “Is that the worst of it?”
He tilted his head. “You won’t like it.”
I shrugged.
His eyes darkened with something dangerous. “You want the truth?”
I nodded.
He leaned in, close enough to feel his breath on my mouth. I bit my bottom lip, taking notice of the way my body was ready to roll into him, unaware I was hunting for answers, not sex.
“I’ve been watching you for years. When you weren’t home, I’d sneak into your room, go through your stuff, breathe in your smell, lie in your bed. When you were home, I watched you eat. I watchedyou sleep. Fuck, even when my dad kicked me out, I couldn’t stop. You have no idea how many nights I stood outside your window, wanting to climb inside and get into bed with you.”
“Wait. Your dad told us youwantedto move out. Why would he kick you out?”
“He caught me watching you.”
“Watching me what?”
“Touch yourself.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
I recoiled. “Tom saw me?” I shook my head. My stomach churned. “Oh my God. I can never look him in the eyes again. Oh my God.”
“He didn’t see you,” he said in a low, possessive voice. “I blocked the door. I wasn’t going to share you with anyone. He’s lucky he’s my dad. I might’ve beaten the shit out of him otherwise.”
“Jesus, Rowen,” I muttered, heart thundering.
“You’ve always been mine,” he stated plainly.
I didn’t say anything, couldn’t even if I tried. This was so fucking fucked up. Rowen had been watching me foryears. He’d snuck into my room and watched me sleep. He’d been there the whole time. I just didn’t know.
I shoved his hands off me and slid down from the counter, my bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor.
I needed space.
Air.
Distance.
He just stood there, calm as could be, like we’d just been discussing the weather and not his years of stalking.
“This is—you’reinsane,” I breathed, backing away with my hand on my forehead, feeling lightheaded. “God, Rowen. You snuck into my room. You laid in my fucking bed. You watched metouch myself? What the fuck? Oh my God. You realize how crazy this sounds?”
“I do.” He was so fucking calm, it made me want to scream and pull my hair out.
My chest was heaving, knuckles white as I fisted them at my sides.
“You didn’t say anything. You didn’t tell me. No, you just… watched, like a fucking psychopath waiting for the perfect time.”
He stared me down, a smirk on his face. “You still gave in. Even once you knew, you still let me do all those things to you.”
He took a step toward me, but I couldn’t make myself move.
