Since he had this weird sun allergy or sensitivity or whatever, I wasn’t surprised. I mean, if I could only go out at night—or in the evenings—I’d sleep during the day too.
The problem was that my newfound schedule meant I was the opposite of a night owl. I was an early riser. An involuntary one, but still.
I groaned and grabbed my phone again.
Okay.
So, I’d stayed the night for the first time. And it’d been a lot more uneventful than in my imagination. In my mind, we’d have hot morning sex, then we’d shower and trade lazy blow jobs, and we’d finish by eating breakfast while chatting about our upcoming day.
Instead, I was the only one awake, and if I wanted morning sex, I’d probably have to wait another six to seven hours. Which would make it afternoon sex, right?
And no matter how much I liked Eric, I couldn’t just stay in bed next to him doing nothing for half a day. I mean, he and Bennie had offered that I could just chill in the living room or the library. I could play video games or read or… whatever. As long as I kept the curtains in front of the windows at all times.
The thing was, that felt weird.
If I knew Bennie better—you know, for more than one night—I might feel comfortable hanging out alone here, but the reality was that I was in a strange place all alone while everyone else was sleeping.
That felt all kinds of wrong to me.
Also, I needed to get home.
A shiver ran down my spine, my pulse speeding up.
What if there was a new note waiting for me? What if the stalker had seen me running away last night? Would he be… mad that I’d run scared? Glad because he was getting to me? Or even… apologetic? Like the one time he’d scared me by gifting me the tea?
I raked a hand through my hair, tugging at the strands.
What did it even matter what he was feeling?
It didn’t.
Because I was done.
I was done running scared. I was done letting him get to me. I was just done with it all.
I needed to go home—especially because a part of me didn’t want to. A part of me wanted to say fuck the weirdness and stay on Eric’s comfy-as-fuck couch, buried under a pile of blankets, and ignore the world outside.
Soo… I pulled my hoodie over my head, the heavy cotton a comfortable weight on my shoulders. Then I turned to Eric’s bed, a smile on my lips as my screen lightly illuminated my boyfriend’s sleeping form.
Caressing his cheek, I leaned in and placed a kiss on his forehead. His skin was a bit cool, so I carefully pulled up the comforter, neatly tucking him in, then whispered a last goodbye to him and quietly exited the bedroom.
The hallway appeared even darker than his room, so I shook my phone, the movement activating the flashlight.
As I climbed down the stairs, the faint scent of pizza hit my nose, and my stomach rumbled appreciatively. To my surprise, it hadn’t been upset by the pizza or by that can of Coke. Then again, I was still swallowing those damn pills, so I guess they really worked.
Which meant I could probably get away with eating a bit of leftover pizza for breakfast. Bennie had said he’d put it in the fridge, so…
I probably shouldn’t. Especially since I hadn’t brought my meds with me, and I was supposed to take them first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and then wait for an hour until I ate anything.
But… pizza.
I’d spent weeks eating nothing but bland food. Steamed veggies, steamed rice, steamed chicken… steamed anything.
How bad could a slice of pizza in the morning be?
It’s not like I’d immediately start puking blood again, right?
Right.
