I watch him take the first sip. The look on his face is all the thanks I need.
Everything is exactly the way it should be.
14
SEBASTIAN
I sit at the table, feeling like I’m still stuck in a dream.
One I can’t wake up from.
Worse, I’m not sure I want to.
This morning, I woke with the vague, disorienting sense that I made a terrible mistake.
Then, for one hopeful, delusional second, I considered the possibility that last night was a dream. A stress-induced hallucination. A nightmare layered on top of another nightmare.
But when I shifted, the stickiness around my genitals answered that question decisively.
I lifted the covers to discover I was naked. Memories rushed through. I remembered kicking off my sweatpants and boxers, Ivy’s hand wrapped around my dick.
I groan and drag a hand down my face.
Not a dream. Absolutely not a dream.
I stare at the ceiling, cataloging sensations like evidence at a crime scene. My body remembers far too much, far too vividly, and none of it feels appropriately regretful.
This is bad. Very bad.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and immediately regret every life choice that led me here—including the one where I let my stalker comfort me after a nightmare.
Correction: not just comfort. She gave me an orgasm. And vice versa.
I scrub my hands over my face, then head for the shower like I can rinse the entire situation down the drain.
Under the hot spray, the memory hits in fragments—her hands, her mouth, the way she said my name like it meant something. The way she makes me forget every internal safeguard I’ve spent years perfecting.
I rest my forehead against the tile.
Rule one:Do not get involved with people who stalk you.
Broken.
Rule two:Do not blur boundaries after being emotionally vulnerable.
Annihilated.
Rule three—recently drafted, but important:Do not let your stalker sleep in your bed.
I exhale sharply.
Apparently, I need better rules.
The water runs hot over my shoulders as I mentally draft amendments like a man who absolutely cannot be trusted with impulse control.
No more kissing.
No more late-night closeness.
