Page 12 of Unmasking Her Shadow

Swooping up the spare key she has hidden in a flower pot, I let myself in. I don’t have time to waste climbing through the window. Although it is more fun. Adds to the thrill. I already know she’s in the tub. Ignoring me. I have cameras covering every inch of this house. My heart races the second I see her. Utter perfection. Her hair is on top of her head, but she sank so far into the tub that part of it got wet, anyway. She can’t hear my footsteps as I stalk toward her. Unaware of the storm she just brewed.

She hums, and a grin spreads across her face as if she didn’t just try brushing me off. Brushing us off. As if last night wasn’t the best thing that has ever happened to both of us. I grasp a handful of hair as I shove her head underwater. She flails. Water sloshes over the sides. Her nails do nothing to penetrate my gloves and jacket. I yank her up, allow her to get a breath, and force her back under. When I pull her up again, I keep my hand in her hair and crane her neck to look up at me, pulling the earbuds from her ears and tossing them to the ground. Her eyes are wild and she’s panting.

“What—” she starts, but I cut her off with a tug on her hair.

“You lost your privilege to speak first after you silenced me.”

A tear drips down her cheek, and I wipe it away with my thumb. “Baby girl, if you had asked or even checked your bank account, you would have seen that the money you paid through that fucking app was refunded. You…I want you.” Relief washes across her face, and I slip my hand under the water, cupping her pussy.

“Give me a color.” The voice changer hides the plea behind the command. I love watching her come. I need to watch her come. To know that this is just the beginning and I haven’t lost her already. She opens and closes her mouth, unable to speak the word. “You don’t have to hide anymore. Not around me. Never around me. Show me your fangs when you come, little wolf.”

“G-Green,” she whimpers, and I dip a finger inside her, then another, and another. Her lips part and her eyelids flutter closed when I rub her clit with my thumb. Just when she’s about to fall apart on my fingers, I push her head underwater again. She thrashes and comes, clawing at my arms and pulsing around my fingers. I watch her face through the water, pleasure of my own coursing through my body just from watching her break apart for me.

Water spews from her lips when I release her, and she rises, gasping for air and coughing. I want to kiss her. Fuck do I want to feel her lips on mine. I spin around and leave, a trail of water following me. I need a release of my own before I murder someone.

My bike is hidden in the woods behind her house, near a deer trail that pops out on the opposite side. She picked the perfect house for me to be able to sneak in and out freely. Even if her neighbors did see me, they wouldn’t actually see me. They are too far away. The air penetrates my wet clothing, sending chills over my heated body. But it does nothing to cool the inferno burning deep within.

“Why the fuck are you wet?” Ryker blurts out as I walk past him.

“You don’t want to know,” I clip, walking straight to my bedroom and stripping off my clothes.

I grab my two essentials—my laptop and my vibrator. The tension in my body dissipates the second that vibration hits my clit. Like taking your first breath of air after coming underwater. She’s in the bathtub, staring at the ceiling like it holds all the answers. Just imagining kissing her after I dragged her out of the water causes my pussy to spasm, milking nothing but air. I seal my lips tight but force my eyelids to stay parted, watching the screen.

Before the wave can fully recede, she rises from the water. My good god, she’s fucking perfection. I don’t remove the toy from between my legs. She seizes my body, and I smack my hand over my mouth, silencing the eruption inside of me.

I’m hers. Irrevocably hers. She just doesn’t know it yet.

11

Sam

Phantom_Shadow: I’ll give you time to come to terms that you belong to me now. Think of every single thing you want me to do to you and anything that is red.

That was the last message the Phantom Shadow sent me. Three days ago. After he held my life in his hands again. And I liked it. I was so damn sore, but the pain only heightened every touch. A shadow indeed. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder as if that shadow is following my every movement. Am I worried that he knows my address? Yes…and no. The fear only turns me on more. The only thing nagging me is…if he knows where I live, is he someone I already know? Or was I so deep wallowing in self-pity afterwards that I didn’t notice him following behind me?

“Miss Rivers,” Pike yells down the hall for me, and I jump.

“I thought you said he was out today?” I whisper-shout at Ryker. He doesn’t respond, but the smirk he gives me tells me everything. This is him getting back at me for almost making him fall off the treadmill.

His captain walks in carrying a large flowerpot. The plant almost covers his face from my view.

Ki walks in behind him, chuckling. “You weren’t kidding,” she directs at her partner, and I narrow my eyes at him.

“Snitch,” I mumble under my breath, and he puts his sweaty arm around my shoulders. Ki’s eyes follow the movement and then flick to his as they walk towards where I’m smoothing out wallpaper that has a giant boho sun on it. I shrug off his arm and turn to face my…boss.

“Pray tell, what are you doing?” Pike asks, slightly annoyed but not mad, which is a positive sign.

I couldn’t sit around with my crazed thoughts floating about to keep me company, so I came to the station early to…decorate.

“If you surround people with gloom, they will feel…meh. Surround them with sunshine and they will smile,” I explain my thoughts and smile widely at him. I may have also scattered plants and flowers throughout the offices, along with pretty rugs and a few paintings. “Nothing I did is permanent. This wallpaper,” I gesture behind me. “It’s just peel and stick. It’s easy to remove, but I really hope you don’t. I worked really hard on it.” I clasp my hands together and rest them under my chin, giving him the best puppy-dog eyes I can, which briefly takes my mind to when my shadow called me pup.

“You are a young version of my wife if I’ve ever seen one.” He hands Ki the pot from his office, and she takes it awkwardly. “Fine, but no more,” he gives in and walks back out of the gym.

Ki places the plant next to the large sun that is now on the wall. “I’m Kioni, but you can call me Ki.” She extends her hand towards me. “We didn’t get to officially meet the last time you were here.”

“I’m just Sam.” Her hand lingers in mine for several heartbeats before she pulls it away, the corner of her lip twitching.

“I don’t think you are just anything.” Her voice sends shivers across my body.