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Watched.
Again.
I felt it last night, too.
It sounds crazy in a city of ten million people. There’s always going to be someone behind or in front of you, andsomeonewatching you, even if they’re just on their way home or staring absently on the subway.
But this is different.
I turn and look maybe a dozen times on the way home, but there’s either an empty sidewalk or people doing what people do. Today it is trying to stay out of the rain.
The feeling follows me all the way home and into my little apartment. The building’s secure. I feel safe enough when I draw the bolts on my front door and check the windows.
Sheesh. Now would be a good time to have someone James’ size around. It might send a message to whoever’s been following me that there’s a man twice their size waiting to teach ’em a lesson if they keep it up. Especially if he had another one of his mood swings. I’m assuming he can deliver the goods as well as just look scary when he’s mad.
Dozens of people live in my building, but apart from Iris and Phil, I don’t really know anyone here. I moved to the city from nowheresville right before I met Iris, and that brought me to where I am today.
No family or friends back home either, so when I feel like a big, little girl in an even bigger city, I realize I have absolutely no one to turn to. I feel alone and isolated in this world.
I could call Iris, but I’ll see her in the morning.
Just keep busy. Think about anything except being followed.
Or James.
I shower and change into my around-the-house clothes, feeling a little better puttering around in my not-so-little-anymore garden, taking up most of the apartment.
I get it looking pretty nice by the time my stomach’s groaning for food. Being cashed up, it’s a no-brainer to order pizza and ice cream, resolving to spend the rest of the night binging on some shows I haven’t had time to catch up on.
But that feeling of being watched lingers, even way past my usual bedtime.
Peering out the shutters into the dark, I see the rain-soaked streets below. I can’t see anything, let alone if anyone’s lurking in the shadows. I reason if there was some kind of homicidal maniac stalking me, they’d either have got me by now or gone home because it’s just too damned wet to be out doing anything.
James is still there, bubbling under the surface of my mind until I can’t keep my lids open a second longer.
The pizza I ordered will go cold and be tomorrow’s leftovers, and the little pool of ice cream left at the bottom of the carton is no big loss.
Despite my best efforts, and still unsure if I want to go to work tomorrow, I slip into a dreamless sleep. The only thing I can see before darkness takes me is the same man who started my day. His blazing eyes with that suggestive, mischievous look are the last thing I see before I fall into a deep sleep.
Part of me decides that tomorrow might be the day I do a little stalking and find out all I can about this mystery man, James Jones, for myself.
Missing all my alarms and waking up to the sound of my phone buzzing, I can’t help but feel panic. The only person who’d call me on this phone would be Iris, so I pick up immediately.
However, it’s not Iris. It’s Phil. Iris isn’t feeling so good. I know if Phil’s calling, it must be serious.
CHAPTEREIGHT
James
It hits me like a wave.
Maybe it’s the energy hit from the cocoa, or maybe it’s just my old dynamic self making a comeback after a couple of heavy hits I took in the early rounds with Jasmine.
Either way, I have a plan to buy more flowers and help her business without buying every single bunch in person. That would take ages, and I’m two for two proving that if I let myself anywhere near her, I’m such a fucking waste of space that I’ll never be able to tell her how I feel. So, I’ll show her instead.
I send a message to my head of staff, outlining the memo I want every employee, associate, and janitor in the building to read, and right now. I inform them to make their way down here asap and buy a bunch of flowers, a plant, or whatever’s left and pay cash. They’ll be reimbursed for the costs and get a cash bonus if they can do it within the hour.
What are they going to do with all these flowers? There’s no point telling people to get something and leaving no instructions once they have it.
