“Should be okay if it doesn’t take too long. Vacuum’s in the closet on the left. It’s one of those dinky battery-charged ones, so it might do about as much as a broom.”
While Matt cleaned up, Kellan lay back and tried not to have an anxiety attack. He thought the stalker couldn’t get him here, that they wouldn’t be so bold, but then again the first thing they’d done was break into his car.
A chill ran through his spine and curdled his stomach. The break-in was the first thing that he knew about. There was no telling how long this person had actually been stalking him. It could be they had been following him for months, or even years, learning about him and the best ways to interfere with his life. In fact, given that they first struck him at his place of work, then immediately left a note at his boyfriend’s house, it was guaranteed they had been stalking him long enough to study him.
Kellan felt like he was going to be sick.
Every little negative interaction he had had over the past few months suddenly seemed more sinister. Back in September, someone had honked at him while he crossed the street, even though the walk sign was on. Had that been his stalker trying to scare him? Shortly before that, someone had left a religious pamphlet on his windshield while he was in the grocery store. He hadn’t thought to check if other people had received one, so was it possible his stalker had left it specifically for him? Then there was the woman who had stood uncomfortably close behind him in line at Starbucks. At the time he thought she was one of those people with no concept of personal space, but perhaps she was his stalker and had been trying to read his credit card information. If he remembered correctly, he had paid in cash that day so he could leave a tip, so he was safe on that front, at least. Still, there was no telling how many times his stalker had been nearby and he never knew it.
Matt finished vacuuming. “I think I got it all,” he said triumphantly. “I’d advise walking carefully until we can be sure, but—” He cut off when he saw the expression on Kellan’s face. “Kellan? Are you okay?”
“Let’s go somewhere,” Kellan said.
“What, right now?”
“Like on vacation. We could rent a camper and go on a road trip.”
Matt crawled back into bed. “Honey bunch, I know you’re scared, but what did I tell you? We’re not going anywhere. This place has security cameras. That’s what you pay all that rent money for, right? On-site laundry and security? Except you’re not exactly getting your money’s worth if they let someone throw a frickin’ brick through your window and no one has even come to check on you. Tomorrow—or, later today, I guess—you can see if the cameras caught anything. Even if they didn’t, we’ll call the police.”
Kellan shook his head. “What are they going to do? Have a cop follow me around ready to arrest this psycho next time they try something? They’ve got better things to do.”
“Well, how are we going to catch them, then? I’d rather we stop them as soon as we can, but what can we do? I don’t want to use you as live bait to draw them out or anything else that might put you in danger.”
“I’d slather myself in barbecue sauce and jump in a tiger pit if it meant getting rid of this person.”
Matt chuckled weakly. “How many tigers are in this hypothetical pit? ‘Cuz I’d jump in after you and I could take two, maybe three tigers in a fight.”
Kellan rolled over, took Matt’s face in his hands, and kissed him. “I love you, sugar pie.”
“I love you too, honey bunch. We’ll get through this together, I promise.”
Chapter 7
The following morning was Monday, which meant Kellan was able to stay home and talk to Kyle, the building’s maintenance manager, as well as the people in charge of the security footage. Fortunately, Kyle had a couple of spare windows in case any of them needed replacing, and he said he could swap out the broken one that afternoon. Unfortunately, the assailant was only visible on one camera, and once again they were wearing the long raincoat with their hood pulled up.
“Not much to go by,” said the security officer. “Still, yikes. I’ve seen people do some crazy shit, usually ‘cuz they’re on drugs or going through a bad breakup, but this is another level of fucked up. Look at this. See how they come out of those bushes? There’s a seven-foot fence on the other side of those, so this guy had to climb over it to get there. Benefit of that is they’re only on this one camera. I don’t know what you did to piss them off, but they are determined and they’re smart. That’s a dangerous combination. Lotsa people, when they’re angry, they don’t care who sees, they just do their stupid thing while their blood’s still hot and they make stupid mistakes. Whoever did this is has done their homework.” The officer gave Kellan a curious look. “Seriously, what did you do to them?”
“I wish I knew,” Kellan said, all hope steadily draining into a pit of fear. “Um, is there any way you could possibly, I don’t know, install another camera by my window for a little while in case this happens again?”
The security officer sucked air through his teeth. “It’s not that simple. If you think this is going to be a regular occurrence, I can put a note up that says we should keep an eye on your apartment.”
“If you would, please, I’d be so grateful. This person has been messing with me for weeks and I honestly don’t know who it is.” Kellan almost launched into the tale of everything he had been through this month, but he barely knew this officer and it didn’t seem necessary to tell him everything. All he said was, “They’re unpredictable, but they’re getting more aggressive, and like you said, that’s a dangerous combination.”
“Yeah, sounds like you got the whole danger combo meal. And you really don’t know who it is or why they’re targeting you?”
Kellan shook his head. “All I do is work, sleep, and run errands. For all I know I took the last carton of milk and the next person to come up decided to swear vengeance. Or maybe I looked at someone’s dog wrong. It doesn’t matter what I did, what matters is that this person is fucking crazy and I don’t know what they’re going to do next.”
“Alright, I’ll let the others know. Now I’m kinda hoping I’m the one who nabs them, because this sounds like some kind of weird TV show plot. Y’know, like Scooby-Doo. We’ll pull the mask off and it’ll be your banker or something.”
Somehow Kellan doubted this mystery could be wrapped up as neatly as the ones on Scooby-Doo. However, he did feel a little better knowing that security was aware of the situation and would be keeping an eye on him.
Matt came home around three with stuff for dinner and several bags of candy for Halloween. Kyle was almost done putting in the new window, including a screen. “Usually we save these for the front windows,” Kyle said. “I don’t know if this thing can completely repel a brick, but hopefully it’ll make the brick lose enough momentum to keep it from breaking the window again.”
“Thank you so much,” Matt said. Kellan simply nodded. One brick was bad enough. He didn’t want to wake up to the sound of breaking glass on a regular basis. He also couldn’t think of anything worse his stalker could do short of setting his apartment on fire or kidnapping him at gunpoint. That was why he asked Matt to pick up the groceries instead of going out and getting them himself. His stalker would know that Monday was the day he’d be out and about by himself, and they’d know what stores he went to, for how long, and why.
He hated this. He wanted his life back. He wanted to find this person, grab them by the shoulders, and scream at them until they gave him answers.
Matt texted Chelsie to politely ask her one more time if she absolutely and honestly wasn’t involved in this in any way. “I know she said she isn’t,” said Matt, “and I do trust her, but if it is her then we can solve this so much faster. Should I let her know it’s actually turning you into a nervous wreck? Maybe if it is her and she thinks she’s accomplished what she set out to do she’ll call off whoever this is.”
Kellan didn’t like the thought of admitting defeat, but it was better th
an jumping into a tiger pit, and it only wounded his pride. That was a fair sacrifice for peace of mind.
Two minutes later, Chelsie replied. Look, I’m sorry about what’s happening to Kellan, really, but for fuck’s sake you can’t keep accusing me and hoping I’ll confess because you can’t think of anything else to do about it. Harassing me doesn’t cancel out someone harassing him, so quit fucking asking me about it, okay?
Matt sighed. “Okay, I guess that’s that. Either it’s not her, or she has no intention of revealing it’s her. In both cases we’re going to have to figure this out ourselves. For now, though, we’re going to keep living our lives like nothing is wrong. If your stalker is watching your every move, then maybe if they see their antics aren’t getting them anywhere, they’ll give up.”
“What if it encourages them to try harder?” Kellan asked, voice quavering.
“Then maybe they’ll go too far and make a mistake.” Matt squeezed Kellan’s hand. “Come on, let’s go to the thrift store and look for stuff for our costumes. When was the last time you went to a thrift store? Your stalker would never expect it.”
They had agreed on a costume idea a few days prior. After much deliberation, and Matt turning down Kellan’s idea to go as a priest and a demon, they decided they were going to answer the door dressed as time travelers, so every time a new batch of kids came trick-or-treating they could pretend to be confused about what era they had landed in. Their costumes were going to be a mix of anachronistic pieces, which meant the thrift store was the best place to look. They left with a top hat, a fake gun holster, a necktie with robots on it, a reversible black and tie-dyed vest, and, the best find of their excursion, a giant novelty pocket watch.
Kellan’s apartment was unburnt and in one piece when they got back, much to his relief. Kyle had brought in a more powerful vacuum to clean the bedroom carpet, so everything was back to normal. At least, it all appeared normal. Kellan was more unsettled than he let on. He knew if Matt could see how terrified he was, it would make Matt feel worse. However, it was Matt that Kellan was scared about. His stalker could wreck his car, make him lose his job, fill his apartment with bedbugs, and all of that would be awful but ultimately survivable. If his stalker decided the best way to hurt Kellan was to hurt Matt, he would never live it down.
Matt would never leave his side, though, even if he knew he was in danger. That was simply who he was. Even after Chelsie lied to him and emotionally manipulated him, he stayed with her because he wanted to help her. He didn’t even love her as much as he loved Kellan and he still refused to abandon her until he was sure she was in a place where she didn’t need him anymore. It was what Kellan loved about him, even if that good heart could be loyal to a fault sometimes. He contemplated ducking and running when Matt was at work, but making it obvious that he had left in hopes that his stalker would try to follow him. That wouldn’t work because Matt also wouldn’t give up until he found Kellan and knew he was safe. Kellan couldn’t do anything but pray that his stalker would leave Matt alone regardless of what choice he made.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go on a road trip?” Kellan asked Matt. “We could go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, or head west and visit all the national parks, or—”
Matt interrupted with a hand on Kellan’s shoulder. “Someday,” he said, “someday we will have enough money to travel the whole world together, and there is no one I would rather have with me to make all those wonderful sights more wonderful because I get to share the memories with you, but we’re also going to share the memory of beating this together.”
Kellan and Matt spent the rest of their day trying to be as normal as possible. They cooked dinner, cleaned up, watched a cheesy horror movie on TV, and before they went to sleep Kellan sucked Matt off. He was too tense and tired for anything else, but by that point he was so consumed with love for Matt that a mere hug or kiss wasn’t enough to show it.
It started with the goodnight kiss they were already accustomed to giving each other. The moment Kellan’s lips touched Matt’s he knew he needed Matt’s cock in his mouth. When Matt moved away from the kiss Kellan pulled him back. He kissed Matt with every unspoken emotion he had kept inside all day. He kissed him with fear, anguish, remorse, and whatever emotion was responsible for the sensation in his chest like he would melt into tears and starlight if Matt were any more amazing.
Before Matt could question it, Kellan shimmied down the bed to kiss the soft patch of hair below Matt’s navel as he tugged down on his waistband. Matt sat up to help take his pants all the way off. He was barely settled when Kellan pounced tongue-first onto his rising cock. It didn’t take long for Kellan’s mouth to fill with stiff throbbing muscle. Throughout the whole thing, Matt didn’t say a single word. He panted and moaned softly and whimpered as he approached climax, but due to either exhaustion or the lack of need for commentary, he let Kellan work uninterrupted.
It was only after Kellan came back from washing up that Matt asked, “What was that about?” He smiled with sleepy eyes. “I mean, I enjoyed it, obviously, but you went from zero to sixty-nine pretty quick there.”
Kellan shrugged. “You’re just that damn irresistible.”
Matt smiled wider. “True.” He stroked Kellan’s thigh. “Want me to return the favor?”
“I’ll take a rain check.” Kellan yawned, and he only had to force it a little. “We both need to get some sleep.”
“Mkay. At least let me be the big spoon for a bit.”
“Of course.” Kellan snuggled into the curve of Matt’s body. In this haven of warmth and safety, he momentarily forgot why he yearned for this kind of comfort. He arranged his arm so he could intertwine his fingers with Matt’s, further securing himself to the man he couldn’t bear to imagine a future without.
“Don’t worry,” Matt murmured drowsily. “There’s nothing they could do to me that would keep me away from you.”
For the second night in a row, Kellan fell asleep with tears soaking into his pillowcase.
Chapter 8
Kellan awoke the next morning to Matt softly kissing him below his ear as he ran his fingers over Kellan’s package. “Think of me and send me pictures before you go to work,” Matt whispered sensually.
“Mmmnn, can’t you be a little late to work instead?”
“Not today. Gotta be on my best behavior or Arnie’s going to find some reason to call me in tomorrow. Maybe if he actually paid me overtime I wouldn’t mind, but I requested tomorrow to be my day off months ago and I’m not going to give him a chance to pull that ‘If you’re not willing to help maybe I’ll cut your hours instead’ crap. Tsch, fucker.” He gave Kellan another kiss. “Tomorrow morning we’ll both sleep in, fuck for breakfast, finally get out of bed around lunch, then we can get ready for trick-or-treating, okay?”
Kellan beamed up at Matt’s gorgeous face. “I like this plan. You have good plans.”
Matt tarried as much as he could, but to both their disappointments he did eventually head out to the bakery. Kellan planned to close his eyes for a few minutes before getting up and being productive. When he opened them again hazy light was illuminating the curtains. He lay there a short while longer, mustering the courage to get out of bed.
A noise at the window made him jump. His heart raced. Every hair on his body stood on end. Kellan listened and waited for the worst. He lamented the day he had gotten a room on the ground floor, but something told him even if he lived on the third floor his stalker would find a way to get to him. However, it soon became clear that the sound was nothing more than raindrops hitting the new screen outside his window. He relaxed, barely. He wished Matt was still there to confirm that everything was alright. If only his stalker knew he was afraid of every little thing now. They could never bother him directly again and Kellan would still live his life cowering at what might come next.
Matt was right though, as usual. Resigning himself to this torture meant his stalker won. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to be patient a
nd trust that he and Matt could wait this out until his stalker made a stupid mistake. This couldn’t go on forever.
At least, he hoped it couldn’t.
* * * *
The day went by with no problems except Kellan’s own anxiety. He drove to and from work quickly and by a different route to throw off anyone who might try to interrupt his commute. He tried to lose himself in the rhythm of his work, but any time someone called his name he half-expected them to have bad news for him. The day was excruciatingly long because he wanted it to be over from the moment he set foot outside.
When Kellan closed his front door behind him after finally coming home, he breathed a sigh of relief. The only time he had felt truly secure all day was when he shut himself in the bathroom to fulfill Matt’s request. He took a deep breath and was met by a mouth-watering smell. He followed the scent to the oven, where a note was taped to the handle.
Help yourself to a pre-Halloween treat. You’ve earned it. xo
Kellan opened the oven and was immediately hit with a warm wave of air. There was a tray of cookies sitting on one of the racks. A few were missing, but there were plenty left. The tray was cool enough that Kellan could pull it out with his bare hands. He inspected Matt’s latest creations. They didn’t look like chocolate chip cookies, though there was definitely chocolate in them. He bit into one. It took a moment of chewing to understand; Matt had made them with chopped up candy bars. Kellan ate four before he had enough self-control to put the rest in the fridge.
To his surprise, Matt was up in bed reading on his tablet. He smiled at Kellan. “Did you like the cookies?”
“Loved them, thank you.” Kellan kissed Matt on the top of his head, then started unloading from the day. “Did, uh…y’know, anything happen while I was out?”
“Not like that,” Matt replied.
“But?”
“But…I did get a text from Chelsie. She wanted to know if anything else had happened, too.”
Unwanted Attention Page 4
