Stalkers: A Dark Romance Anthology

by Ally Vance

  Empty.

  I jog around the block and check between the parked cars, but he’s long gone.

  The building security officer has finally appeared and he gives me a confused look as I buzz to be let back in. I show him my badge and he calls the elevator for me.

  “Nice to see you do your job some of the time,” I snarl.

  Up at the apartment, I knock and Alaina opens the door for me. “What happened? Was he out there?”

  “Yeah. It was him. I saw the streetlights reflecting off his binoculars.” I slam my hand into the doorframe. “Goddammit. I didn’t even get a good look at him.”

  Alaina wraps her arms around herself and shakes her head. “I hate that he’s so close. I just want to get out of here and feel safe again. You said you had a place. Where is it?”

  My cabin. The place I saved for ever since I was fourteen and had my first job. A haven from the world and the only place I can relax and feel myself. When I’m not there, I’m wishing I was. I only mentioned it off-handedly, but it’s actually not a bad idea. This place is compromised and Alaina wouldn’t be safe in a hotel, either.

  “Out in the forest about two hours from here. I’ve got a ton of security and everything’s deadbolted. It’s yours if you want to stay there.”

  She nods, white-faced, but hopeful for the first time. “Please. I just need space to breathe for a few days or I’m going to lose my mind.”

  I go to the trunk by the television and pull out an overnight bag for her. “Go and pack. I’ll watch the street.”

  She takes the bag from me. “Do you think it’s safe for me to order a taxi, or should I get a rental?”

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “Rhys, you can’t. You have work tomorrow.”

  “It’s fine. Once I make sure you’re safe and settled in, I can get one of the local cops to bring me back to the city.”

  “But—”

  I place my hands on her shoulders. “You don’t understand, Alaina. The shit I’ve seen in my job. I don’t want the next body that’s pulled out of the river to be yours.”

  Chapter Five

  Alaina

  Rhys’ eyes reflect all the horrors that he’s seen in his years as a cop, and the reality of my situation crashes down on me. My mind has only ever gone as far as take you, not willing to consider what could come after. Now, though, I can’t help but peep through that door and see the horrors of what awaits me if my stalker gets his hands on me.

  “Okay. Thank you, Rhys.” I head for my bedroom, though all I want to do is fling my arms around Rhys and never let go.

  It doesn’t take me long to change clothes and throw a few things into the overnight bag. I come back a few minutes later dressed in jeans, flat boots and an oversized sweater, with my long hair scooped back in a ponytail.

  Rhys helps me into my coat and takes my bag. “I can’t see anyone out there. We’re going to go straight out to my car and we’ll drive away quickly. Okay?”

  I nod, my heart rate picking up as we leave my apartment and take the stairs down to the street. I keep my eyes on Rhys’ back until we reach the front door. Then he encloses my hand in his and takes long strides toward a black Jeep Cherokee. I hurry to keep up with him and scramble into the passenger seat as soon as he unlocks the car remotely. A moment later, he’s in the driver’s seat and we’re out of the parking spot and driving fast down the street. I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

  “You okay?” Rhys asks, and I nod.

  He reaches behind him as he drives and then passes me a metal cylinder. “It’s Mace. Put it in your pocket, not your purse. Keep it on you at all times. Sleep with it under your pillow.”

  I examine the cannister and slip it into my pocket. I should have gotten some of this myself. “Thank you.”

  For several minutes Rhys takes a series of left and right turns and then doubles back through the streets, looking in the rearview mirror over and over.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Checking to see if we have anyone on our tail. I think we’re okay.” He takes one last glance in the rearview mirror and turns onto the main road.

  I’d forgotten how sweet it feels when Rhys is looking out for me. “The nights when I was afraid as a kid and couldn’t sleep, I’d tell myself that if anything bad happened, you’d protect me. You were only a few doors away and I could run through the back yards and knock on your window. I had it all planned out.”

  “I had that planned out too.”

  “If you got scared, you mean?”

  “Sure. But mostly if I thought you needed me.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “Sorry. It’s hard for me to think about those years. I get too angry.”

  Yeah. Same. If I think too long about my lonely childhood a great chasm of sadness and panic threatens to overwhelm me. I feel like I’ll be trapped in that darkness forever and no one will let me out. “I didn’t know you were angry about it, too.”

  “Angry and helpless. I feel that way most of the time, actually.”

  I look at him in surprise. Rhys with his muscle and his police badge? “I can’t believe that.”

  “I’m called in when it’s too late. If I’d just been there to talk to these women, to warn them not to get in that car, then maybe they never would have been taken.”

  So that’s why he’s helping me, because he’s finally able to stop something bad from happening, not just clean up after a psycho. I reach out and slide my fingers briefly around his wrist. “You’re a good man, Rhys.”

  He glances at my fingers, and then at the silvery scar across his knuckles. The scar he got the night he punched Mitchell when they were twenty, right before he disappeared from my life forever.

  “There was a time you didn’t think so.”

  I wince as he reminds me of my fifteen-year-old behavior. It was unfair of me to lose my temper with him that night, but I was in shock. The car crash didn’t hurt me, but the way Rhys attacked Mitchell for drinking and driving and putting me in danger scared the hell out of me. Rhys was a cop by then and he’s always been bigger than Mitchell. I thought he was going to kill him.

  After that, Rhys just left. He never even said goodbye.

  “Did you know I was in Philly?” I ask.

  “I think my parents mentioned it.”

  “Why didn’t you give me a call?”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Touché. It did occur to me to call him but what would I have said? “We didn’t part on good terms back then.”

  “Yeah. I remember.” His tone stays light, but I see the way his jaw clenches. Maybe the fact that he’s the one driving me to safety right now and not my boyfriend isn’t helping his temper.

  “The night of the accident Mitchell was a bit drunk and careless, but he really is a good person.”

  Rhys’ silence is glacial. I guess the years haven’t softened his opinion of my boyfriend.

  “What do you think my stalker wants?”

  He’s silent as he switches lanes and gets onto the freeway. I think he’s not going to answer, but as he slides into the left lane and the car accelerates, he says, “You.”

  Take you.

  I shudder. “But why?”

  “Why do this or why you?”

  “Both, I guess.”

  “It’s hard to say. From those letters and the way he bugged your apartment, it’s clear he’s obsessed with you. Stalkers feel a close personal relationship with their target. In his mind, you’re already lovers. Watching you through those cameras probably felt like spending a night on the sofa with his girlfriend. Seeing you undress—”

  I put up my hand. “Don’t. Please. I don’t want to think about that. And don’t say that word, either. Lovers. What he wants isn’t about love.”

  “To him, it is.”

  I wish he didn’t sound so sure of that. “You know a lot about the way these creeps’ minds work.”

  “Yeah. Unfortunately, I do.”

  We drive on through the dark
night, the landscape passing unseen through my window. I prop my chin on my hand and gaze out at nothing. Mitchell will be so upset when he hears what I’ve been through tonight. He’ll drive up to Rhys’ cabin right away and be a mess until he’s sure I’m all in one piece. I know he will.

  “This cabin,” I murmur sleepily. “Is it like the one you used to tell me about when I was…”

  “Crying?” he finishes.

  “Yeah.” The dream house he’d describe when we were kids when I was so overcome by loneliness and misery and he’d hold me until I calmed down, like a real big brother. He’d speak softly about the cabin he’d buy one day, and describe all the rooms in such loving detail.

  “Yes, it’s that cabin. You just wait until you see it.”

  Rhys switches on the warmer in my seat and the heat seeps into my bones. “You can sleep if you’re tired. You must be exhausted after all you’ve been through.”

  “I’m okay,” I murmur, though my eyes feel heavy. Lulled by the hum of the car, the warmth from the seat and Rhys’ strong presence, I rest my eyelids. Just for a moment.

  I wake up, my cheek pillowed against something warm and my body cradled. I’m moving. Someone’s carrying me. I yelp and start to struggle.

  A deep voice tickles my ear. “It’s me.”

  Relief washes over me. Rhys. I wrap an arm around his neck and put my cheek against his shoulder again. “You didn’t have to carry me. You should have woken me up.”

  I feel him climb a few steps and then he sets me down on what feels like a bench seat. There’s a jangle of keys, and then a light blinks on and I see where we are. A log cabin, and Rhys is standing in the doorway holding out his hand to me.

  I take it and he helps me up. “What an amazing place,” I say, walking into the open-plan living room and kitchen. There are deep sofas clustered around a fireplace and thick rugs on the floor. The kitchen has wooden counters and everything is spotlessly clean and welcoming. There are bookshelves and paintings of mountains on the walls.

  Rhys comes up beside me. “Here are the keys to my car. You still have the Mace?”

  I trace its outline in my pocket and take the keys from him. I feel a rush of affection for this huge, gruff man.

  “Let me show you around. I haven’t been here in months. I hope it’s not too dusty.”

  Rhys’ eyes glow as he shows me around the cozy space. It’s clear that he really does love it here. I like the bedroom the most with its big bed and picture window.

  “When the sun’s up, you can see for miles,” he tells me. “The best time of year is winter when the snow’s falling.”

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him to stay. I imagine us together on the sofa, drinking coffee and catching up on all the lost years between us.

  I feel a sting of regret as he steps away from me.

  “I’ll get you settled in while I wait for one of the local boys to show up and drive me back to the city. You can unpack your things.”

  From the bedroom, I hear Rhys talking on the phone and the front door open and close. I guess he’s calling for that ride. After I unpack, my eyes keep drifting restlessly back to my overnight bag. I have a nagging feeling like I’m forgetting something important so I go through all the pockets to check that I haven’t left anything inside, but there’s nothing there. I’m just being stupid.

  To take my mind off things, I head back to the kitchen to make coffee. The coffeemaker is on the counter next to the jar of coffee grounds. Once I get it started, I grab the milk out of the fridge. I set out two mugs and wait for the water to percolate through the machine.

  I’m safe here, but my nerves keep prickling, as if my stalker is close by. As if he’s right outside this cabin. There’s a thunk thunk sound from the front yard. Rhys must be splitting logs.

  My eyes land on the milk carton and I read the use-by date.

  Maybe I’m worried there’s a GPS tracker in my overnight bag, but I went through it twice. I see in my mind’s eye Rhys going to the trunk and pulling it out, and my stomach swoops in alarm again.

  What? What’s so strange about that?

  I stare at the date on the milk carton. It’s two days from now.

  The front door opens and Rhys comes in carrying an armload of wood. A blast of freezing air comes with him. Every nerve in my body screams at the sight of him.

  The words whisper over my lips without conscious thought. “It’s you.”

  Rhys stops short and stares at me.

  He doesn’t say, It’s me what?

  Or, What are you talking about?

  He stares and stares until it’s too late for him to deny anything, and as I watch his eyes harden with every passing second, I realize he doesn’t even look like him anymore.

  Everything about him screams danger.

  Rhys kicks the front door closed and throws the logs against the wall so hard, they go tumbling across the floor. Then he does something so grotesque it makes my blood run cold.

  He smiles. “I told you soon, Alaina.”

  I lunge for my phone, which is lying on the counter. Faster than a big man should be able to move, Rhys swipes it and shoves it in his pocket.

  I stare at him, my heart battering in my ears. He knew where I kept my overnight bag because he’s the one who put all those bugs in my apartment. He said he hasn’t been here in months, but he’s kept fresh milk in the fridge, just waiting until the day I begged for his help.

  The boy who once saved my life.

  The man I thought I could trust above all others.

  Rhys advances on me, his body suddenly a walking threat. “Who were you going to call? Mitchell? If that idiot actually cared about you, I never would have been able to take you right under his nose.”

  I’ll possess you.

  I’ll ruin you.

  Take you.

  “Don’t you dare talk about Mitchell,” I say, backing away. I crash into the counter, and pain explodes in my hip. As I clutch the spot, I feel the Mace in my pocket. Gasping in relief, I whip it out and aim the nozzle right at Rhys’ face.

  When I press the button, nothing happens. I shake the empty can while Rhys goes on grinning.

  “You’re fucking crazy. Stay away from me,” I scream, and throw the empty can at him. It bounces harmlessly off his chest and rolls away.

  “I can’t stay away from you, Alaina. That’s not what we’re here for. Seeing you again when you arrived in Philly…” His eyes run down my body, lascivious and possessive. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

  I start to shake. He knew I would run straight to him when I was in danger. I begged him to take me, and now no one but him knows where the hell I am.

  “It was such a good plan, don’t you think? Terrified women always cling to me, but the only one I’ve ever wanted is you.”

  I dodge past him and run for the door. I feel the swipe of his hand on empty air as he tries to grab me, and misses. He hasn’t locked the door and I yank it open and plunge out into the freezing night.

  I don’t expect the car keys to work, but I dig them out of my pocket just in case as I race toward the Jeep. I press the unlock button several times but nothing happens, so I throw the keys into the darkness and keep running. I can lose him in the night among the trees, and hide until it’s light enough to flag down a car.

  I should be able to hear his heavy footsteps behind me, but there’s nothing. I look over my shoulder, trying to spot Rhys in the darkness.

  And run shoulder-first into something hard. Gasping in pain, I fall to the ground. I feel like I’ve hit a solid wall.

  The outline of Rhys’ huge body is looming over me. The dream house he described when we were kids didn’t have a fence. This is a dream prison.

  “Why?” I whisper, my voice shaking with despair and hopelessness.

  Rhys leans down and his hand encircles my wrist like a manacle. He hauls me to my feet and I hang there, dangling by my arm. “Because I needed you scared, Alaina, like you were when we were k
ids. That was the only way I could make you mine.”

  Chapter Six

  Rhys

  I pick Alaina up in my arms and carry her inside, burying my face in her hair and taking a deep breath of her scent. “Fuck. It’s been driving me crazy not to be able to do that.”

  I kick the door closed behind me and carry her to the bedroom like a bride on her wedding night. “It was the overnight bag, wasn’t it? That was a thoughtless mistake. And I can’t stand the taste of creamer in my coffee. I took a risk and I thought you wouldn’t notice, but you’re a clever girl, Alaina. You always were.” I smile down into her shocked face.

  “You’re a cop. You’re meant to protect people, not break the law.”

  I set her down on her feet at the end of the bed and take her waist in my hands. “You’re trembling everywhere I’m touching you.” I brush my lips over hers. “So sensitized to me. The merest touch is making your heart race and your blood heat.”

  She turns her face away, but she can’t go far with me holding onto her. I kiss her throat and work my fingers beneath her clothing. I could weep her skin is so soft and smooth. When I strip off her sweater and top, I see she’s wearing the prettiest white bra, one that shows her nipples. It’s my favorite of hers. I feel like she wore it for me.

  Alaina covers her breasts with her arms. “You monster.”

  I smile and run my finger along her jaw. “You don’t have to feel ashamed. I’ve seen you like this plenty of times.”

  She gives me a look of loathing so strong that I could almost believe she hates me.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul about this,” I breathe in her ear as I slide my hand around the back of her bra and unhook it.

  “What would I be afraid of telling other people? That you stalked me and kidnapped me?”

  She tries to keep herself covered. I tug at the bra, and when she still resists, I rip it away. “That even though I terrorized you and deceived you, you still want me.”

  Her tits are perfect. I scoop them up in my hands, feeling their softness and weight.