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CHAPTER ONE
RHYS
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NINE MONTHS AFTER HALLOWEEN...
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I don’t expect people to understand why I’m standing in the freezing downpour, watching the restaurant across the street. I don’t expect them to approve of my response if they ask, because, although I’m dressed in black with a mask covering most of my face and hugging the shadows, I’m not hiding anything.
I’m watching Addie.
I’m waiting for her to finish her interview so I can follow her home, climb her fire escape, and wait for her to fall asleep. Perfectly normal behavior. Not that the authorities would agree, nor would they understand that Addie is mine. My light. The flame in the darkness pulling me to her like a moth.
She’s my reason for existing.
The reason I moved three hours away from my job to be closer to her because she won’t move back home because of me.
I love her with every breath in my lungs.
Some might call that level of obsessiveness unhealthy, but I never said I wasn’t crazy. I’m a level of deranged and dangerous that probably should be studied.
For her. Only her.
Addie with her wild mane of dark curls, her forest green eyes and porcelain features stirs something in my chest. Somethinghungry and feral, like I would sink my teeth into her flesh until she’s bleeding just to mark her as mine.
Just the thought of her sweet flesh in my mouth, under my hands, tight around my cock has my fingers twisting into fists at my sides.
But I have to wait.
Across from her, the drab silhouette in the dark suit picks up his phone for the third time when the screen lights up. Addie pauses in whatever she’s saying, but I can tell from the way her lips pinch, this job isn’t going to happen.
Good.
I don’t need her changing her plans in three days because this asshole wants her to start right away. I have worked too hard making sure everything is exactly right to fail now.
Hell, job or not, I will have Addie to myself this week. The plans I have for her, the fucking things I’m going to do to her fucking body...
Fuck! I need to calm down. I need to focus. I can’t be hard in the middle of the street. People will definitely call the cops, and I can’t get arrested right now. Addie’s expecting me.
I train my attention back to the window and Addie’s solitary shape watching the man push back his chair, phone already at his ear, one finger held aloft for Addie to wait.
Addie.
The woman he should have been focused on. The woman his phone should have been muted and ignored for. Instead, he’s hurrying away, leaving Addie alone at the table.
If I could go to her, I would. I would take her bunched fist off the table. I would lace her fingers through mine and take her away from there. Away from him. I would steal her. I would put her on the back of my bike and take her home where she belongs with me.
But my Addie isn’t weak. She’s not mild. I’m not surprised when she gathers up her clutch, gets to her feet and marches to the doors.
A moment later, she’s huddled under the awning as the rain pounds down on the city. A dark coat covers her dress, and she tugs the collar closer as she squints down the street, searching for a cab no doubt.
She can’t see me. Even if she catches a glimpse, all she’ll see is my bike helmet, but I still inch a step back, fully submerging myself with the night.
In case.
Just in case she turns those hypnotic pools of green across the busy street to where I’m watching her. Protecting her.
