Page 122 of Like A Moth To A Flame

I didn’t know what to say. Seeing him this way made me want to climb into his lap like an obedient puppy. Why did he affect me like this?

I forced myself to look away and shrugged.

“Felt like I had to.”

“Why?”

I shrugged again. I didn’t have an answer to that question, because I didn’t know myself.

“Because,” I said, forcing myself to look back at him. The defeat in his eyes was heartbreaking. “Maybe I’m a little crazy too?”

I could hear songbirds singing merrily outside the window and a lawnmower rumbling in the distance. I looked down at him, my eyes catching on the moth tattoo across the back of his hand.

“So how’d you do that?” I asked, nodding towards his hand.

He looked confused when he met my eyes.

“Do what?”

“Cover your tattoo. ”

He snorted a laugh, shaking his head. I watched him pull a hand through his mess of dark brown hair, and then drag the same hand down his face.

“Uh, makeup,” he said, looking up at me with confusion in his eyes.

“Why? You ashamed of me?”

His eyes narrowed, his eyebrows knit together as his lips creased into a frown.

“No,” he said finally, shaking his head. “More like ashamed ofme.”

I paused, watching him. Somehow, like this, I wasn’t afraid of him. I wasn’t scared of what he could do to me. Without the mask, he had lost all the power he had. Or maybe it was because I knew who he was.

I wasn’t scared anymore.

I felt an odd sort of safety that I couldn’t remember feeling since the last time I’d been with my dad. It was a protection that I missed—I craved.

“Come on,” I said, turning out of the room. “Get dressed.”

“What?”

I heard him get up and follow me out of the room, and when I turned back, he was right behind me. He towered over me, and I had to crane my neck to look into his eyes.

Without the mystery, he wasn’t scary.

“We’re gonna walk to the diner and get lunch,” I said, my arms crossed as I turned down the hallway and into the living room. “You smell like vodka, and I’m hungry.”

He followed me into the mouth of the hallway, looking over at me with a confused expression as I flopped down onto the couch.

“You want to… have lunch with me?” he asked.

I snorted a laugh. He looked thoroughly confused, and it was adorable.

Adorable?Adorable?

My stalker was…cute?Was I fuckin’ touched?

“Yes.”

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