Page 57 of Creep

“Good,” I said, already knowing where she was going with this.

“And Leo? How’s he doing?”

“He’s been doing good since I last saw him at my weekly dinner with him and Dad. You should join us next time.”

She shook her head.

Victoria had a crush on Leo.

It wasn’t really for me to judge her on her crush, but it was hard for me to grasp that Victoria liked Leo when I had grown up with the man as a second father figure to me. And there was at least a twenty-five-year age gap between the two of them.

Victoria's crush on him was the most enduring one I had seen her have with anyone, and I always thought it was because he was someone she couldn’t have.

I smiled at her and looked down at the menu again, wondering if I should bring up Mael with her.

There was just something about this… whatever this was with Mael, that I wasn’t quite ready to share with anyone else.

I just wanted to keep him to myself for a little while longer, and I knew if I brought him up, she would want details.

We weren’t quite in a place where I was ready to share that with anyone.

“So, what's new with you?” Victoria asked absently, her eyes scanning the menu. “Any exciting developments in your life?” Oh, there were just so many things. So many things I wanted to tell her about but didn’t know how.

I took in my friend, and for the first time in our friendship, I didn’t tell her everything. “Nothing much,” I answered. She didn’t look up from the menu, only making a small sound in acknowledgment, and that was all.

Lunch was pretty normal, which was what I needed.

I would tell her.

Next time, I promised myself.

I would tell her if things got serious with Mael or if things took a turn with my stalker.

I would tell her.

* * *

He was back.

He was back to sneaking into my apartment late at night, crawling into bed with me, and holding me close in his arms.

I closed my eyes when he shifted slightly against me, letting me feel the hardness of his body pressed up against my back.

That was all he was doing.

Why was he doing this?

Why was he just holding me?

What was the point?

Did he just want to scare me? Because he was succeeding. I wished he would just tell me what the purpose of this was.

But he didn’t talk.

He just held me, and much like the last time, I was struck frozen with fear, unable to move away.

I didn’t sleep for most of the night.

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