Page 85 of Ruin Me Gently

My eyelids were so heavy, sleep pulling at me, coaxing me under with every soft graze of his touch.

“You should go to bed,” he murmured. “You have work in a few hours.”

I knew I should. I knew I needed to pull myself up, force myself to move. But the warmth, his presence, the way his hand didn’t stop moving against me despite the outright strangeness of the whole situation, it made it easier to stay.

I huffed out a tired, breathy laugh. “No thanks, I’m good here.”

“Lilith.” His tone had a warning edge to it.

“Okay, okay,” I groaned as I peeled myself away from him.

He stood and grabbed his coat before stepping back towards the door. He opened it, but hesitated on the threshold, lingering just a second too long, shadows pooling around him.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know why I saidit. But it felt right.

He held my stare, long enough for me to catch something unreadable flickering in his eyes. “Goodnight, Lilith.”

I wet my lips, heartbeat suddenly off-kilter. “Goodnight, Mr. Stalker.”

The door shut behind him. And I just sat there. Staring at it, heavy-lidded.

What in the ever-loving fuck was that?

Stockholm Syndrome? Stalker Syndrome? Was that even a thing?

Whatever it was, I had it. And now, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted a cure.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Lilith

Feels like I should be the one buyingyoulunch after all this weird late night emotional support hugging.

Silas

You don’t need to do anything of the sort. You can have whatever you want.

Lilith

Are you sure? Because if you just give me the address of where you work, I’ll get you a sandwich sent over ASAP. Might even hand deliver it myself.

Silas

Stop.

Ihad no ideawhat was happening anymore.

Didn’t even know if I wanted it to stop.

She’d waved at me through the damn doorbell camera every single morning for the last week. Smirking, smug, her eyes flicking up to the little lens like she knew I was watching. Because she did know. And she was milking it.

On every single one of those nights, I’d walked her home, and she’d invited me inside.

First, she’d shoot me a barrage of questions.

“Are you going to show me your face yet?”

“Tell me your name.”

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