Page 27 of The Watcher's Bride

“Sorry, I don’t know what got into me,” I mumble, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Nadya insists, cupping my face in her hands and forcing me to look at her.

I nod in glum agreement.

“Thank god for your hot neighbor,” she says, brushing my hair back off my forehead in a maternal gesture.

“I know, he’s an amazing guy…” I reply.

“But?” Nadya says, picking up on my hesitation.

“I don’t know. He almost seems too good to be true, and his reaction to Mike… I thought he was going to kill him,” I admit. Not wishing to tell her the real reason I’m holding back.

“He should have!” Nadya hisses.

“I guess it wasn’t a totally inappropriate response. But I just don’t get why he’s so interested. I shouldn’t lead him on. Not when I can’t… you know,” I say awkwardly.

“Maybe it will be different with him. You said you feel more desire and attraction to him than you have with any other guy. That you’ve been tempted to try. What’s stopped you?” Nadya asks gently.

“I don’t know,” I reply truthfully. “I guess I’m just worried about how he would react if I try and then I freak out and push him away. I like Max, and I’d rather have him in my life as a friend than risk ruining things by trying and failing to become something more.”

I also don’t admit that, despite my attraction to Max, I feel more aroused and alive under the intense gaze of my watcher. The thought of doing things with him excites me even more than thinking about doing them with Max.

Nadya would probably send me straight to the mental hospital if I admitted it. That I’m having more sexual fantasies about my stalker than I do with my incredibly handsome, charming, sexy neighbor who I have amazing chemistry with and has made it perfectly clear he wants to be with me.

There’s also the not-so-small matter of my break-in. While logic tells me it wasn’t my stalker, I can’t rule it out. In a way I’d almost prefer it if it was him, because the other option—that my father’s caught up with me—is far worse.

Yep, I’m officially fucked.

“Maybe you should try something small, like a kiss?” Nadya suggests gently.

It takes me a moment to pull myself back to the conversation and remind myself she isn’t suggesting I kiss my watcher.

“Though after what happened last night, I honestly can’t say I’d blame you if you want to write off men altogether,” she adds, disgust dripping from every syllable.

“My life would certainly be a lot simpler if men weren’t in it.”

“Amen to that,” Nadya replies with a grin, filling up our glasses.

We continue to chat and drink into the night, with Nadya doing most of the drinking. When she eventually passes out on the sofa, I contemplate going to sleep in her bedroom but decide against it. I try to tell myself that it’s simply because I want to sleep in my own bed and Josef needs me. It has nothing to do with my strange desire to see my watcher again. He’s been suspiciously absent recently and I almost feel bereft without his presence. Also irrationally, I want to know if seeing me with Max has somehow upset him.

I book myself a rideshare using the app on my phone, then scribble a note for Nadya to see when she wakes up so she doesn’t worry about me. Within ten minutes, I’m headed home.

It’s only when I get to my apartment and see the shiny new door that I realize my mistake. With the new door, there are new locks.

I’m locked out.

Max is no doubt fast asleep by now. Nadya’s apartment is self-locking, and I don’t have a key, plus, she wouldn’t wake up even if a bomb went off outside, so I can’t go back there.

It’s one in the morning and I’m locked out. There are most likely several men who are watching me and wish me harm.Men who have already broken into my apartment on my father’s orders. Mike is also still out there and knows where I live, so he could come back to finish what he started.

And, of course, there’s my watcher. Have I finally given him the perfect opportunity to do what he wants with me? Is he some deranged serial killer who was just biding his time?

The odds aren’t exactly in my favor for me to make it safely through the night outside by myself. I decide my only option is to wake up Max. I bang my fist rapidly on his door as hard as I can and I almost fall over in surprise when almost immediately it opens just as I’m yelling, “Max!”

“Nora, are you okay?” Max says, concerned.

“Shit sorry, I…” I trail off, embarrassed, searching for a way to explain my actions without sounding like a crazy person.

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