Page 37 of Peripheral Vision

He watches me with an intensity that makes my stomach twist, a calm confidence that terrifies me. “You can tell yourself that all you want, Dylan. You can blame it on the adrenaline, on the thrill of the chase, but we both felt how soaked you were for me. How you writhed against me seeking more friction. And if I had to bet, your body has never sung for anyone that way. Besides, you already admitted it. You’re mine.”Frustration grows in me at myself and how arrogant of a male he is as I spin on my heels and start walking away. “You don’t even know which way you’re going.”

I throw my middle finger up at him. “The sun will come up soon, I’ll figure it out. Don’t you have a body to clean up?” And the truth of that matter should shake me up more, but it doesn’t. I have a feeling Fletcher has a way of making it look like whoever my attacker was, never existed. He doesn’t answer me, pulling out his cell phone and trailing behind. Either we’re going the right way, or he just doesn’t care. Emotions run through me at the speed of light, not one sticking around to make itself at home as I come to terms with this step forward. Backward? I don’t know anymore. I was feeling emblazoned before but now…He’s my dad’s best friend.I can forget about the age difference, butthatmakes all the difference. This would never have happened if he had been alive, and that in and of itself tells me how wrong this is, despite how right it felt. The way his touch made mefeel… I may not have a lot of experience, but he makes me not want to experience it with anyone else.

We continue to walk in silence, Fletcher’s footsteps in sync with my own as he walks behind me until we reach the clearing to my yard, just as the sun is starting to peak over the horizon. There is no way I’ll be making it to classes today. “You can stop following me now,” I say as I turn around, coming face to chest with his body. His build is even more intimidating up close in the rising sun. His emerald green eyes glint with the flash of the sun, like a forest being set alight, as it starts to break through the trees. He really is more than I expected, and maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t remind me of the Fletcher that I used to know. He’s more intense, more dangerous, more… magnetic.

His lips twitch upward in what might be amusement, but it’s fleeting, replaced by an unreadable expression. “Not until I’m sure you’re safe.”

“I’mhome,” I emphasize, gesturing toward the house. “Safe. See?”

He glances past me toward the house, his gaze lingering as if he’s assessing every corner of it before cocking his brow at me. “I determine what’s safe, little viper. That adorable little security system you have? Not safe. If I can get in, so can others.” Something about him tells me that’s not true. “Plus, we have the matter of contending with whoever the fuck tried tokidnapyou. Or did you forget?”

I cross my arms, suddenly feeling exposed under his scrutiny. He has me there… “Then what would you have me do, Fletcher? I have a gun. I can protect myself, you know.”

His eyes snap back to mine. “Is that what you were doing out there? Protecting yourself? Walking around by yourself in the middle of the night out in the woods without not only your so-called gun, but your phone too?”

Heat rises to my cheeks, but I force myself to hold his gaze, refusing to let him see how much his words hit home. “I didn’t exactly plan on beingstalkedthrough the woods tonight, and foronce I’m not even talking about you despite the fact that’s what you were doing too. I was just trying to clear my head. Not hunt for trouble.”

His lips press into a thin line. “Trouble doesn’t care about your plans. You walking out there alone was like a flashing fucking neon sign sayingrape me!”

I bristle at his tone, stepping closer as if proximity will help me win this argument. “I don’t need your lectures! I can handle myself.”

Fletcher’s eyes narrow slightly, and for a moment, I swear I see a flicker of that darkness I know lurks beneath his skin. But when he speaks, his voice is unnervingly calm and I know well enough that this is the version of him I need to be afraid of. “You keep saying that. Yet here I am, the one who made sure nothing happened to you tonight… that you didn’t want, that is.”

“That’s because I didn’t know I needed—” I stop myself, realizing too late that I’m walking into his trap. His eyebrow arches again, daring me to continue, but I bite down on the words.

“Exactly,” he says, his tone softer now but no less firm. “You didn’t know. And next time, not knowing could get you killed. Think what you want of me, but I’m not nearly as sick, nor deranged as that fuck. I would never do anything like that to you unless you asked for it.” His words hang in the air, heavy and unshakable, and for the first time I let myself consider the possibility that maybe he’s right. But admitting that out loud? Not happening.

“So again, what would you have me do?” I ask, throwing up my hands. “Stay locked inside forever? You want to be my shadoweverytime I step outside?”

“It’s not like we weren’t pretty much already there, so yes, if that’s what it takes,” he says without hesitation, and I realize he’s serious. “You’re welcome to hate me for it—even though we’ve already determined you don’t, but I’m not backing off, even when I know you’re out of danger. So get used to it.”

I would fight back but I know it’s useless. I turn back around,stomping toward the back door of my house. “Fine, but you’re not staying in the house. You can sleep outside like the animal you are.”

His low chuckle follows me on the wind like a gentle caress and I hear him say, “We’ll see.”

I was,indeed, wrong. Fletcher didn’t even entertain the idea of staying outside of my house for a moment. He’s propped on the couch, Alaska sprawled across his lap. “Thea was right.”

He looks up at me. “About?”

“I told her about the times you broke in back in Norfolk and how Alaska, the traitorous bitch, hadn’t done anything about it. She asked if it was possible it was someone I knew… turns out it was. Even though you barely spent any time around her before you vanished for the last time,” I deadpan, glaring at him and then at the traitorous dog on his lap.

Fletcher's lips curl into an amused smile, completely unbothered by the accusation, and I have to wonder which of us is the crazier one—me for allowing him not only in my body, but also my home, or him for stalking me and acting like it isn’t a big deal. “Sounds like Thea was being a little too insightful for her own good. Was that the girl you were with at the coffee shop the day you ran into me, literally?”

I glare at him, exasperated. “That wasyou?”

Fletcher chuckles, his hand absently running through Alaska’s fur as she curls up on his lap, as if she isn’t fifty pounds. The sound of his laughter is oddly calming considering the storm of confusion and dread brewing inside me, the tension that’s filling the room. “It was me. It had been a coincidence that we were both there at the same time. I was in town for the funeral. But then your friend got all loudand I wasn’t trying to be obvious, but at that point I just needed to see for myself.”

I narrow my eyes, every part of me bristling. “See what for yourself?”

“I had to see if you were still…the same.”His gaze lifts from Alaska, locking onto mine with unnerving intensity. “I couldn’t help myself by that point. I knew you were struggling, and I thought that maybe you had seemed happy enough in that moment, but something flashed in your eyes as you looked away from me when I walked in the door and I knew that you weren’t, and that I would do anything in the fucking world for you. But not in the way I did when you were younger. This version of you, all grown up, called to me like a fucking siren begging for me to claim you. God knows when I looked at you, you were everythingexceptthe daughter of my best friend.”

“And you didn’t just decide to do what other people do and strike up a conversation, because?”

He peruses my body, now clean and in new clothes, before he answers. “I’m not like other people.” I don’t know what I expected his answer to be. Obviously something got screwed up in his head over the past eight years to make him like this.

“So what did you find out? Am I the same?” I walk into the kitchen, getting a glass of water before hopping up on the counter. I hear shuffling in the living room before footsteps approach. He hangs his arms above the archway, leaning in.

“I think we both know the answer to that one, little viper. But in case you need me to answer it anyway…” He drops his arms and walks toward me in a measured way that only he can do. There isn’t an ounce of uncertainty in the way he moves, like he knows that he can make my senses ignite without even touching me. He places both arms on either side of me by my legs, still taller than me even as I’m on the counter, and runs his nose over my jaw. I shiver, trying to steady my breath, but it’s impossible when his presence pulls everything tight, making the air between us feel like it’s vibrating. “You are everything but the same. In fact, you’ve always been more. More than what you let anyone else see. And that’s what keeps drawing me closer.”

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