Page 17 of Marked By my Stalker
Jack hums out a reply as I squeeze the tips of my fingers deep into the sockets of my eyes.
When the line has disconnected, I glance up at him. “Do you see what I’m dealing with? She didn’t even ask if I was okay.”
“I do now, yeah. That’s pretty bad.” He glances to the side and back again. “You okay?”
I nod, but it feels fragile. Like if I move too fast, the whole day will splinter apart. I don’t want this moment to end. I want to stay up here forever in Jack’s arms, safe from everything and everyone.
Jack’s warmth is steady against my skin, and that should calm me, but it only makes the ache sharper… because I know I’ll never really have him. Never have this. Never know what it’s like to lie out on a bed, cradled in his arms. Never know what it’s like to roll a grocery cart down the center aisle and throw random shit inside on a Saturday morning with him touching my back. Never know what it’s like to build a life with him.
I exhale slowly, the weight easing with the deep rumbling sound of his breath. I should know better. This day we’re having can never be anything more. We can’t exist in the world, Jack and I. It would never work.
“We came up here for pictures,” he says. “We should take some.”
I nod and lean into his lips gently, savoring the way his beard tickles my face. I should stop all this. I know nothing can come of it, but this feeling is like a drug, and I’m one hundred percent, wholeheartedly, without a shadow of a doubt, a complete and total addict.
Chapter Eight
Jack
She walks around the edge of the tree line, camera in hand, stalking the side of the mountain for the perfect shot. Slowly, she bends to frame the ridge, angling low as to let the viewfinder swallow the peaks and clouds while not forgetting the soft blur of wildflowers on the slope.
She snaps a few photos, adjusting the settings like she knows what she’s doing. The shutter clicks softly.
“You’re in your element,” I say, voice low and hungry.
The call from her mother was startling. The fact that she’s here, even more so. I don’t know how to make this right, how to explain what I feel or if I even do. Either way, my body won’t stop aching for that sweet little girl with the camera in her hand. The one that’s just turned back in the afternoon light with a smile. The one that makes me want to be better than I ever fucking have.
Apparently, this is what happy feels like. It’s not loud, and it doesn’t slap you in the face. It’s slow and creeping, seeping into the cracks without notice.
I linger in it for a breath. In the quiet joy, in the unexpected shift… it’s nice.It’s so damn nice.
Kera snaps another photo of the valley then turns back, camera strap slung over her shoulder, her gaze on me.
For the first time in a while, I’m not sure what the rules are anymore. On one hand, we’ve already crossed a line, what are a few more? On the other, every fucking line I cross is another I’ve got to carry for the rest of my life. Another I have to explain to her mother.
Whatever the case, the way she looks at me has my pulse thumping loudly in my ears, and I’ve suddenly forgotten what I’m supposed to want in favor of feeling what’s right in front of me.
I don’t look away.Ican’t.
“You get all the photos you wanted?”
“No,” she smiles, “I think you’ll have to bring me back again.”
My chest tightens because as good as that sounds, I don’t know what the future holds for us.
“Jack,” her gaze meets mine through long dark lashes, “I don’t want this to end.”
I pull her close to my chest, holding her fragile little frame against my own. She fits there too easily, too damn perfectly.
“I don’t know what this is,” I mutter, my voice low, “but it’s messing me up.”
Her fingers curl into my shirt, and I feel the tremble in her breath against my neck.
“I’m not good at soft,” I say. “Never have been. I break things. I bury things. I don’t know how to keep something like you happy and fulfilled.” I pause, jaw clenched so tight it aches. “Hell, I’m not even supposed to want you and I’ve fucked that up terribly.”
She doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch. She just keeps her eyes on mine like she already knows.
“I was hired to be here,” I growl. “Your dad’s friend. His shadow. I’m supposed to keep you safe, not—” I stop myself before the truth slips out.
