Page 21 of Marked By my Stalker
“I miss you, you know?” she says, voice cracking softly. “Not just the house being quiet.You.Your laugh, your chaos,even your damn eye rolls. I know I’ve been hard lately,” Linda continues. “I’m not trying to fight everything you want. I’m just scared that if you build a new life, you won’t need me in it.”
Kera steps forward until they’re close and wraps her arms around her mother. “Mom, I’ll always need you. Not the way I used to, but I do. I always will.” She glances down out at the darkened valley and back again. “I just… I need to live my own life. And this… school, this city, Brick… none of that is for me. I want to be out in the mountains, in a little cabin by a stream, shooting pictures, raising a family, feeling things.”
“And you want to do that with Jack?”
“If all my fantasies work out, then yeah.” She glances toward me with half a smile then back at her mom. “I’d like that. He makes me feel safe, Mom. He’s grown. He knows what he wants. I like the way I feel around him.”
Linda exhales slowly, her eyes tracing Kera’s expression like she’s unsure of how to proceed. “I’m not sure I’ll ever see that as a choice for you, and I do believe that you belong at school, getting a degree,” she sighs, “but it’s your life, Kera. And if you’re telling me it’s your way or bust… I’ll trust you know what you’re doing.” The words sound painful as she speaks them, but I know she’s trying her best, and that’s all anyone can do in a moment like this.
“Really?” Kera narrows her gaze and leans in toward her mother. “You’re okay with me doing what I want?”
“Kera,” her mother sighs, “I hate the idea of you quitting school. You need a degree if you want a good job. I hate the idea of you living up in these mountains with the dangerous roads, and I hate the idea of you dating a man older than me. A man who,” she glances toward me with that devil stare again, “I just hate in this moment. But… I don’t want to lose you. So,” she shrugs her shoulders and tucks a strand of blonde hair behindher ear, “I’m going to get a room somewhere tonight. Let’s have breakfast together in the morning. We can—”
“Mom, why don’t you stay with me at the dorm. You can take my bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Her mom smiles sweetly. “Really? You’d want me to stay with you?”
“Yeah,” Kera nods, “I miss you too. A lot. None of this is about hating you. You’re my mom. I just… I want to live my own life.”
“Why don’t we both go get a room tonight. My treat.” Linda bites back a smile. “I think your roommate might need a break too. You can invite her if you want. She was chatting my ear off about some virgin auction and I couldn’t talk her out of it.”
“Sounds good.” Kera smiles. “I’ll send Penny a text and we’ll meet you wherever you say.”
Linda glances toward me again with the stare of death, then back at her daughter. “Sounds good, Kera bear. Don’t be long, okay?”
Kera nods and Linda climbs back in her Honda.
When she’s down the mountain, I turn back toward my girl and wrap my arms around her thick waist. “I’m sure that’s not over, but it’s a start.”
“That’s all we can ask for, right?” She tips up onto her toes and leans into my lips, soft and sweet, underneath a million stars.
I never expected to fall for Kera. I was here on a mission. A mission meant for observation. But somewhere between late binocular nights and quiet confessions, she became more than a duty.
Her soft laughter, her dreams, the way she wears a sweater dress. She disarmed me.
I may have been hired to protect her, hired to keep her safe, but now, she’s mine, and I’ll be the devil her mom believes I am if anyone tries to take her from me.
Epilogue
Kera
Two Years Later
Milk drips from my nipples. I’m still a month away from delivery but apparently, this is normal. I wasn’t prepared for this level of intensity quite yet. I’m not sure what it is about the moment your breasts go from sexual to functional, but it’s giving me whiplash.
Jack kneels before the fireplace with a stack of cut wood he’s brought in from outdoors. It’s nearly winter, and he’s been doing everything to make sure we’re extra ready considering the baby’s arrival next month. In the last nine months, he’s renovated an old cabin on the west side of the mountain, helped decorate our baby boy’s room in a full-on forest theme, and he’s picked up my slack as this belly proves to be a giant beach ball that’s in the way of bending forward or standing for long periods of time.
I’m a lucky girl, and I know it. Still, that doesn’t stop the tears from falling as I stare down at my leaking breasts.
He stands from the fireplace, flannel sleeves rolled up, his dark ink showing. “Oh no. What’s wrong with my little girl?” He kneels on the hard floor next to me, his rough, warm hand cupping my cheek. “Are you in pain?”
I shake my head and wipe away another tear as I gesture toward my chest like it’s betrayed me. “No, I’m leaking.”
His gaze drops, then softens. “It means we’re close, right? Our baby boy will be here soon.”
“No.” I narrow my eyes, wiping away more frustrated tears. “I mean, yes. But… I wasn’t ready for this. I… I don’t want to feel like a dairy cow! I want to feel sexual. I just… I don’t. Not with this giant belly and these huge soaking tits.”
Shame curls in my chest, tangled with frustration and the aching loss of a version of me that used to feel powerful and wanted. I stare down at the evidence of transformation, evidence of motherhood, and all I can see is a stranger in my own skin.
