Page 12 of To Love a Monster
The reply is silence.No laugh.Nothing.I kick at the dirt and scream, “What, nothing to say now, big bad wolf?Gone back into hiding again, have we?”
Another buzz.I read it fast, each word like a finger curling tight around me.
You know, Lila, I liked you better when you were soaking wet with your legs spread.When you used that voice for moaning rather than shouting at wolves in the wind like a scared little lamb.
My face flushes as I realize that he knows my name.He saw me in the bath?What the fuck?How?Did I leave the window open?The heat hits everywhere.“Screw you, creep.”I snap, spinning in a full circle, searching for a figure, a flicker, anything.Buzz.
Don’t tempt me.
“Oh, really?”I shout, louder now.“Come on then!You’re probably one of those socially awkward losers who prefer peeping through windows rather than meeting people the normal way, aren’t you?Are you that afraid to speak to a woman?”
My voice hangs breathlessly before it falls away to nothing.Then I hear another buzz.
You think I’m afraid?Oh, little lamb.No.You see, you already belong to me.I’m simply waiting for the perfect time, but if you keep pushing, I’ll come out of these woods and show you how good girls are meant to behave.I’ll fuck you until your throat’s too raw to beg and your legs forget how to close.
My blood pounds so loud I can barely hear myself.I stare at the message, my breath caught as my pulse slams in my ears.My hands are shaking, but not from fear.Not entirely anyway.
“You’re sick!”I yell into the trees, voice cracked and high.But even as the words leave me, something inside twists.A heat coils low in my belly, furious and wrong.I want to run, go back home and forget this mad man even exists.But at the same time, some feral part of me aches at the way he speaks to me like I’ve already given myself to him.The way he wants me.
God, what the fuck is wrong with me?
I don’t know what possessed me to call his bluff.Was it because I thought I could win?Did I think it would scare him off?Or maybe I wanted to see how far he’d take it, if he’d actually show up or if he was content with just watching from afar.
For all I know, this man is dangerous.He’s certainly unhinged.
But he hasn’t hurt me.Not yet at least.And it’s not like he hasn’t had the chance.
Instead, he keeps showing up in ways I can’t ignore and pulling strings I didn’t know existed.What’s worse is that I keep responding.
“I’m not scared of you!”I scream, as if saying it out loud might rewrite the truth.I’m greeted by silence.There’s no wind, no birds chirping overhead.Just the forest holding its breath.
But I know he’s still out there.Watching.Smirking.Waiting.
****
Surveillance Log: L.M
Subject: Lila Montgomery
Location: Matteo’s cabin
Status: Partial radio silence / Target secure / External anomaly logged / Surveillance Feed Review
She doesn’t understand yet.Not fully.But she’s beginning to, and that’s a start.That’s what makes it thrilling.Her slow slip from defiance into need.She fights it but every breath is another tether.The way she pushes back only pulls me in.She’ll learn soon enough.It’s more personal than she knows.Than I let her believe.There’s nothing accidental about this.Aboutus.This girl has a voice that makes my veins hum with electricity.Makes me burn like fire.I hear her even when she doesn’t mean me to.I watch her in ways she never imagines.And I never let her out of sight.
She was bold today.After making myself known she still walked into the woods like a woman trying to summon a god she doesn’t believe in.Shouting.Cursing.Challenging me.And I let her, staying just out of reach but close enough to taste her voice.To see the pulse flutter at her throat as she hurled her anger into the trees.She thought she was getting to me.Thought her words would push me out of hiding.“Coward.”
Her defiance lit a fuse in me.She doesn’t realize what that mouth of hers has invited.Not yet.But soon she will.I’ll just let her curiosity continue to build for now, I’ll wait until she realizes that the unknown is what makes this so exciting, that her fear is truly just masked arousal just waiting to be recognized.Every time she shouted into the woods I pictured it.Her back against the bark, legs trembling, voice cracking into something softer.That fire in her eyes, breaking down into pure need.She was practically begging for it and I would have given it to her if it weren’t so fun to watch her frustration build.
I wanted to stalk out of those trees, wrap her braid around my fist, drag her to her knees in the dirt and hold her still while I made her learn what surrender feels like.I wanted to bend her over, hold her wrists behind her back and bury myself inside her as she screamed for more.
But I didn’t touch her.Not today.Didn’t answer her call, chase her back to the cabin or send another message.I want her to feel what silence tastes like.How it lingers.She thinks she scared me off.Thinks I’m gone.Cute.
After she went inside, I pulled up the archived cam feed from her house, the one that records whenever she leaves the property.I scrubbed back to the time she left for her run.And that’s when I saw him.It wasn’t a reflection.Not a deer or shadow.A man.Standing by her window and staring inside.Not moving.Watching.
He didn’t try to break in and didn’t touch anything.But I know a predator when I see one.Looks like we found our target.I sent the frame to Matteo.Didn’t give him details, just the timestamp.Within five minutes, I had my answer.
Track him.Find out who he is and don’t let her out of your sight.
