Page 22 of To Love a Monster
His smile softens, friendly, not too eager.Just enough.“Hey, I was wondering.Do you wanna grab a drink sometime?”he asks.
I blink.“A drink?”
“Yeah.”He shrugs like it’s no big deal.“Something chill.We could hit that bar in Millbridge we spoke about the other day ...or, if you’re not one for bars, I’ve got a couple decent bottles back at the cabin.Could even cook you something if you’d like.I make a mean steak.Or pasta, if you’re a carb kind of girl.”
That earns a ghost of a smile from me.He’s trying.Being nice.And that’s the problem.I don’twantnormal.Not really.
But I find myself nodding anyway.“Sure.That sounds great.”His grin widens, boyish and harmless.
“Cool.You know where to find me, so just let me know.”He turns, jogging off toward his place.I stay where I am.Staring at the woods.The stillness.The shadows that don’t move but feel like they’re watching.Waiting.When I get back inside, I reach for my phone but as expected.There’s nothing.
No possessive warning.Nothing but silence and it’s deafening.
****
Surveillance Log: L.M
Subject: Lila Montgomery
Location: Matteo’s base—Surveillance Station 03
Status: Subject proximity compromised / Carl under review
I saw her this morning.I didn’t go to her, though.Didn’t linger outside her window.I just watched through the cameras.She looked ...tired.Like someone who didn’t sleep because she was too busy rewinding every second of our last encounter.That much was obvious by her painting.
I watched her dip that brush into shadows and drag my shape across the canvas.Hood up.Rain bleeding down like a baptism.I could tell in the way her breath caught when she stepped back to look at what she made.
It was like she didn’t want to admit she wanted me to walk back through her door and prove she wasn’t crazy for needing a monster to touch her.So I let her sit in it.Let her feel the ache like a lamb who wants to be devoured but the wolf just ...doesn’t come.I want her hungry.Frustrated.Primed.I want her to spiral.So when the time’s right, she'll fall into my arms and beg to be claimed.
She checked her phone six times in under an hour.Sat by the window like she thought she could will me out of the woods.She’s starting to crave it, the uncertainty.The tension.Me.And it’s exactly what I wanted.
But I didn’t expect him.
Carl.Fucking Carl.
That all-American, safe-smile, good-boy act she used to go for.He caught her on the trail.All charm and casual banter.Like he belonged beside her.
He doesn’t.
I followed.Listened to every word.Watched his eyes crawl across her body like he thought he had the right.He asked her out.She said yes, but she paused.Hesitated.She looked toward the woods like she was waiting for me.She wanted me to see it, to tell her I’d punish her for it.
But I didn’t.
I let her stand there and feel the silence wrap around her like a noose.And now Carl thinks he has a shot, he thinks he’s winning.But what he doesn’t know is that he’s already dead.He just hasn’t stopped breathing yet.
I haven’t breached his house.Not yet.But the moment is coming.He’s too clean.Too precise.His movements aren’t random, they’re structured.Controlled.I just need an opportunity.And when that window opens, I’m going through it with a bullet and a blade.I’ll make sure Carl feels every second of what he thinks he can take from me.
Because Lila isn’t his to touch.To look at.To breathe near.She’smine.
It took everything in me not to follow her into the cabin when she got home.I wanted to pin her to the mirror.Make her watch her own reflection as I peeled the hoodie off her body and dragged my tongue down her spine.
I’d have fucked her with my fingers slow, deep.Until she shook, begged.Until she choked on her own moan trying to say my name.And I wouldn’t stop.Not until her legs trembled and the only word she remembered was my name.
I plan to swallow her whole and leave nothing behind for anyone else to salvage.She doesn’t know it yet but despite my silence, I’m not done.Not even close.When the time comes, she’ll be begging me to make her forget every man before me.And she’ll know better than to ever let another one close again.
—N
