Page 56 of The Taskmaster
Her leg was twitching, jumping as if she were stressed and had nervous energy she couldn’t expel. I guess my presence was taking its toll, but that only spurred me on more.
“All the best people are,” I replied, and she huffed her annoyance.
“Well, that was... a night.” She ran her hands over her face and then reached for the door handle. “Thanks for everything. I guess I’ll see you around.”
I opened my door too. She wasn’t getting away that easily. “Where are you going?”
“Errr, home?” She said it like a question, but that wasn’t what she was questioning.
“And I’m walking you to your door.”
“I don’t think so.” She shook her head as she began to walk towards the front door to her building, trying to leave me behind.
That wasn’t going to happen.
“Did I say it was up for debate?”
“Did I say you could come into my building?”
She stood at the door, like she was waiting for me to leave. And I ignored her, taking hold of the front door handle and pulling, not surprised in the slightest that it wasn’t locked. “I’d like to see you try and keep me out.” I smirked, then swept my arm forward and told her, “After you.”
She took a beat, glaring at me, then realised it was hopeless and huffed as she walked past me into the foyer.
“You can leave me here. You don’t need to climb the stairs and follow me to my front door.”
“I don’t need to.” I leaned my head closer to hers, loving the way that my nearness affected her. “But I want to.”
She stood still then shook her head and spun around, her curls bouncing as she flounced off, heading towards the staircase as she mumbled under her breath. She was walking fast, trying to get ahead. It was cute that she thought she could shake me off so easily.
We climbed the stairs, her striding with purpose, and me following slowly behind, finding the whole thing amusing.
But as we reached the landing for her floor, everything changed.
Up ahead, dressed all in black with a hoodie up, trying to break into her apartment again, was her stalker. Herotherstalker.
“What the fuck?” she cried, but I was two steps ahead, bolting down the hallway, ready to catch the motherfucker.
He heard the pound of my footsteps and turned to face me. He was wearing a bandana over his face and only his eyes were showing. Beady, evil eyes that glared with wicked intent before he backed up and started to run in the opposite direction down the hallway.
He reached the end of the corridor before me and flung a door open. I knew that was the fire escape.
When I got there, I slammed the door against the concrete wall as I launched myself down the stairs, holding onto the rail and jumping down the steps to try and catch him.
I could hear him panting as he ran, his footsteps echoing off the grey, concrete walls. I didn’t stop, I threw myself down those stairs so fast I was sure I’d land on him soon, push him to the floor and kick the shit out of him before I asked him who the fuck he was, and why he was targeting her. This guy was going down.
There was a whoosh of cold air as the bottom floor came into view. He’d escaped through the fire door, into the car park at the back of the building. I did the same, charging through, ready to run across the asphalt and catch him. But as I burst out into the cool night air and glanced around, I couldn’t see him. It was as if the fucker had vanished into thin air. I chose to go right first, running to the side of the building that led to the main road, but he wasn’t there, and there were no suspect black Mercedes cars waiting for him.
I doubled back, heading back to the car park and running in the opposite direction, but that was a dead end.
Where the fuck was he?
I stood still, whipping my head around to see if I could spot him, listening intently for any sign that he was close. I ducked down, to see if he was hiding behind one of the cars parked back here, then I paced forward, checking behind each one, but there was no one here.
“Fuck,” I cursed.
I didn’t like it when a target escaped. I didn’t make mistakes, but right now, it felt like I’d failed, and I was pissed.
“I’ll find you, you cocksucker!” I shouted into the night.
