Her Midnight Stalker: A Dark Paranormal Romance by Draco Destiny

Author:Draco, Destiny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dracoverse Publishing
Published: 2024-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

23

QUINN

Only through my dreams do I feel alive anymore. I close my eyes, even for a minute, and he’s beside me, embracing me and showing me a kind of love I never feel in my waking life. I awake, and he’s gone, as quickly as he entered my mind.

I lead parallel lives - the life where I’m responsible, and I show up to work, pay my rent, and act as a kind friend - and the life where I embrace all the pain he delivers on me, letting it consume me.

These two lives cannot intersect anymore. Through our multiple interactions, he’s made that abundantly clear.

He reinforces his existence through quiet gifts and tangible proof, but I’m left to see him as a kind of cryptid - a stranger in the night. He’s my shadow, tailing me wherever I go, and offering me quiet reassurance as surely as he punishes me.

“Quinn?”

Rory shakes me from my fantasy. I gaze upon her, my food court pizza getting cold.

It’s the third Friday of the month. That means mall and movie time with my best friend. Everybody around me is happily enjoying their day, taking such sweet solace in this escape from reality, but my escape feels like an illusion.

“You okay?” She asks. “You’ve hardly touched your food.”

“Just tired, I guess,” I say, forcing a yawn.

“Well, wake up,” she enthuses. “No way I want you sleeping through the new Captain Patriot. Rumor is, Donkeycop shows up in the post credits.”

“That’s nice,” I say, taking a bite of my pizza. The crust is soft and flavorless, but I forgive it and chock it up to the new management.

At least the pepperoni is good.

“I thought ever since we got rid of your problem, you’d be sleeping a lot better,” she remarks.

“Oh, I have been!” I lie. “Just think it might be time for a new mattress. Spring’s been kind of jutting into me lately.”

While it’s true that I’m in need of a new mattress, Rory doesn’t need to know it’s because Caspian broke the mattress, with how aggressive our last session was. So this is at least a lie that’s easily backed up.

“You should get that fixed,” Rory says. “Money problems?”

“As always,” I say, sighing. I’m relieved that I threw her off my trail.

We eat in silence a little longer. Rory constantly checks her phone, making sure we’re not late for the movie.

For an instant, I think I’ve gotten away from Rory without her making a comment on my lifestyle.

“What’s up with the turtleneck?” Rory asks pointedly. “It’s the middle of summer. Aren’t you hot?”

“Turtlenecks are in this year,” I reply simply.

But I see her examining my collar, and I suddenly feel like running away.

“Oh my God.”

Before I can react, she jumps across the table at me, pulling down my collar. What she sees is two half-dollar-sized bruises around two points of injection, with black discoloration all along my neck.

“Those didn’t look that bad the last time I saw you,” she said. “What have you been doing?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.