128. Get Freaky with Your Stalker

Third Person's POV:

Sunlight streamed through the glass doors, warm and golden, painting long shadows across the floor. Rose's head hung at an awkward angle, her neck stiff from hours of resting against the back of the chair.

A sharp shriek shattered the peace.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF PORNHUB—"

Rose jolted awake, limbs flailing as she tried to make sense of the sudden noise. Her eyes cracked open to find Aria standing over her, arms crossed, one eyebrow arched high enough to disappear into her messy hair.

Her best friend gave her a slow, judgmental once-over before deadpanning, "Did you have an orgy last night and didn't invite me?" she made a face looking deeply hurt.

Rose blinked, her brain still buffering.

"What?" Her voice came out raspy, thick with sleep.

Aria gestured dramatically at her with both hands, as if presenting undeniable evidence of her crime. "What's with the porn star getup, ma'am? This is giving—" she made a vague circular motion in the air, "—discount Mia Khalifa vibes."

It took Rose a second to realize what she meant, but the moment her sleep-fogged brain caught up, sheer horror clawed its way up her throat.

She looked down.

Oh.

Oh god.

She was still in her red lingerie set—the glittery one she had so confidently flaunted last night, the one that barely qualified as clothing, the one she had *dared* her stalker to enjoy while standing half-naked before her own damn window.

Rose made a strangled sound of pure mortification before snatching the discarded blanket from the floor and wrapping herself in it like a burrito.

Aria smirked, unbothered as ever. "Tell me honestly, Rose—did you get freaky with your stalker last night?"

Rose choked on air. "WHAT?!"

Aria shrugged. "Look, I was out of my mind last night, but I *swear* I saw someone with a really hot silhouette standing outside your window before he walked closer to the house and I lost visuals. Tragic, honestly." She let out a wistful sigh. "I can't tell if it was real or if I just dreamed it, but—"

"A dream! That was definitely a dream!" Rose rushed out, sitting up straighter, gripping her blanket shield tightly. "You were drugged out of your mind. And apparently—" she gestured to herself, still horrified, "—so was I"

Aria hummed, clearly skeptical.

Rose quickly scrambled for an excuse. "I was probably trying to get a tan," she blurted out. "In front of the window. Thinking it was day instead of night."

Aria gave her a slow, pitying nod. "Mmm. Yup. That sounds *exactly* like something you would do."

She grinned, leaning against the doorframe, clearly enjoying Rose's distress. "You cannot imagine the things that drug made me do last night with your pillow."

Rose threw up a hand. "Spare me the details, please—my head's already killing me, thanks to you." She groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples, willing herself to block out every possible thing Aria might have done to *her* pillow.

Still wrapped in the blanket, Rose let herself sink deeper into the chair, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she tried to recall the rest of last night.

Right.

She had challenged him.

Provoked him.

Taunted him like some high-on-crack temptress, thinking she was untouchable behind a wall of protective charms.

And he had listened.

That was the part she couldn't quite wrap her head around.

She had watched him all night, her head bobbing up and down as she slipped in and out of sleep, struggling to keep her eyes open.

It must've been a ridiculous sight—her fighting sleep while stubbornly trying to win a bizarre staring contest with her stalker whilst in my lingerie!

But he never moved from his spot after she threatened him to go back.

Not once.

Somehow, he had managed to stay up all night, standing as still as a statue, his golden eyes fixed on her. How? How did he not waver? Does he even need sleep?

Oh right I forgot, evil never slumbers.

But the moment the sky had begun to shift, the first hints of purple and soft gold bleeding into the horizon—he simply turned back.

No rush. No hesitation.

And walked away.

At a completely normal human pace.

Right back into the trees.

Disappearing with the last remnants of the night.

Well, at least now she knew the exact time he arrived and the exact time he left.

A pertinent piece of information she doesn't yet know how would come to be useful. But the means by which she had gathered it?

Rose buried her face in her hands as a mortifying heat flushed her skin from head to toe.

Oh god.

The things she had said. The things she had done last night.

What had possessed her?! What kind of unhinged lunatic did you have to be to try and seduce your own stalker?!

And worst of all—what if he had actually found a way to come inside?

A violent shudder ran down her spine at the thought.

What if he had found a way past her protective ward?

What if he had taken her challenge seriously?

What if he had— Who knows what things he would do to her-

Nope. Nope. Nope. Abort all thoughts.

She was never thinking about last night ever again.

Unfortunately, Aria didn't seem to be done tormenting her, though she did distract her quite well with what she said next.

"Hey, babe," she called, popping her head back into the room. "Just in case you've lost all concept of time and shame, I should probably remind you that the weekend's over—and we have to be at college in about ten minutes."

Rose's heart dropped.

Oh, shit.

She completely forgot about college.

"The weekend's over?" she repeated dumbly, her brain still catching up.

"Mmhmm." Aria nodded, grinning. "And you cannot go looking like Mia Khalifa. No pressure, though—I'll support you even if you do."

Rose shot her a look.

She barely heard the rest of what Aria was saying over the blood rushing in her ears.

How can she forget that now she has to leave the house. Her safe house.

Her protective warded house.

She has to step outside. Into the world. Into His world.

And she just had to go and provoke him the night before, didn't she?

Oh, great.

Now she gets to spend the *entire* day looking over her shoulder, praying real hard that he doesn't still have blue balls and doesn't decide to remedy the situation by coming after her.

Awesome.

Absolutely awesome.