Page 21 of Dead Pretty

I fall back against the door.

Jesus. I’m such a freak. I didn’t even say good-bye. Just hightailed it out of there.

Jack must think I’m a crazy person.

Good. It’s good if he thinks that.

Then, he’ll stay away, and that is what I want.

Right?

Right.

On a sigh, I push off the door and go and do my usual check of my apartment before I continue with running my bath.

My eyes sweep up and down him. He’s wearing that beaten leather jacket that he always wears. Dark blue jeans. A gray henley shirt. Biker boots on his feet.

He looks hot, like usual.

It’s disconcerting, to say the least.

So is the fact that I’m seeing him again.

It was only yesterday when I was in his apartment.

He sees me, eyes locking on to mine, and smiles.

“Hi again,” he says, approaching me.

“Why is it that, less than a week ago, I had never seen you before, and now, I can’t go anywhere without seeing you?”

He stops a few feet from me. Lips parted slightly, like I’ve shocked him into silence.

Did I actually just say that?

I couldn’t have just said hello and been on my way?

But seriously, I go from never seeing this guy to seeing him wherever I go.

It’s … weird.

And I have lived weird, so I know what to look for. And it’s this.

He’s at my place of work—it’s a public building, but that doesn’t count. My apartment building—okay, he lives there, too, so I’ll give him that. But the coffee shop and now the grocery store?

I can go weeks. Months. Without seeing the same person again.

Granted, I avoid people at all costs.

But him? He is everywhere I go.

They’re either coincidences—and I’m not a big believer in that—or he’s following me.

So, I have to go with, he’s following me.

Look … I know I’m a suspicious person nowadays. But come on. Any normal person would feel creeped out by this, wouldn’t they?

Or was that just incredibly rude of me?