Predator - A Stand Alone Suspense Romance(31)

I start chewing at the skin on my thumbnail, nervous tension coiling in my stomach.

“So what do you think of Damian?” she asks as she sits down next to me. I hate that she’s followed me out here.

I scoot up a little so we’re not too close to each other. Damian is the last subject I want to discuss with her.

“He’s nice,” I give the most average answer I can think of. It’s one of those questions I can’t really answer, because the truth is that he’s scary as fuck! He’s a killer – a monster with a heart of gold.

“Nice,” she repeats my word but it sounds different coming from her. I stare hard at the water.

“Have you been friends for long?” The words just spill out of me. I clench my fists and jaw.

“We’ve known each other for a few years now. He’s different than all the other men I know. Of course you would know that seeing as you’re living here … and all.”

I don’t know what she means and my head jerks to the side as I glance at her. There’s a faint smile around her lips, almost dreamlike.

“I met him at the bar. You know the one I sing at?” she asks. “You can say we are friends … I guess.”

I dart up. I don’t want to know what the ‘I guess’ means.

“Did you sleep alright last night?” I ask and I start to turn away from the answer coming. I shouldn’t dig. I should leave well enough alone.

“I did eventually,” she sighs and gets up too. “I…” she stutters and I have to wonder if it’s real or if she’s faking it for sympathy. “My brother got himself into a tight spot with a gang and they keep coming around the house. It’s not safe for me there. It’s real nice of Damian to let me stay until I can figure something else out.”

I don’t need to hear this. Her life does not concern me. I’m just passing through. A year from now Damian will only be a memory. I feel a pang of sadness which I don’t understand. It’s not like Damian and I are in any kind of relationship. ‘It’s because you feel grateful,’ I tell myself.

“Now they’re starting to phone me, demanding that I know where he is,” she goes on as if I should care. And somewhere deep inside of me I feel guilty for not caring. How stupid is that? She doesn’t care a single fuck about me. “At least Damian was there to take the call last night.”

Now I care. Why the fuck, I don’t know.

“He was so sweet,” she almost purrs.

I tell myself to walk away. Turn. Walk. Go! This does not concern me.

“It’s always comforting to be held by him.”

Finally! My legs listen and I start to walk.

“Coffee,” I mutter the word out as I leave her behind.

It shouldn’t bother me that Damian was with her last night, that he held her. He means nothing to me besides being a temporary safe haven that has reached its expiration date.



She laughs a lot for someone who’s going through a hard time. She touches him a lot too. A quick squeeze on the arm. A hug. Every time she touches him, I hate her more and more. By the end of the first day I have a bitter taste in my mouth, and it’s called Jean.

Jealousy doesn’t make you nasty. It makes you a fucking actor. It eats away at you until there’s nothing left of the person you used to be. You have to act to become someone, a better person than the one you’re jealous of. Does that make sense?

I hear him go into her room in the middle of the night. Seeing that it’s right next to mine, I can’t miss it. It’s killing me and I don’t even know why.

She’s been here four days and again Damian goes to her room. I hear her laugh and then they walk down the passage.

I shoot up. I’m out of my room sneaking down the damn passage like a criminal. It’s dark downstairs but I take the stairs down. There is a faint light coming from the living room and it lights up a small piece of the entrance hall. I peek in slowly and I go cold.

They’re lying on the couch that’s been pulled out into a bed. They’re watching a movie. I don’t know which one. She nudges him and he nudges her back. This is a side of Damian I’ve never seen.

“So you like sci-fi and fantasies.” I hear her say something about him I didn’t know. I should know that. Fuck, we’ve been living together for a while now. “Your favorite food is Thai chicken curry, and I’m keeping you to it,” she laughs again. “Tomorrow, you’ll make me some.”

Tears sting my eyes, threatening to fall.

He eats curry? He’s going to make her some? I don’t know why such mundane facts about him are affecting me so much.

“If you’ve been a bachelor for as long as I have been, you learn to cook, Babe,” he teases, and I close my eyes.

“You cook, and I’ll stick to singing,” she says.

“You do that.” He throws his arm around her and pulls her in for a hug.

My eyes are glued to them as they laugh and joke. I’m jealous of the friendship they have.

“Come, back to bed with you,” he says, and I turn and run.

I run for the bathroom and I quickly close the door, leaving it open only an inch. I stand with a thundering heart and huge eyes.

I hear her door close but not his. I only hear her door close.