Chapter 17 Stalking My Stalker
Celene's POV
A week passed.
Seven days.
I noticed it on the eighth morning, standing in front of my bathroom mirror with a toothbrush in my mouth, foam sliding down my chin. Daniel had never been quiet. Even when he disappeared, he did it loudly. Angry texts. Missed calls. Long voicemails that started confident and ended sloppily with strings of curse words or his usual way of begging while still keeping his arrogance.
This time there was nothing.
No unknown numbers. No emails. No drunk apologies sent at 3 a.m. No accusations about how I ruined his life and made him fall for me. Nothing.
I rinsed my mouth and stared at my reflection longer than I needed to like
Seven days wasn’t normal. I told myself the police probably got him. That explanation made sense on the surface. Daniel had always been reckless. The kind of man who left messes behind and blamed everyone else for noticing.
But that didn’t fully settle my nerves.Whenn I last saw him, he hadn’t been acting like a man who was angry or manipulative.
He had been afraid. He had been very afraid.
The kind of fear that sat behind his eyes and made him keep glancing over his shoulder like he expected someone to be standing there.
That was the weird part. That part stayed with me. Who had he met?
I prepared for school and met up with Maria, and she clocked my mood immediately.
We were sitting outside the campus café, me holding an iced coffee I hadn’t taken a sip of. Maria leaned back in her chair, sunglasses pushed into her curls, legs stretched out like she owned the place.
“You’re quiet,” she said. “And girl, when you’re quiet, something is wrong.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
She laughed, sharp and disbelieving. “You haven't gotten back to me on the Daniels case. Dont you want him locked up, baby girl?"
"I don't even think that is going to be a problem anymore."
"What do you mean, chica?"
I sighed. “Daniel showed up again.”
Her posture changed instantly. “That man.”
“I didn’t invite him.”
“I know you didn’t.” Her mouth twisted. “What did he do this time?”
I hesitated. I hated how strange it sounded even inside my own head. “He was… off. Saying weird things. Then he left.”
“And you didn’t call me,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to say if I had called you. I certainly don't know how I would explain all this madness to your uncle's brother's first cousin or whatever you said last time.”
Maria leaned forward and grabbed my hand. “Celene, he scares me. He always has. You don’t deal with men like that alone.”
“I know.”
“Promise me if he ever comes near you again, you call me. I don’t care if it’s 2 a.m. I’ll show up with pepper spray and bad intentions.”
That made me smile despite myself. “I promise.”
Her phone buzzed. She groaned. “I forgot I have class with Satan himself.”
She stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, then leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Text me when you get home.”
“I will.”
She jogged off, already talking loudly into her phone.
I really didn't like it when she left me alone with my thoughts. But I could not tell her that. Maria would pause her life to be with me and make me comfortable amd I could not bear to do that.
The quiet she left behind felt heavier than it should have. I stayed seated for a moment, watching people pass, laughing, living and acting like nothing was wrong with the world.
Then I noticed the damned black car that started all this. It was parked INSIDE the school grounds. Not a lot of students had cars, also, not a lot of students had cars that were as expensive and as pretty as that.
There's no way I was being paranoid. This wasn't just anxiety, or a coincidence anymore.
Someone was following me around.
Someone had run my abusive ex boyfriend off the face of the earth. Someone was inserting themselves into my life like they owned it.
Someone was...stalking me.
I kept staring at the car. Wishing and praying that they would make a mistake and mayne wind down their dark windows or something.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A greek god stepoed pit of the damned car, and i could not stop my mouth from falling open.
"Jesus Christ!" I heard somebidy say from behind me, bit i was too engrossed to look back and confirm the other person who had fallen under the spell i had just fell in.
The man stepped out calmly. No rush. No hesitation. He locked the car and slipped the keys into his pocket like he knew exactly where he was going.
Something about him felt familiar, but I was definitely wrong. If I met someone like this, I would definitely remember them. He was tall, controlled, beautiful. The kind of posture that didn’t slouch or fidget.
Broad shoulders. Tattoos crawling up his arms and disappearing into the collar of his shirt, dark ink against skin. His beard was thick, neatly kept. His hair fell in loose waves, catching the light as he moved.
From where I stood, his eyes looked green.
He didn’t even look in my direction as he walked away.
That actually bothered me more than if he had looked at me. Why didn't he look at me? Was he the sane person? Was I making a mistake?
I didn’t have time to overthink as he crossed the short corridor and walked into the building opposite the café. An older place with a narrow entrance and a hallway that always looked darker than it should, even in daylight.
I knew it was stupid. I could already hear Maria’s voice in my head calling me reckless. My heart thudded as I stood up and crossed the corridor, too after him. Following behind him. I slowed near the entrance, pretending to check my phone, then I slipped inside.
The irony of the situation was not lost on me. I almost laught at the thought. Dammit, I was stalking my stalker.