Page 49 of Alik
You meant what?
She doesn’t go on. I think she’s just so used to apologizing that it’s become an awkward reflex.
Why are you so weird, Olive?
And why do I want you so damn bad?
After shutting off the tap, I grab a towel and wrap the cloth around her finger, holding it firmly. Her eyes stare at my handwhile her breath stutters, her pale pink lips parting. One simple touch, perfectly platonic, has her looking like she’s about to collapse. I can’t say I hate it. As much as I want to, I can’t even say I don’t understand it. Her touch has the same effect on me.
If it wasn’t for the sketchbook giving away her ongoing obsession over me, I might feel guilt. I would assume her reactions to me were the byproduct of the utter confusion I’ve caused her. In her eyes, I’m her savior, but in truth, I’ve been her executioner from the day we met.
But her reactions to my touch have nothing to do with tonight, or at least not entirely. She’s been watching me for months.
My eyes pan to the sketchbook on my table, my mail piled atop it, and when Olive’s gaze follows mine, she stiffens. She pulls her hand away, wrapping her palm around the towel covering her finger as her steps move toward the book. I thought she might have recognized me today, but the dread on her face shows I was wrong.
I lean my hip against my counter and rest my forearm on the laminate while I watch her.
She carefully sweeps my mail off the top then opens the first page before shutting it and bringing her hands to her chest, not looking at me. If she’s angry at me for taking it, it’s hidden beneath those silky strands of cinnamon I want so badly to unveil.
“You followed me,” she whispers, her eyes pointed at the floor.
I take my time answering. I’m not sure if she needs me to confirm it or if she wants an explanation I don’t have.
Why was I following her?
I don’t know. Probably for the same reason she was drawing pictures of me fucking other women. Sometimes people do things they can’t, or won’t, explain.
“Yes.”
Several seconds of silence pass while she uses her sneaker to scuff my floor. “So then you know.”
I know.
I know?
The way she says it, like there’s a deep, dark secret she’s been keeping, makes me pause. Is there more than the weird shit in the sketchbook?
No. A normal person would be ashamed enough of the drawings being discovered, let alone being outed for stalking someone for months on end. Not everyone spends their days living out the fantasies in her book like I do, so certainly others would judge her more harshly.
“Yes.”
She nods, her face twisting with what looks like agony. “I was on medication that worked for a long time. It was only recently that it stopped.”
What?
“Your sketches of me span over the entire time I’ve lived here. I can tell by the women in some of the drawings… There’s no need to lie.” I push off the counter to walk toward her. When we’re inches away, I take her chin and force her to look at me. Her stormy eyes lasso around my neck and tug me toward her, and I have to fight myself from kissing her vulnerable lips, so unsure, so fearful.
She’s terrified of my judgment. If she knew it’s exactly the things she tries to hide that make her so interesting to me, I wonder if she’d still try to hide them.
“You don’t have to worry about what I think of you.”
She swallows, muscles contracting beneath my fingertips. “What do you think of me?”
Her words hit my mouth in a breeze of minty breath that dips my eyes to her lips. They pull on my neck, and this time, I don’tfight the imaginary cord. I lower my mouth to hers, closing my eyes as I claim the soft, supple flesh that’s been tempting me for too long.
She’s tense for a moment, nervous, but when she relaxes into me, there’s a release in my chest that blows a breath into her mouth. My hands glide down her sweater to the sweet curve of her hips, and I bring her closer to me before gripping her ass and lifting her into the air.
For a moment, her lips break from mine with a gasp, her pretty eyes flying open in question as I carry her to my bedroom. Her tongue briefly swipes across her bottom lip before she latches her mouth onto mine and weaves her hands around my neck.