Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
I give Olly a second to digest this information before I tell her more. Her face is muddled with confusion and she frowns, her forehead furrowed, as I continue speaking.
“I fell for you from the very beginning, Olivia. You’re beautiful, and I had to see you and know more about you. It began easily enough. I caught a glimpse of you at the grocery store one day, and you were so gorgeous that I followed you home. Then, when you came into my shop that time, we made the introductions and the ball got rolling.”
She squints at me, still trying to process.
“But, you stopped following me after that, right?”
At first I nod, but then I shake my head. Only one hundred percent honestly will do at this point.
“No, honey, I didn’t. I’ve been doing more than following. I would come into your cottage at night and watch you sleep. You never heard me because I made a copy of your key. It was easy enough, and you never noticed. But yes, I’ve been watching.”
Olly looks thunderstruck.
“I don’t understand… you’ve been watching me? Stalking me? But why? We’re dating, so why is this even necessary?”
I sigh.
“Old habits die hard, I suppose. You know I’ve never spoken much about my past and there’s a reason for that. It’s because I was in foster care, and stealing became a way of life for me. There are no excuses, but it was the only way to survive, and I learned to watch people and their habits. You don’t just break into a house you’ve never seen before. Instead, you case the neighborhood. You observe your victim’s movement patterns for days, if not weeks or even months, before you strike. You learn their habits and pick up on their weaknesses. Then, you exploit that knowledge, and you’re in and out before they even know it.”
“So you’re a thief?” Olly says in a slow voice. “Hold on, I’m losing track of this conversation. I thought you said you were a stalker.”
I sigh.
“The two are related. You stalk your prey before breaking in, and I did that with you, Olivia. I’ve been watching you for longer than you know, and the fact is that this is what I excel at. I may be a good mechanic, but I’m a great burglar. Even more, I’ve done time because of it. This whole owning my own bodyshop thing? The truth is that I’m an ex-con who can’t get a real job anywhere else because everyone sees my record and immediately throws my resume into the trash. That’s why Benning Motors exists.”
Olivia’s staring at me now, her blue eyes wide with shock.
“What?”
I nod slowly, regret crashing over me like a wave.
“I’m so sorry you had to find out like this, honey.”
Her face is white as she stares at me with horror.
“Are you for real?”
Shame courses through my chest as I nod regretfully again.
“I’m afraid so.
Olly swallows hard, her form trembling.
“So you’re a criminal, Jason. All this time I’ve been dating a criminal.”
I wince but then straighten my shoulders with resolve.
“That’s right, but I’ve served my time already. I’ve paid my price to society and am on parole now.”
This time, she winces and a shaft of pain lances through my heart.
“And stalking me doesn’t violate parole?”
I take a deep breath.
“It does, so if you want to report me, then yes, I’m going back to the slammer. But it goes beyond that. I know why you’re pregnant, sweetheart, because the baby’s mine.”
Olly gasps and bolts up in her seat. “But how? We’ve never had sex, Jason. Whenever I tried to push things along, you pulled away. You wanted nothing to do with me, and it was almost like I was too disgusting to touch.”
I shake my head.
“That’s not true at all,” I growl. “I wanted all of you, but…”
“But what?”
I take a deep breath and then look straight into her eyes.
“When I watched you sleep, baby girl, it went beyond mere sleeping. I slipped into your bed and made love to you while you slept. You never woke up, and I’m not sure why, but we’ve been having sex, sweetheart. I’ve come in you more times you can count, and it must have been one of those encounters that got you pregnant.”
She cries out, clasping her hands to her cheeks in shock.
“You’ve been having sex with me … while I sleep?”
I nod sorrowfully.
“I have, baby girl, and it was fantastic. You feel so good around me, and you’d come multiple times too. Again, I have no idea why you never woke up, but you didn’t, and so I just kept going.”
She gasps again.
“How many times did this happen?”
I hang my head, unable to meet her eyes.
“More than you can count, sweetheart. Almost every night, in fact.”
She lets out a blood-curling scream them.
“You’ve been fucking me in my sleep almost every night since we started dating? Oh my God! Oh shit! No wonder I kept fantasizing about you! I kept dreaming that I was having sex with you, and waking up wet and needy, because it was true! You were having sex with me every night and I didn’t even realize it!”