The Story So Far > Chapter 28

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Chapter 28 - Daisy - Stalking is Just Caring Aggressively

Cole stayed for lunch, and we had the most incredible afternoon. While we never spoke about the killer in the room, it was a little obvious in the way that he drifted into his own head whenever there was silence. I would have been more worried about it, were it not for the fact he just couldn’t keep his hands off me.

I don’t mean sexually. Although, that would have been nice. 

It was mainly just peppered kisses, an arm around me when we sat next to each other on the sofa. Or, when I turned and leant my knees on his thighs, his hand rested on my legs so naturally, it was as if we’d been together forever. 

I can sense that he still thinks about the Heartbreaker. And he’s obviously uncomfortable with it. But of course he’s going to be uncomfortable with it, he’s spent his career catching killers. But, underneath the cop, I know there’s a dark little soldier just waiting to be let out. He may like to think that he’s been trained for justice since the get-go but insist all you want, soldiers are just sanctioned killers just like me. 

So while his discomfort is a vice around my lady boner, it’s obvious that he just needs some time to come to terms with the fact that the love of his life is the thing that goes bump in the night. 

He had said one weird thing though, about how he’d run into Eliza. How she’d been ‘okay’ with us being a thing (we’re soulmates, Cole. The sooner you get through the idea that this is a ‘thing’ the better) and had looked well adjusted and even said she was dating. 

My right ass is she well adjusted and dating. No one could be well fucking adjusted after being dumped by Cole. 

Nah. I call bullshit. 

Which is why, incidentally, I’m sitting inside a classy bar in my best lilac cocktail dress with a big pair of glasses and my fuck-off-and-bother-someone-else headphones I use at the gym. Eliza is indeed dating, it seems. Her date had got here before her actually and ordered a bottle of wine. He’s nice looking, dressed nicely, smartly presented. If a bit burly. I need a name if I’m going to stalk him a little better than this though. I’ve yet to figure out face recognition technology- but the courses on Udemy really don’t go into too much detail about it. 

When Eliza arrives, he rises and gives her a chaste kiss on the cheek - so we’re not at familiar kiss on the lips yet, maybe this is a first date? - and tells her she looks beautiful. She does, actually. 

She’s wearing a typical little black dress that you could dress up or down to go with any occasion, a low cut neckline and a sneaky slit giving glimpses of thigh when she moves the swishy fabric. 

I want that dress.

The silence through my headphones allows me to hear what they’re saying but it’s not very interesting. They talk politely, hand holding takes place somewhere between drink two and drink three and I am starting to wonder if I made a huge mistake. Maybe she is actually doing well. Then, however, they both stand, he helps her put her coat back on and they walk to the door together. 

Shit. I must have missed them getting the bill. What else did I miss? 

I throw down some cash and rush from the bar, finding them quickly in the deserted streets. It’s useful, there being no one around. That is, until you have to keep yourself secret. So I have to follow really far behind. I’m good at following guests, but this time feels weird, maybe it’s because she knows me. 

They’re obviously feeling a little bit buzzed because their voices are loud enough to carry echos down the buildings to me, littered with high pitched squeaky laughter that makes my hair stand on end. 

A few streets down, they arrive in a queue for a club. Which I should have seen coming, really, where else would they be going at nearly midnight? 

I have to wait a while before I can enter the queue myself. Being in a bar with headphones is one thing but being in a club with headphones will draw attention to me so into the bag goes half my disguise.  Although the bouncers let me in really quickly, I have completely lost Eliza and her new man. 

She’s not in the cocktail section with its sticky floors, or lounging in the VIP space, which smells of Tom Ford and suits. So they must be on the dance floor. 

The thumping music beats into my brain like it’s trying to mash it to a pulp. I hate music. It’s such a waste of silence. My eyes scan the trashed, writhing bodies one by one trying to catch a glimpse of the black dress but it’s nowhere. 

There’s only one place left to look, and I’ll be honest, my desire for relative quiet probably makes me sloppy because when I stumble into the ladies, I don’t do it sneakily. I just ram, full body slam, into Eliza with a double sided gasp. 

Her mouth falls open when she sees me, my fake glasses fall off my nose as I stare back at her and I shove them into my bag. 

“Daisy.” 

“Eliza,” I say at the same time. “What are you doing here?” I smile at her awkwardly. Not that I’m awkward because my stalkee just literally smacked into me, but that I’m currently talking to my boyfriend’s ex (sorry, Cole: My thing’s ex.- see how stupid that is?). 

“I’m on a date,” she says, as awkwardly as I am, readjusting the clutch on her shoulder. 

I nod slowly, “Yeah, Cole said you were seeing someone.” I can’t resist throwing his name at her, just to see how she reacts. Come on, Eliza, a little humanity wouldn’t go amiss here. 

To her credit, her awkwardness does increase a touch, her weight shifts to the back foot and her smile tightens. 

“I saw him today actually.” 

Her awkwardness gives me the slight upper hand, soothing my frayed edges. “He said. I’m glad you’re happy.” 

“Yeah, it’s still new but I like him.” She seems to relax a bit, and we both move out of the way of the door in an unspoken agreement that our conversation isn’t finished. “What are you doing here, Daisy? I didn’t picture you as the clubbing type.” 

“My friend’s getting married,” I lie easily and shift the conversation once more back to her. “What’s your new man like? Another cop?” 

“No, no. He’s an electrician.” 

Huh. He didn’t look like an electrician. 

She gives me a smile. “So… I better let you get back to your friends.” 

“My-? Oh… right… yeah.” Shit, gotta be careful keeping the lies straight. I’m usually better than this. 

Surprising I think both of us, Eliza pulls me into a drunken embrace. She smells of some musky cheap perfume that makes me want to gag but, when I’m released, I smile up at her. 

“I really hope we can be friends, Daisy.” 

“Me too, Eliza. Me too.” 

What a bitch. 

I can’t hang around when she’s gone. It’ll be too easy for her to see I’m not with a group of people, so I slip out of the front door of the club and stand on the street corner to call an Uber. 

What a waste of a night that I could have had on the phone to Cole. Or with my pack. Or getting to know Geoffrey Hayes. Serves me right for stalking my boyfriend’s ex for no reason other than personal curiosity. 

I hear the back door to the club slam open behind me in the alleyway followed by someone mumbling. But at the same moment my phone pings that I’ve got a driver and I ignore the noise. 

I take notice only when the door slammer says the one word that makes my blood run cold: 

“....Cole…” 

What the fucking fuck? 

I whirl around, tucking myself into the corner, ignoring my pulsating heart. But, even on high alert, my ears can only pick up bits and pieces of what Eliza is saying into her phone. 

“I’m sorry…. Only person… awake…” 

My fists tighten. She’s calling my boyfriend? My boyfriend. At One in the motherfucking morning. 

I see red, ignoring the vibration of the Uber driver arriving, I storm down the alleyway towards the stumbling figure in the dark. 

I feel like my blood is congealing, stilling and cooling like I’m becoming a vampire. And, just like one, I am out for blood.