Stalk Me (5 page)

She pushed open the door and headed toward her office located half a block away. Anger beat through her. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Here she thought all along that he was a good guy, even in some twisted way convinced herself, and what was he doing, stalking her the whole time? Nicole stopped slowly as Ayden gently grabbed her arm and turned her around.

“You have to let me explain.”

“Explain what, Ayden? That you’ve just happened to eat here for over a month, and we never saw each other? Or, maybe you want to explain living across from my apartment building and me not knowing? Or, of course, you can explain how we ended up at the same club at almost the same exact fucking time. I knew you were looking at me when you walked inside!”

Nicole pulled his hand off of her and glared into his eyes. “Go
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ahead,” she urged. “I am dying to hear this. Enlighten me.” She stepped back, putting space between them. Ayden took a step closer to her, not letting her distance herself.

“The first time I saw you, you were getting out of your car. I never remembered seeing anyone so beautiful in my life. Your scent hit me like a tidal wave. I almost couldn’t control myself. My heart began to race and I couldn’t breathe. It took Trevor nearly an hour to talk me out of going to your door.”

Nicole rolled her eyes at him, half confused at the scent part, but he went on.

“I continued to see you coming and going with your boyfriend.

The way he treated you,” Ayden spat out, running his fingers through his hair, “it took everything I had not to go over there and beat the living shit out of him. Everyone could hear him yell at you, clear across the parking lot. The day I saw him hit you, Nicole, I wanted to kill him. I’ve never been so out of control in my life.”

Nicole’s eyes narrowed. From the way he talked, he had known about her for a while now. Michael hit her over two months ago, but how did Ayden know where she ate or that she planned to go to “Club Street” that night?

“Go on,” she urged.

He breathed heavily, the look on his face so pained that she tried not to focus on what he might be feeling. But she wasn’t so sure she was succeeding. The pain shooting in her chest felt like razorblades.

“One day we came here, and I saw you eating. I couldn’t believe my luck so I insisted we come back the next day. Sure enough, you were here. I only wanted to see how you were doing. To watch you smile while you were talking to you friend. I thought about coming to say hello, but you were with someone…so I told him to get lost.”

Nicole froze but didn’t say anything. “And Friday?” she finally asked.

He took a deep breath. “As you can tell, I wasn’t dressed to go to a club. Jake actually expected me to go to poker night, but when I saw
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you leave your apartment, I couldn’t go and be miserable at his house.

You looked absolutely amazing. There was no way in hell I could pass up the chance to meet you. So I got in my truck and followed you. I saw you eyeing the club, and I crossed my fingers praying you would follow me in. And I was right, you did.”

“But you lied to me. You…stalked me. Not to mention ran off my boyfriend. Thank you for that, by the way. You did me a favor,” she said, her breath short and her head spinning.

His head bent down, looking at the ground. Nicole’s stomach turned at the sickness she felt. She wasn’t sure what to think of the situation. Today was just getting better and better. Son of a bitch.

“I have to go. Don’t come near me again until I decide what I want to do with you.”

Ayden opened his mouth but shook his head and watched her walk away. Nicole only turned around once to confirm her suspicion.

She was right. He never moved until she walked into her office building.

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Nicole watched the clock tick down while she went over the hell she’d gone through in the last two weeks. Nothing made sense anymore. Aching pain and loneliness all settled heavily in her chest, giving off the impression of a broken heart. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand the cause. Sure, Ayden lied to her, stalked her even, but she couldn’t let herself believe that feelings so intense could evolve over such a quick period of time.

Throwing the pen across her desk, she hit the calculator just as she intended. Things needed to change. She couldn’t go on living in denial. Ayden somehow had touched something so unreachable that numbing her emotions towards him would be impossible. Even her two blind dates didn’t help. All she could do was compare what wasn’t even comparable.

After the failed attempts, she locked herself away in the apartment, refusing to leave. She went over whether she could possibly be losing her mind for wanting to walk across the parking lot to ask if he wanted to come over. Instead, she caught herself sitting at the window for hours, staring at his door. Anger raced through her each time she realized what she’d become. She was no better than him, and for some reason knew where a person had to be to drive themselves to resort so low.

“Are you okay? You’ve been really down lately. Tell me what to do? I’ve never seen you like this before?”

Tara’s big brown eyes laced with concern only made the tears harder to fight off. Nicole quickly grabbed her purse.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I need to call Ayden.”

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At the mention of his name, fluttering danced around her chest.

How could the reference of someone’s name seem to manifest love exactly where they needed to be the most? In her heart.

Nicole walked out of the door to the office with one thing in mind.

She wanted Ayden back with her tonight, forever, as long as she could keep him. Just at the thought, the pain eased.

* * * *

Ayden sat in his police cruiser half a block away, watching the outside of Nicole’s office. The two-story white brick building sat nestled between two identical businesses.

People flowed freely out of the doors while he waited for her to leave work. He knew he shouldn’t be here. Nicole asked him to stay away, but after catching Michael’s scent in the parking lot this morning, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

She had gone out on two dates since she walked away from him.

The men she left with hadn’t bothered him too much. Just as long as it wasn’t Michael, he didn’t care. The only thing he wanted for her was happiness, preferably with him, but if not, then he’d have to learn to cope with what he’d done.

He royally messed things up with her, but he couldn’t help the way he felt or his actions. Nicole’s scent haunted his dreams. Her wellbeing overpowered every rational decision in his mind. It didn’t help having everyone pressuring him either. The pack continued to do nothing but give their alpha a hard time about settling down already, and Ayden planned to do just that, once he had Nicole. The reality of that happening now seemed out of the question.

Thoughts about what he could do tormented him. But if he went to her would she tell him to leave or possibly call the department and file a report? He didn’t care so much for the latter. It’s not like he needed to work, but he loved his job. If she told them he was stalking her, he couldn’t deny it, although he could hardly believe it himself.

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Everything vanished the moment dark hair caught his attention.

Nicole walked out of the double doors dressed in an outfit that was completely black, a pair of black slacks and a black turtle neck. With all the dark colors, he couldn’t help but notice how ghostly pale her skin looked. Concern almost made him get out of his car, but he forced himself to stay.

She left the building and headed for her car, parked in the lot across the street. Ayden watched her carefully scanning the surrounding area. His window was cracked slightly, just to make sure Michael’s scent wasn’t lingering anywhere.

A frown set against her full lips as he watched her stop in the middle of the street. She turned so quickly, he froze. Shit.

* * * *

A feeling so overpowering consumed Nicole, causing her to stop.

Without a shadow of doubt, she knew she was being watched. She turned quickly toward the end of the road and didn’t see anyone she knew. Then she spotted the police car.

Conflicting emotions ran through her. A part of her was excited to see Ayden, and she felt her body react instantly. But another part grew nervous and a little angry. She told him to stay away, and even though now she didn’t mean it, she meant it at the time. True, she considered calling him immediately, but still, if he couldn’t follow one order, was she kidding herself about giving in?

Memories of their weekend together flashed across her vision.

Repeatedly, Nicole woke up with an addictive need to feel him inside of her. Since their joining, if she wasn’t thinking about him being with her physically, her thoughts revolved around him sexually.

Images played throughout her mind while she locked eyes with him in the distance.

She was halfway to the cruiser before she realized she even left the middle of the street. Ayden’s door opened, and he stood there,
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fitted in his police uniform. Nicole’s steps faltered. An overwhelming need to throw herself in his arms nearly crippled her. Even though she wanted to, she knew she couldn’t. If she dove right in without putting up a wall, she’d be destroyed if he ever left. And with her track record, she wasn’t willing to risk it. Seeing him was one thing. It would sedate the pain, but anything more than that she couldn’t risk.

“I can explain,” Ayden said, putting up his hand.

“You better hope you can.” Nicole walked until she stood directly in front of him. The smell of his cologne made her knees weak.

“I just wanted to make sure you got home okay. Michael was at the complex this morning, and I just needed to make sure he didn’t bother you.”

“Is that a fact? Well, just so you know, not that it’s any of your business, but he wants to come home. He swears he’s changed.”

Nicole watched Ayden tense. “Would that make you happy, truly happy?” he asked, pain flashing across his eyes.

At a loss for what to say, Nicole shrugged and then thought of something.

“I guess if he changed, it would make me happy.”

He took a step back, clearly shocked by her words. “You would forgive him after what he’s done to you. My God, Nicole, I’m not sure I can let you…” He took another step back, shaking his head back and forth.

“Well, as much as it would make me happy for him to change and be a better person to the next girl he decides to be with, I can’t help him in that department. That’s why I told him if he ever came to my door again, I knew the perfect cop to take care of him.”

Slowly Ayden’s face lifted to meet hers. He took a ragged breath.

“You did that on purpose.” She watched as a smile slowly came to his face. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Yeah, well, you kind of walked right into that one. You should have known better than to think I would get back with Michael after…” Nicole trailed off. She was about to say,
after being with you,
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but she didn’t need him to know that.

“So listen,” she went on, “I was thinking that maybe you could come over tonight. Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not ready for a relationship, and I do plan on seeing other people, but I thought maybe we could watch a movie. If you don’t want to that’s fine. But I needed to let you know the option to come and see was available for you. You don’t have to stay away if you don’t want to.”

Like stone, he was nothing more than a bump on a log. Why he had become stoic, she had no idea. Ayden stood there looking down at her as if he had all the time in the world to answer. Nicole’s foot started tapping in impatience. Didn’t he know how hard that was for her to say?

“I have a better idea. Instead of dating and coming across some weirdo, why don’t you let me bring over one of my friends? If you want variety, he would be a great person for you to date. His name is Trevor. You’ll enjoy him, great guy,” he said, smiling.

Nicole wasn’t sure what to say. Instead of answering, she went back to the original question.

“So, are you coming over tonight or not?” Her hands went to her hips as she tilted her head and waited for his answer.

Ayden laughed and took a step forward. “Do you miss me that much? Or is it my dick you miss?”

“I said for a movie, but yes, if you must know, I miss both.” She continued to let her eyes penetrate his while her body screamed for attention. Standing still almost proved impossible.

There was no way she was going to back down from his gaze though. She would not act like a blushing innocent.

Nicole
did
want his dick. She wanted it pounding into her so hard she couldn’t breathe. But more than that, she wanted his arms around her while they discussed the most random topics available as they had the night he left.

Ayden lifted his eyebrows, a look of surprise on his face. “Good, I want you to want me as much as I want you. Now get to your car so I
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know you’re safe, and I’ll see you tonight.” Ayden’s fingers glided up the back of her thigh as he stepped back.

Nicole’s body shivered at his touch. Heat replaced the area where his fingers had been. She nodded and turned, walking back to her car in a daze. Pleasurable daydreams of Ayden’s hard chest sliding against her breasts were enough to distract her to almost getting into the wrong car.

With one last glance, Nicole watched Ayden get into his cruiser.

She opened her Mustang door and got in, excited about the up-and-coming night. The last thing she expected when she pulled out of the parking lot was for Michael to ease up behind her. The scream didn’t even have a chance to escape as he clamped his hand over her mouth.

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