Page 35 of Stalked By the Shortstop
“Yeah, after our usual tutoring sessions, he’s always waiting out by the trees.” I blinked and kept the smile on my face. “I just can’t believe you weren’t in a rush to make me leave so you could go hang with him.”
“Right.” I swallowed.
“Lucky girl.” She looked over, and when I turned, I saw him.
Barely. Hidden in the line of trees, wearing nothing but a black hoodie and dark joggers while leaning against a tree.
“Ugh, talk about swoon worthy. He’s so patient now that I think about it. I guess it’s from playing baseball, huh? Waiting for the ball to come to them and stuff.”
“Patient?”
“Yeah… I mean, you guys have been seeing each other for what? Two months now if I think about it? And you didn’t say anything, you sneaky girl.” She poked my side, and I turned to look at her. “Good for you, babe.”
“Right, well, I should…”
“See you Thursday?” I nodded, half-listening as my heart thundered loudly in my chest.
I walked down the steps but didn’t look in his direction.
Not as things started to slide into place. The way I’d felt the last few weeks, two months to be exact, like someone was watching me. Following me.
Jason had been watching me.
Learning my schedule god only knew how.
It all clicked and made sense now. Things he’d known this weekend. Small things he’d known that hadn’t made sense if we’d just met on Friday. Little things I’d brushed off as lucky guesses or pure coincidence or to the fact that maybe I hadn’t remembered mentioning things in passing since we’d stayed up late talking in the darkness of the nights we’d spent together.
This past weekend had been the first time I hadn’t felt those eyes on me. That attention at the back of my head, like two eyes looking right at me I couldn’t spot no matter how hard I tried to find them in the shadows.
It had been Jason. Jason Lucas was stalking me?
I’m crazy about you.
You’re mine.
You’re my everything.
Words I’d taken as sweet were now laced with something more. Something possessive. Obsessive. Jason’s words volleyed inside my head, repeating over and over as they bounced around. And instead of being terrified of the truth, it felt like a shot of adrenaline had been injected into my veins.
I wasn’t stupid.
I might not have known exactly who he was when I’d seen him in the elevator just a couple of days ago, but I’d known how beautiful he was. I had been more than aware of the way the girls and even some guys looked at him. He was beautiful. And he wanted me?
I tried to talk myself out of it, to tell myself this was some kind of game or scheme, but I refused to lie to myself. I shivered but somehow managed to keep my steps steady. I kept my headup as I walked, thinking about the fact he was hiding in the shadows, leaning against a tree while watching me from afar.
And it wasn’t for the first time.
This wasn’t some random moment he chose to come see me out of the blue out of concern for my safety.
I didn’t have proof, nothing like the kind Jackie had unknowingly handed me, but I knew. And instead of it terrifying me, making me rush towards him and yell at him for some kind of explanation or at the very least rush off to the closest on-campus cop and ask for help, a rush of excitement washed through me.
I was sick. Sick, sick, sick in the head if the idea of Jason Lucas stalking me for months was getting me this excited. Turned on?
Jason was stalking me.
Following me.
Watching me.
