Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would've preferred. Jake is not pleased as he re-enters MC's life after a year.
Jake let me pick the phone. He also let me know that each of them was already linked to his laptop and he can monitor my activities anytime he’d like. And that he’d likely have to do it since we logged back into my account on the anonymous dating site I first found the stalker. He would probably notice I was back and contact me himself. We desperately needed something from his side- a text most likely, so that Jake could trace it back to his IP address or whatever it is he did.
It was definitely baffling working with Jake in real life. He could no longer go offline between conversations and I was witnessing what he did in those gaps. For example, right now he was making what I remember to be his sixth cup of coffee. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes as I made my way down the stairs after taking a shower. Drying my hair with my left hand, I fixed the tshirt Dan got me as it fell down one shoulder for the tenth time.
The ground floor was a little dim, the curtains over the long glass window in the living room were meticulously drawn shut with only two yellowish bulbs illuminating the kitchen island and the centre of the drawing room, filling the rest of the space with a dull ambiance of a fine restaurant. I was impressed with Haley- the owner. She maintained the place a little too well for someone who didn’t live here and plus, the rest was cheaper than I expected.
Jake looked at me once I stepped down the last step of the staircase. He held my gaze for three seconds before his eyes glanced at my shoulder as the tshirt slipped off again. I decided to let it be. “Where did you get such fine clothing?” Sarcasm laced his voice.
“Dan got it for me.” I said, making my way to the kitchen.
“Can’t say I’m surprised,” he commented before taking a sip of his coffee.
I stopped across from him, the kitchen island separating us. “Be grateful, he’s helping us.”
“Isn’t it his job?”
“I’m sure hiding a government wanted hacker isn’t in his job description.” I propped up on one of the three stools. “What are we doing for lunch?” I looked at him, expectedly.
He blinked, a little surprised. “Don’t you bake?”
“I’m not baking something for lunch. It’s for evening snacks or late night cravings.” Plus, it took time to bake something fulfilling enough for lunch and I simply hadn’t the energy. I remembered last eating around this time. Yesterday. I might faint before I could bake a cookie.
“What makes you think I can cook?” He questioned, taking another sip of the coffee.
I assessed him for a moment. Did he really take me for a fool? “Don’t you live alone? I’m sure you wouldn’t hire no chef, considering you’re too scared of humans.”
He was about to take another sip but stopped. “I’m not scared of humans.”
“Human connections, then.” I almost rolled my eyes.
“If you mean to say I am repulsed by the idea of having liabilities in my life, you’re absolutely right.” He retorted. I tried hard to not take it personally, but his choice of words didn’t help– repulsed, liabilities.
It stung but I managed a reply. “Should’ve been more careful then.”
“Trust me, I’ve learnt to.” He met my eyes.
I jumped down the stool. “Good for you.” I went over to the three bags of grocery Dan got us. It was a grudging mistake to expect him to do anything for me– after all, we aren’t in this mess together. If he could get himself out of the picture, there was no way he’d still be here. He’d disappear the second he was free.
I fetched an avocado and some bread from one bag, eggs and a plastic container of fresh lettuce from another. I’d either have myself an avocado and egg sandwich or faint trying. Finding a pan, I turned the stove on. As I cracked the eggs against the counter, I felt a little light on my feet. The eggs were in the pan now. Spatula. I needed a spatula. I tried the two drawers near me– no luck, one had plates and bowls and the other had a spare cutting board and oven gloves.
Opening the overhead cabinet, I could only catch a glance of bigger utensils– pots, pressure cooker. I left it open as I tried another and finally found a wooden spatula. I had to jump a little to grab it and once I landed on my feet, I swayed back a little.
“Slow down,” I heard his voice coming from somewhere to my left. I thought he had left.
“I’m fine.” I barked, forcing my vision to be clear. I began to break and turn over the pieces of the egg. It was a little overcooked but I decided to compromise on the taste. I managed to cook the eggs and picked up the avocado cutting it open in two pieces.
Jake moved forward towards the sink. I didn’t look at him as he washed his coffee mug but I could feel his eyes on me. My own vision, on the other hand, started to blur again. This time, squinting my eyes into focus was futile and I had to put down the knife.
I closed my eyes for a second. I heard Jake’s voice but couldn’t make out the words. It was a question—that was all I could decipher before hitting the floor. I heard him say my name as I did.
—---------------—
I felt the hollowed famishment in my stomach before anything else. Soon, the incessant noise of a keyboard had me fluttering my eyes open. I blinked twice before I could see him clearly. Sitting at his desk, typing without ever looking down on the keyboard. Soon, the surroundings started to creep in. I was in his bed, tucked under a blanket.
I closed my eyes. I wanted to turn over and groan into the pillow at the indication of what must have happened. I fainted and now I was in his bed. He must have picked me up and tucked me in. Though, it rather felt far more imaginable that he threw me on the bed and then the blanket. I could no longer associate softness and tenderness with Jake, everything about him felt edged, manipulative, and limited.
Opening my eyes again, I looked at Jake. He was focused on the screen while his fingers effortlessly moved on the keyboard. I couldn’t look away from his hands, moving as gracefully as a pianist’s. I even caught the glimpse of veins on his hand and forearms. I wondered if the tips of his fingers could touch skin as softly as it did the keyboard.
Not my skin. Of course not. General curiosity of a drowsy mind, that was all.
I made effort to look away and then—I smelled it before I found it on the side table to the bed. My completed sandwich. A glass of water kept by it. I moved before thinking, picking up the plate as I sat up.
Jake stopped typing while my eyes were still on the plate. I grabbed the sandwich with my both hands as Jake questioned, “Why didn’t you tell me you were starving and dehydrated?” Any implication of kindness that I could get from the plate of food was absent in his voice. He sounded rather annoyed.
I chewed and swallowed. “I did ask you what we were doing for lunch.” I bit another mouthful of sandwich. It was delicious or I was hungry enough.
Jake gave me a look of complete disbelief. Like the one he gave me when I didn’t add coffee to the grocery list, only exaggerated. “Casually mentioning lunch and telling me you’re close to fainting are not the same thing.”
“Why, so you could call me a liability again? I am sorry you had to pick my heavy ass up from the kitchen to you room and make the rest of the sandwich. Must be hard for you.” I said as I took another bite of the sandwich. I knew I was acting like an unruly child but I knew there was only one thing better than winning an argument against someone—annoying the hell out of them. And Jake was excellent at getting irritated.
And there it was, that look of annoyance that made his eyes sharper and his jaw set. “Just so you know, if anything happens to you for real, I can’t take you the hospital.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to risk appearing in public for my sake. I’d rather I die than live with the sin that is to risk Jake Donfort’s identity revelation.” I put extra effort into making the sarcasm pop in my voice.
Jake shook his head in a sort of resignation and turned back to his screen. “He texted, by the way.”
“He did? What did he say?” I asked, forgetting about irritating him.
Jake assessed me then. As if he was deciding something. Then, he grabbed the burner phone I had picked earlier and tossed it on the bed. “I’d rather you read it yourself.”
I picked up the phone and opened the anonymous dating app.
Krypton: Back, sweetheart? It’s not too late to tell me about Nymos, you know. One way or another, I’d have you. I don’t mind getting the information out of you while I lick your sweet little cunt, I rather prefer it.
I put the plate away, having lost my appetite. “He’s insanely vulgar.” I said to myself but Jake heard.
“He’s your choice.” He reminded me, not peeling his eyes off the screen. His jaw was tight and he typed a bit faster.
“Hardly,” I said, reaching for the glass of water. “And by that logic, you were my choice too.”
He turned to me, then. “You know better than to compare me to this piece of shit.” There was a flash of something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite place. But what I could understand was that there was definitely a nerve there.
I decided to press it further. “Do I? I mean, you both are hackers, I met both of you online, you both have no respect for other people’s privacy—”
Jake cut me off, folding his arms over his chest. “You’ve had your food. Why don’t you get the hell out of my room now?” He snapped—or his version of snapping. He didn’t exactly raise his voice but the flinty edge to it made me pause. Not to mention, the glare he gave me was a demand on its own.
I glared at him furiously for only a second before leaving the bed. On my way out, I shut the door as loud as possible.
We didn’t speak to each other the rest of the day. We stayed in our respective rooms and avoided sharing the kitchen space at the same time. Being on different floors saved me from seeing his conceited face and potentially bruising it. Instead, I played games on the phone I took from him. I didn’t care that he could see me playing. I had a faint idea of what he was doing as well. The contact we wanted from the stalker’s end came and Jake must be tracing him. I guessed that was what he was doing when I was in his room too.
I couldn’t grasp why Jake got so pissed at me earlier. I mean, I said what I said to piss him off but not so much that he’d kick me out of the room. I was rather going for a lighter display of annoyance— like if I had spilled his coffee. But instead, he turned indignant. I could not associate any kindness to his previous acts of tucking me to his bed or making me a sandwich. He must have definitely cursed me as he did all those things. Although I was more correct than I predicted—there was definitely a nerve there. Was it a superiority thing? He didn’t want to be compared to just any hacker?
I channelled my thoughts towards Jake on purpose. As long as I was angry at him, I would not think of the message the stalker had sent me. Although it was relatively a less vulgar message from him, my chest still ached every time the words flashed in my memory. When we used to talk, I was being extremely reckless and adventurous. I took the whole anonymous thing for granted and decided to explore some of my kinks. I learned that I wasn’t into anything too serious or too eccentric but I did like to lose control in bed.
The idea of a man having any control over me in any way was repulsive to me. Whenever any friend of mine would talk of their controlling boyfriends, I’d call it out as a red flag. But I was the opposite in bed. I also liked subtle signs of dominance outside of sex, nothing that was actually restrictive though. It was a hard line to find.
Whenever I would say no or draw a line with the stalker during sexting, he’d take it as a sign that I wanted to be somehow coerced back into submission. But that wasn’t the case at all. One of the reasons why I ghosted him was his lack of intelligence— of any kind.
With that thought, memories of our texts flooded into my mind, making me internally gag with disgust. I was saved from actually throwing up as my thoughts got disrupted by the voices coming from the ground floor. I checked the time as I left the bed. It was nearly midnight. My heart began to drum in my chest. My nervous system languished into a malfunctioning clock ever since I ran away from my place. Tiptoeing down the stairs, I further bent forward as Jake came into my view with another man. They were definitely arguing.
My nerves simmered down as I saw Jake’s face which was weird because he looked more pissed than I’d ever witnessed. “You are supposed to cover for me in my absence, not join me. How can you come down here when I specifically told you not to?” He raised his voice and only now, I realised how controlled it sounded whenever he was mad at me.
“And I told you that whatever it is that you are doing here will be done faster if I help you!” I could not see the other man, only his golden brown hair and the backpack hanging on his shoulder. “Let a man help!” He threw his hands in bizarre gestures.
Jake took in a deep breath as if inhaling patience. “Sebastian,” He enunciated his name with a warning laced with it, “This is my personal matter. If I had required any assistance, I would have asked for it. Now, please leave.” His eyes had a piercing fervour.
“Hey, I know it’s personal, okay?” Sebastian’s voice turned grounded, genuinely trying to reason now. “Why do you think I’m here? The last time you went to take care of something personal, the world went and started a trend on your name.” They’ve known each other for quite a while, I realised. The hashtag IAmJake is more than a year old now.
“That was different and it’s not going to happen again. If that’s all you’re worried about, you can leave.”
“Why do you have to be such a dick, man?” The drama and hysterics were back into Sebastian’s voice as he suddenly turned around and began walking towards the kitchen. “I came all the way here to—” He halted, spotting me. His eyes sparkled with something. “Well, hello.”
Jake took a step forward and followed Sebastian’s gaze until his eyes met mine. “Great. So you were eavesdropping.”
I straightened up on top of the stairs.. “I wouldn’t call it that, I was…” I trailed off to look for a better word but came up short. “Yeah, I was eavesdropping.” I shrugged. They clearly had bigger problems than me listening in on their conversation. “Is this Sebastian?” I asked, coming down the stairs.
“You can call me Seb.” He said with an effortless friendly smile on his face. Wow, it had been so many days since I had seen a smiling man. “So can Jake but he never does.” He eyed Jake who gave him a murderous look.
“Great, so you’ve met, you can leave now.”
“No, I can’t. It’s midnight. I am scared to drive in the dark.” He faked a brittle voice.
Jake looked like a scary mixture of exasperation, anger, and disbelief. “You came here driving in the dark. You’re not scared.”
Seb turned to me, giving me a dead serious face. “Do I not look scared?”
I almost laughed. Jake glared at me. “You look petrified.”
“It’s settled, then. Where is my room?”
|||🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻|||
sooo what do we think of Sebastian??
and I'd have you guys know that he is not going to be a love interest for MC😭 im not turning this into a love triangle
Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would've preferred. Jake is not pleased as he re-enters MC's life after a year.
Plans often failed. Especially when there existed too many variables, too many probabilities. And the most grudging probabilities panned out when the variables were actual people. Exactly why I always had an aversion to involving people in my plans— they are too unpredictable. Their words rarely matched their truths and even the rightest intentions concocted into wicked actions.
What bothered me more was that none of it was ever in my control. I didn't want to control people so I made sure they stayed the hell away from being consequential to me.
Of course, I had made mistakes due to desperation in the past. The time and effort I could employ in finding Hannah was limited. So I had to get involved with other people— Hannah’s friends. I had no way around it. I knew it'll introduce more problems, I knew positioning MC in the centre of it all would require a level of prerequisite trust. Even after making choices I never wanted to make, I was still in control and I knew what I needed to know about my chances.
What I didn't know was that people weren't as boring as I assumed. I didn't know she'd say things, do things that would have me frozen in my chair, in front of my screen. I didn't know she could care about strangers and make me think how stupid that is. I didn't know that not understanding her affection for strangers would make me want to protect her.
I never knew that I would care for her, her safety as much as her emotions. What stunned me blank was that I truly wanted to get over with my mission quickly and have a chance at a normal life.
But it proved to be a mistake. When I decided to open up to her, I always had the easy way out planned in the back of my mind — disappear. I let my guard down with the sole belief that I could put it back up the moment everything was over. I thought I was still in control. But I remember the exact moment when I realised it was too late.
So I took the easy way out by disappearing— except, it wasn't easy at all. A part of me wanted to keep tabs on her. Wanted to know just enough— that she's safe, happy, over me. I needed her to be over me and make it easier for me. But keeping tabs on her was an attachment I couldn't afford.
It took months but my attention and diligence was again placed in the right place. I wouldn't get ahead of myself and say that I had completely forgotten about her but I sure as hell was doing a great job trying.
_
Until I saw something on the DarkWeb.
Check this out:
Kyptron
This chick says she knew a hacker wanted by the government. I bet it's that fucker Nymos. Who wants in?
2:56am
_
I deleted it almost immediately and then his account to make sure he doesn't make another post anytime soon. I was fully prepared to delete a bunch of other accounts he'd make. But he hadn't. This was five months ago.
Everything in me shouted that I should look more deeply into it. But this was not the first time someone tried to come after me. Nor the first time they mentioned having found someone related to me. My instinct was to hack into her devices, just to make sure it wasn't her. But I didn't. I thought I was being too emotional so I let it be.
Things became serious yesterday evening. When he sent me a picture. Of her. Naked. It was not a picture taken by him, it was a selfie. Then, he told me he was going after her, and had her location. I knew what he was trying to do: draw me out. But that didn't mean it was a bluff.
I was assuming after that, they became acquainted with each other more.
Unknown: How long do you think she'll scream before she starts enjoying it?
Even if it were a bluff, there was no way I was going to take any chances. I just had to be faster than him. Thankfully, I was. Although, someone clearly wasn't as thankful.
“So,” She began with an uncomfortable cough, “What do you wanna know?”
“Everything.”
She looked up at me, her eyes a little wide. Then, she looked away. “Well, there is not much to know. We just briefly knew each other. Or I thought we did.”
“Well, I need to know everything you remember from that brief time period.” I tried to keep my voice as neutral as possible. For my sake more than hers.
She grabbed the edge of the pillow in her lap, fondling it, not looking at me. “Uhm, can't you just read our chats?”
“I thought you didn't like it when I don't respect your privacy.” I was only being half-sarcastic.
At that, she narrowed her eyes. “Now you care about that?”
I didn't, honestly. I knew that the picture he sent me wasn't the only one, and I was also aware of the type of messages that would lead to something like that. And I wasn't even mildly thrilled to read all that. “I don't think we have the time to read through all of it. Plus, not all of it is relevant to me. So why don't you just tell me the important bits?”
“Of course,” She seemed to relax at that. “Alright, so we started talking like five months ago? Yeah, I guess. And it was totally anonymous. I didn't tell him anything real about myself— not my name, where I lived, what I did. Although, there were times he'd insist on knowing more. So I’d feed him useless facts about me that were sometimes true, sometimes not— what I liked to eat, what I wore, music I listened to,” She started moving her hands in a rhythm, listing out things, her eyes on me, “What movies I watched, what I liked in, uh, in bed,” She looked away at that, fake scratching her neck.
“And was that true?” I questioned.
“Huh?”
“You said you told him what you liked in bed. You also said you lied sometimes. So was that true?” I honestly don't know why that mattered. But it could.
“How’s that relevant?” Ofcourse, she wouldn't let me get away with it.
“It could be. Need I remind you, he's not just interested in me? So if you fed him a lot of lies, we can maybe try to avert his interest in you and you can get out of this situation way quicker.” I weaved the sense into my words as I said them. Already not a big fan of my detours.
“I didn't lie about that.” She confessed.
I took in a sharp breath. So his interest in her is genuine. And terrifying. “Alright. Did he tell you anything about himself?”
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
“I didn't ask.”
“You didn't ask?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Why didn't you ask? You talked to him for two months.” Why would she talk to him for two months if she didn't want to know him?
“Because,” She looked out of breath as she pulled both of her feet up and folded them under the pillow, “I wasn't actually going to do anything about him. He was just supposed to be a rebound.”
“Rebound from what?” I knew the answer already. I wanted to hear it from her. I wanted her to testify that she had a hard time too and it wasn't just me suffering. I'll take that as some compensation.
She paused. Her eyes were sharp with accusation. And I knew she wasn't going to give me the satisfaction. “No one special. The rebounding worked, by the way, if that's what you wanted to know.”
Wow. It was one thing for not wanting to give me the satisfaction of being important to her but another to straight out deny it. “Is that so?” I could feel my jaw tighten.
She lifted her chin, stubbornly.
“You know, it's beneath you to lie.” I said, holding her gaze.
She didn't budge. “Except I am not lying.”
“So you're telling me you didn't mention me enough times to your rebound for him to put together who you were talking about?” I challenged. The only reason I was here was because she talked about me to that man. And she had to do it a hell lot of times for him to piece everything together. “That if I read the chats right now, I’d be disappointed?”
And there, I saw it— a flicker of defeat in her gaze as she darted her eyes to my phone on the desk, her neck stiff. “Did you get any texts from Dan or is it just your sidekick with attachment issues?” I let her change the subject, I'll take that as compensation for now.
I knew she meant Sebastian. She mentioned him twice and I couldn't help but think that each time she wanted me to tell her who exactly Sebastian was. But I didn't bite.
I grabbed the phone to check. Ignoring the texts from Sebastian, I decided to check out the list she sent to Dan. “No coffee?” I looked at her, surprised. “You didn't put coffee on the list?”
“I forgot.” She shrugged it off.
I stared at her, incredulous. “You forgot coffee but not vanilla extract?” I glanced down at the list again. “Cornstarch?”
She raised her shoulders in defence. “What? I like to bake.”
“Did you tell your stalker that?”
She narrowed her eyes on me. “No, I told him I like crocheting. Do you want me to make your veins into a bow?”
“I’ll pass.” I said as I sent Dan a new list of additional items.
“So what are we going to do? About him?” She asked, massaging the back of her neck as I tossed the phone back on my temporary desk. Another notification came through as I did. I sighed knowing that I’d have to respond to him in the next few hours and try to keep him away from here.
I turned to MC, her eyes closed as her face winced a little whenever she applied too much pressure on her neck muscles. With her eyes closed, I grabbed the opportunity to actually look at her without any unnecessary implications. I had seen her plenty of times through pictures and video chats that she had with the group members. Her face was and wasn't a surprise.
Because the camera rarely captured everything. For example, her hair was a lighter shade of brown than I had in my mind, falling over her almost bare shoulders. One strand of it fell in the middle of her face, resting on the tip of her nose— it was an annoying detail. In real life, her cheekbones were more angular; I noticed that this morning in the kitchen because they made her glare on me rather efficacious. Her nose wasn't just small but dainty and her lips—
“Why are you staring at me?”
Fuck. I was too focused on her nose and lips that I didn't notice when her eyes opened. “I’m not. I’m thinking.”
She straightened up. “Sure, I believe you.” She said, definitely not believing me.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” She wasn't bad to look at, of course; she was better than most things to look at. But I couldn't have her knowing that in the slightest. “We should discuss the stakes here first. So he has your basic information— anything you had on your phone is with him as we speak. Pictures, videos, chats, documents—”
She sucked in a breath, blinking a little faster. I glanced down at her fingers, desperately grabbing the pillow on her lap.
I leveled her with a gaze. “He wouldn't make it all public. He wouldn't have any leverage if he does.”
She nodded a couple times. “Right. Of course. He just wants to blackmail me and we have to play along until we get rid of him.”
“Yes. Apart from that, he knows about me in bits and pieces. How much did you tell him?”
“Never anything in particular. I mean, I barely knew you.” I tried to ignore the bitterness in her voice. “But I guess, he does know you have some family somewhere, not specifically Duskwood. So he might try to find out who.”
“He can easily find that out from your phone. In our chat.” I pointed out. He'd already done that by now. I wonder why he was so quiet.
To my surprise, Mc shook her head lightly. “He couldn't. There is no chat between you and me on my phone.”
The realisation dawned on me ever so slowly. She deleted our chats. Every moment of highs and lows of the investigation, the silent discussions, the jokes, the confessions— all gone. She did try to erase me. Maybe she even succeeded. I remembered telling myself that she'd get over me soon and I shouldn't overthink disappearing from her life. This was the implication of exactly that. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea as much anymore.
I gave her a long nod. “Good. That's good. That'll give us more time.” It was an advantage, after all. He would be way ahead of us if he had our chats.
She cleared her throat. “I think we should let him contact me. We’d have some idea of what he's doing through his threats and all. He's very chatty. Plus, he'd try to get more information about you from me. I could lie, buy us more time until you figure out who he is.”
“Right.” I said, absent-mindedly before getting a grip. “Once I find him, it'll be easy to find something he wouldn't want me to find. Then, we can just blackmail him back or turn him in.”
I dragged open the right drawer of the desk. “Many.”
Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would've preferred. Jake is not pleased as he re-enters MC's life after a year.
Dan’s voice interrupted the conversation I had prepared for the better half of the night. Once I let the weight of my actions settle in and examined the situation from a detached lens, I realised how selfish it was of him to put all the blame on me. I might have been overwhelmed and a little out of it to let the guilt take over me for a few hours but soon I saw things for what they were.
Instinctly, I moved towards the door, almost getting up from the stool when Jake grabbed my hand on the kitchen island. I halted to find him alarmed. His eyes sharp and his grip on my hand firm. I knew what that meant. He didn't let me tell Dan he was with me when I asked him about this place last night either. And of course, nothing had changed since then.
I'm not a fan of how easily he could touch me though.
“I’m going to go back into my room. Make sure you tell him that you'd be staying here for a few more days. Also, try to get him to deliver some groceries if you can.” His voice was changed as he gave me the instructions I already kind of knew. He let go of my hand then.
As I jumped down the stool, I shouted, “Coming!”
Jake trailed behind me and then, he disappeared in the downstairs bedroom. I braced myself, taking a long breath in before opening the door.
Dan stood on the other side, stretching his arms. “Morning.” He grinned and for a moment, I seemed to relax a little. I smiled back.
“Hi,” I chirped.
“I don't wanna intrude on you and your friends but I was extremely sleepy last night. Just wanted to make sure you're alright. Your number wasn't reachable. When did you change it?” When someone decided to play basketball with my phone. Well, it's safe to say that phones don't bounce back.
“Recently. Although, people have been saying that they can't call me. Something is wrong with its incoming call feature so I might change it again.” I replied, making an opening for my actual new number.
I wasn't sure when lying became so easy for me. But it does serve me well in these dreading situations I keep finding myself in.
Dan glanced beyond me for a moment and I was afraid he caught a glance of Jake but then he asked, “Where are your friends? It's awfully quiet.”
“Oh they're still sleeping. We came here pretty late last night.”
“Right. So important thing,” He joined his hands, “Someone actually owns this place. I know, shocker. But she doesn't live here anymore so she hired me to take care of it.”
“Oh wow. So this is actually your job. Guess I called the right person.”
At that, he looked nervously away. I narrowed my eyes on him. “What’s wrong?”
But I caught on. “You didn't tell the owner.”
“Uhm, actually. I was pretty out of it last night and since you guys only needed to stay the night…” He trailed off, moving his hands as if they were supposed to finish the sentence for him.
“Yeah. So, it'll be great if you guys could leave as soon as possible."
“Actually, about that—”
He cut me off, his hands desperately moving. “No, no, no ‘about that’. Please, let's just wake up your friends and I'll help you guys find a motel if you really need to stay longer.” He offered, urgently.
This was not good. It'd take us forever finding some place as isolated as this one. The fact that Jake had to come all the way to Duskwood meant his options were limited. And I was not going to fail taking care of the first problem in our way, especially not after my little speech just now. “Well, why can't you just tell her now?” I tried, matching Dan’s desperation.
“Because,” He put so much pressure into the word that I almost gave in my protest, “She can't know I let you guys in. The clients— they don't come through me. They can't contact me, they don't even know I work here. They contact her and then she tells them to contact me.”
A little relief graced my nerves. I could see the solution before Dan even finished his sentence. “Just give me her number. I'll officially rent the place, okay? I won't say anything about last night or the fact that you keep the key in a stupid place.”
Dan visibly calmed down a little and then he narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s not a stupid place to hide the key.” He says, offended.
I ignored that. “Listen, I'll take care of her. Meanwhile, is there any chance you can get me some groceries? My friends will leave in a while, but I plan to stay for longer.”
Now, he looked concerned. “What? Alone?”
“Yeah, I just need a little time off. That's all. ”
“Are you okay?” The concern mixed in his voice almost threw me off. All the emotional toll ever since I received those texts from my stalker came rushing to my mind and heart— my muscles and I felt physically tired. And hungry.
“Yeah,” I managed a smile. “It’s been really hectic and I do try to take breaks every now and then.”
He examined me for a moment longer. Finally giving in and saying, “Fine, hit me up if you need anything though or just wanna hangout, okay?”
Now, I genuinely smiled at him. “Sure. Just the groceries for now.”
“Sure, okay. Send me the list and let me know how things go with Haley. Here's her card.”
I nodded at him, taking the card. My eyes followed him till he reached his car and then, he looked over his shoulder to wave at me. I waved back.
As I shut and locked the door, I heard Jake walking towards me. He must have heard Dan driving away. I waved Haley’s card towards him without looking. “We have to officially rent this place out.”
I turned around to face him. “I know I heard.” He admitted. The contrast of his ink-black hair and fair complexion that highlights the blue of his eyes still make me pause.
I slightly scoffed at his prevalent lack of respect for privacy. “Of course, you did.”
Jake, however, failed to sense— or perhaps blatantly ignored— the sarcasm in my voice as he continued, “You should call her right now. I'll take care of the payment.” Casually, he strided towards the living room.
I followed him with a question, stunned at his aberrant benevolence. “All of it?”
“Obviously. We can't send her money from two different sources. For her, she only has one guest and it's you.” He said, matter-of-factly. He sat on one of the armchairs and dug out his phone from his pocket as if to dismiss me and this conversation.
But I was still confused. “Right.” I say, trying to make sense of it, “So you pay her and I pay you my share.”
He gave me a look, almost annoyed. “That’s not what I said.”
And I was confused again. “So you're saying you're gonna pay for the both of us? Why are you being nice?” I eyed him, suspicion lacing my voice.
He replied almost too quickly, as if he couldn't let me believe he was being nice to me for a second longer. “Not nice. Practical. I don't even think your stalker has left anything in your bank account.” He leaned back into the armchair. “Plus, I don't really care about money.”
“Right. You can just steal it.” I tried hard to ignore his assumptions that left me bankrupt. It was somewhat obvious the stalker wasn't after me for money.
He looked at me then, “Yes, I can. And you should be thanking me right about now.”
“I am not thankful.” I wasn't going to thank him for displacing money he stole for a larger problem that was half his fault, if not more. “And give me your phone, I need to call Haley and text Dan.”
He sighed. He held up the phone in his hand, not looking at me. Everything was already a bit easier with him not looking at me. His gaze made me feel like he was always making an analysis.
I snatched it away from him and went to the kitchen. Once I called Haley, I made an impromptu list of everything I deemed necessary and I know I should've consulted Jake on it but I wanted to avoid talking to him as much as possible. I was going to turn his phone off and give it back to him when I saw a text come through.
I thought this was his burner phone.
Sebastian: I don't see why you can't tell me where you are!? it's NOT like I'll drop by?
Sebastian: And i was just bein polite anyways. I'll just hack your location like u taught me <3
Wow. Okay. Uhm. Jake has a friend? And a fairly clingy one on top of that. He ended the text with a heart, for fuck’s sake. I wanted to believe that it was a wrong number and maybe Jake had some kind of advanced software that’ll just name the person holding a number but at the same time, a person excited to hack Jake’s location did sound like a friend of his.
And he taught him how to hack? They must be close. It was almost impossible to imagine— Jake being friends with someone.
“If you are hoping to find information that would further make my life harder, you won't find it there.” I winced at his voice before looking up.
Jake stood at the threshold of his room, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in the pockets of his grey pants. The faded blue of his eyes commanded attention and appeared even more intimidating from a distance, as if silently calling. I realised his stare was always packed, always full of something that made it almost impossible to look away.
“You’re staring.” His eyes narrowed. I felt a knocking wave of mortification. “Were you actually looking for something to ruin my life?”
Covering up, I scoffed at that and finally, broke the eye contact that had me talking to myself. “You give yourself way too much importance.” I walked towards him, eager to hand over his phone and disappear for a few hours.
Not to mention, I hadn't eaten in the last eighteen hours. The last thing I had was a loaded sandwich for lunch before my ex talking stage decided to reappear in my life in the creepiest way possible. Yes, that explained the weird staring.
Sebastian: It's not easy to go against your encryptions, I'll give you that, Jakey
I held up the phone for him. “Someone is missing you.” Right on cue, another text from Sebastian popped up on the screen.
“Jakey?” I quoted, trying to fight a smile.
Jake gave me a pointed look. “Don’t even.” As he took the phone away with an annoyed sigh, I decided to leave him alone for a while, turning away.
My wrist was still in the air when he grabbed it, stopping me from turning away. “Where do you think you're going?”
“My room?”
“This is not a vacation.”
“I know that. Trust me, my idea of a vacation doesn't start with an empty stomach and atrocious company. I'm waiting for Dan to get us some things so I can feed myself, basic human necessities, you know?”
He ignored the sarcasm. “We can talk while we wait.”
“Fine.”
He wasn't expecting me to give in so quickly as he stared at me a moment longer before he realised he was still holding my wrist. He let go of it as if it were acidic to hold. Taking a step back, he held the door open.
I was instantly met by wired devices on the desk. The desk was overcrowded and one clumsy move would disrupt the placement of everything. The monitor in the centre with a wired keyboard attached to it was turned off. The titled laptop on the left was still on though and I had no idea what was on the screen. At least three cables were attached to the laptop. A mess of wires.
Jake had already installed his system here. Exactly when did he wake up?
I glanced at the bed, nearly made. Did he even sleep?
As I perched on the bed with a sigh, taking the pillow and placing it on my lap, Jake closed the door behind him. He left his phone on the desk, though I genuinely thought there was no more space for anything else. He dragged the chair away from the desk and turned it to face me.
Once he sat, he brought his hands together, assessing me for a second. “Tell me everything you remember about the stalker from your brief connection with each other.”
Oh.
I didn't think this conversation would come this early. I felt extremely unprepared for the things I needed to say out loud. And most importantly, even after my attempt of enforcing a professional environment between us, I wasn't sure how Jake would react to the details I was about to share.
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hiii, im gonna introduce a new character soon. so excited about that!!
lmk what u guys think in the comments. i genuinely love reading comments istg, makes my day.
Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would've preferred. Jake is not pleased as he re-enters MC's life after a year.
One would assume that a rogue hacker who had enemies not only in the government but also the Dark web would be a temerarious person, apathetic towards life. But I have a purpose. Not only did I have a plan requiring years worth of time, I'd been carrying it out with immense patience that surprised me too. Over the years, I began to take a bit of pride in my perseverance, in my ability to give up a lot of things. And that had been working out perfectly for me. Except for a few recent mishaps.
One of them followed inside the safe house we discovered during the whole Duskwood investigation. I’d be lying if I said tonight was the first time I thought of this house since Hannah was rescued. In fact, I had thought about it a lot, about its silent existence in this isolated part of the forest. I researched a little about it in my free time. I traced its seclusion back to another Duskwood rumour.
Apparently, a couple had it built— for themselves during summer breaks and idle weekends and for rent when they weren't using it. Soon, the couple divorced. The house was in their daughter's name legally who perhaps didn't care much about it as both the parents fought over it. Renting it to different parties at the same time often. Usually, it only sparked confusion and then, calls to the respected parent to resolve the situation. But once, it was rented out to a family of four and a lone man on the same day.
The family occupied the house sometime in the noon and the other man came around midnight. The family thought there was an intruder. The father, to protect his family, pulled out his gun. The other man wasn't unarmed either. The details of how things went down aren't available. But three people died that day— the father, the false intruder, and the wife.
The children were young, and didn't know shit about the town. But they couldn't leave the house and wander in the forest. Had to spend the night in the house with three dead bodies. Later, they were found dead. Starved to death.
I stopped my research after that, having found out enough. I wasn't really sure what happened to the couple but it was pretty clear that they both seized their claims on the house. And their daughter, who actually owned the house, left the town years ago.
Obviously people stopped coming here. Richy must have found it and taken care of it over the years. But it still looked pretty clean right now. I wonder who took care of it this past year.
Once I found the light switches, I turned off the flashlight of my phone. I glanced around the place. Clean. Interesting.
The pale brown couch in the living room faced the larger glass window, curtains drawn. A round glass table in the centre which looked thick enough to withstand heavy stuff. Opposite to the couch, were two cushioned armchairs. A stale white rug underneath it all. Towards my right was the open kitchen I faintly remember seeing either during my research or the group's stay here. And behind me, the stairs led up to the first floor.
I briefly glanced up. And then found MC standing in front of me. I noticed her hair had dried, curling up a little towards the ends. Her maroon crop top slid down her right shoulder with the sleeve falling down to her elbow. The jeans hugged her bare waist and I stopped looking at her before I catalogue the type of shoes she was wearing or worse, the size of it.
Instead, I looked beyond her, at the only bedroom downstairs. There were two more upstairs. “Where are you sleeping?” I asked her, having already decided that whichever floor she picked, I’d choose the other.
She looked up at me. Her eyes wide and confused. And I realised just how long it had been for me to be seen like this. To be talking to someone like this. And then, she glanced around, pointed at the downstairs room. “I’ll take that one.”
I scanned the main door which was a little too close to her bedroom and looked at the huge glass windows in the living room. “No, you're taking one of the rooms upstairs.”
She looked at me, a little annoyed and tired. “Then, why did you ask?”
I passed by her, walking towards the room. “I forgot you were at flight risk.”
“What, I’m not at flight risk. Where would I even go? We're in the middle of a forest.”
And I turned around at that. “Are you saying that if you really had to run away, the fact that we're in the middle of nowhere will stop you?” I knew her well enough to know that there was little she found impossible. Which isn't a smart trait, to be clear.
“And you think locking me upstairs is gonna stop me?” She had a point.
“At least you wouldn't be stupid enough to jump from the balcony.” I retorted, only half-believing my own statement.
She turned around towards the stairs. “I don't have to jump to escape.”
I sighed, irritated. Why did she always have to come up with a better reply? “Come downstairs exactly at 8am. I don't want to waste more time.” I told her, reminding her— and myself— of why we were here in the first place.
“If I am here by then, then sure.” She said before disappearing upstairs.
Excruciating. She was excruciating. On one hand, I was glad she was not all pitiful and sad about what she had done because I honestly didn't know how to deal with that. On the other hand, I anticipated this version of her would be even harder to deal with.
⏳
It was 8:07 and I was not amused.
I woke up two hours ago. By 6:39, I had taken a shower and made some black coffee using the coffee machine in the house and the coffee I kept in my car. After that, it took me about an hour or so to shift my temporary computer system in the downstairs room and install it. Though I was still offline, I felt a little less on the edge.
I was on my second cup of coffee, waiting for MC to come downstairs. Was she even up? I had shattered her phone in that motel room. I’d admit there wasn't need to actually shatter the device. I just needed to remove the battery but I was furious about the fact that she was being tracked all this time and had no idea. And that might have led to her oversleeping with no alarms.
I sighed, walking up to the sink to wash the empty cup. I recalled the panic in her last night, especially in the motel room. She freaked out completely and I knew one of the reasons for that was her inability to go to the police. Of course, now that I was in the picture, she couldn't go to the police. But even when she didn't know that, she couldn't go to the police. Her uncle was in the police and he was very close to her father. None of this would've been taken care of without her father knowing. And obviously, she didn't want him to.
I heard her coming down the stairs. I was still washing the cup when I heard her drag one of the stools at the kitchen island. “You’re late.”
“Sorry, some idiot broke my phone.” I wasn't surprised. I knew she'd use that.
I dried my hands as I turned around to face her. “That idiot was trying to save your life.”
She narrowed her eyes just a little. “Let’s not phrase it that way. You were trying to protect yourself because I had information about you.”
I didn't want to deny that. It worked well in my favour. So I grabbed onto something else. Her tone. “You sound pretty ballsy for someone who put me in immense trouble.”
“So did you last night.”
“Excuse me?”
She shifted and laid her elbows on the kitchen island, her eyes set on me. She didn't have this demeanor last night. And I hated to admit that this felt more like her than the girl who was quiet the entire ride last night. Not that I had any preference.
“Let’s imagine another scenario. One where the person I was talking to and confided in wasn't a hacker on the Darkweb. Just a normal man I was interested in,” You're not interested in normal men, I wanted to say, “He wouldn't have cared about you at all. And hence, I wouldn't be the one getting stalked. So actually, your existence and the little knowledge of it I had didn't only put you into trouble but me as well.” There was a fierceness in her voice, a pointed look in her eyes that made me quietly listen and not interrupt. “You left me without a word. You left a loose end. And I'm ready to deal with the consequences as they come.”
“What are you trying to say? That none of this is your fault?”
“It is both of our fault. And we can't deal with the consequences separately. We’ll have to work together.”
“I know that. Why do you think I am here?” Our actions were different in nature and time but the consequences of them come closely attached.
“Right. So let's deal with them. Maturely. Professionally. Something we lacked the last time.”
I assessed her for a moment. Clearly, she had examined the situation, found a lens that put both of us in the same field of blame, and came to the conclusion that we both needed each other to get out of this. And then, she laid the final piece: offering to work together, strictly professionally. It wasn't her offer that pissed me off. It was that it came from her. Of course, I wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible and with little emotions involved. But I always thought it was me who wanted us to be detached, have some distance. The fact that she now had the same mindset was a tiny bit unsettling.
I shrugged it off. It didn't matter. Obviously, a lot had changed in one year and I shouldn't overthink these little surprises.
“Alright then.” I said, “Firstly, we need to be honest with all that we know. And then come up with a plan of action—”
There was a knock on the door.
Both of us snapped our heads towards the door. And then, shared a look, before a loud voice carried from outside.
“MC! Open up. It's me. Dan!”
I let out an irritated sigh. “You’ve got to be kidding me—”
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Hii, lemme know what u guys think in the comments!!
Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would've preferred. Jake is not pleased as he re-enters MC's life after a year.
The tips of my midnight blue nails clicked against the wooden desk, falling into an urgent rhythm. The lady in turquoise coat juggles through the keys with an excruciatingly slow pace as if she's doing her daily mantras. The sound of rain plummeting to the tin awning at the entrance doesn't help my nerves.
A chill traveled from my feet to the back of my neck as someone opened the door to enter. After glancing at the new customer, I hastily examined the rest of the reception area for the sixth time to make sure no unnecessary eyes were on me. To make sure he wasn't here.
Turning back to the receptionist and seeing her still examining the key had me stop my clicking nails. I slapped my hand flat on the desk loudly. “If you could hurry, please.”
She narrowed her eyes on me and freed one key from the bunch about ten seconds later. She handed me a card with the room number along with the key. “Enjoy your stay.” She drawled in a bored voice.
“Thanks.”
Checking the room number on the card, I hurried to the elevator. I finally sucked in a deep breath once the elevator doors shut. I have messed up. My apartment is no longer safe and there's no way I can show up at a friend's place with little to no explanation. I needed someone who wouldn't ask questions and offer any judgments. No one came to my mind. It's okay. I reminded myself. For the last hour, I had been focusing on getting to a safe place to think. Once I could somewhat relax in this motel room, I’d find my way out of this solution even though I am short of ideas right now.
As soon as I entered the room, I sank to the floor. My forehead pressed against my knees as my bag slowly slipped down my shoulder. What have I done?
Unknown: you're too precious to let go. I'll have you in all the ways I've said and you'll do everything you said you would.
Unknown: your apartment is pretty cute. where would you prefer to fuck first? the kitchen or bedroom? I'd rather the balcony. I love to show off. be there soon
Unknown: we'll have your laptop to thank for this night
3 hours ago
I don't know his name. Neither did I tell him mine but that doesn't matter because he knows more than my name. What started as mindless sexting, sharing of secrets, and eventual ghosting did not end when I willed it to. I met this man on an anonymous mingling app because I was bored, we started talking, sexting and more. But we never revealed our real identities and in my defence, I was being cautious. Everything I told him was vague, every picture I shared was meant to be viewed once and never had my face or any of my clothes or possessions in them.
But this motherfucker has my address. He thanked my laptop, it must've been how he got it. Hacking it. He's a hacker. The first thing I did as I realised that was to smash my laptop into pieces. The second was to leave the apartment.
Picking myself up, I trudge further into the room.
Where would you prefer to fuck first? the kitchen or bedroom? I'd rather the balcony. I love to show off.
I threw my bag and phone on the mattress and made my way towards the bathroom.
I need to take a fucking shower.
✧✧✧
Doubling down under the warm shower water, I felt sleepy. Lack of sleep from last night and exhaustion from overanalyzing the situation forming a complex sedative. I almost closed my eyes when a loud crashing sound woke me up. For a moment, I was confused if it came from the street outside— I can hear the dull traffic from the circular window in the bathroom— or from my own room.
Either way, I turned the shower off and stepped out. While I covered myself with a towel, I pressed my ear against the bathroom door. And there it was again. Another dull thud. Fuck.
My hand tightened on the door knob as I scanned the rest of the bathroom for potential weapons. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That's partially my fault for choosing a cheap motel. My gaze landed on a shampoo bottle.
Since I didn't have a lot of choices, I did what made sense to me— emptying third-fourth of the bottle and filling the rest up with water. I quickly gave it a good shake before discarding the cap.
Gripping the door knob again, I prepared myself to burst the door open and launch the mixture right in his eyes. I had no idea how he tracked me to this motel or if it's even him but finding out answers wasn't really my priority right now.
Three. Two. One.
The plan was to scan the room, detect the man— he had to be a man— and throw soap water in his eyes. But I'm afraid the order of execution went a bit wrong.
The soapy water dampens the rug on the foot of the bed, some drops sprinkling on the mattress threatening to fall off any second. Before I could even turn my head towards my right, I was pinned to the wall. A hand fastened around my wrist, twisting it as I slowly began to lose my grip on the shampoo bottle. Another hand on my mouth as I groaned.
The man holding me was too close to my body for me to see his face. All I had in my vision was his neck and all my defence instincts told me to bite it and free myself. My focus was snatched from his neck as he twisted my wrist further until the shampoo bottle dropped on the floor. His head bent to look at it.
“Soap? Seriously?” Apparently, my attacker seemed disappointed in my choice of defence. I groaned in his hand, wiggling to get out of his hold. “That’s how you planned to protect yourself if he got here before me?”
He who?
I could sense him loosening his hold on my mouth and wrist but it was too late. I panicked and bit his neck. “Fuck.” He groaned and backed away.
“Who the fuck are you?” I tried to shout, which should've been easy, given the circumstances. But my voice came out all squeaky and scared.
“Calm the fuck down.” He rubbed his neck where I bit him, using his other hand to push back his black hair that made me appear paler than he is. He glared at me, his eyes blue and intimidating. “I am Jake. Save the hysterical defence for your actual stalker.”
I couldn't process anything he said after his name. Jake. I am Jake. Jake who I haven't talked to in a year. Jake who cared for me. Jake was shy and sweet and beautiful even though I haven't ever seen him. Jake who never got rude.
I examined the man in front of me. The glare he threw my way, the bitterness in his voice. No. That's not Jake. That can’t be Jake. He might have the black hair. But there's no way Jake would sound like that. “You’re not Jake.” It came out as a whisper of my loud thoughts.
He ignored me and turned away. “Get your things. We need to leave.” He carefully walked around the soapy water spilled on the floor and towards the bed. Bending a little, he got a hold of my bag. “Is this all?” He asked, dangling it.
“Who are you? You're not Jake.” I repeated myself. Just because he knows the name Jake, doesn't mean he is Jake. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was impersonating Jake, considering the world he was a part of it. Or if the actual Jake sent him. This man. “Did he send you? Did Jake send you here?”
I heard him sigh. He turned around and walked straight towards me, not minding the soap on the floor this time. Once he was close enough, he leveled me with a warning gaze. “I am Jake. Ask me anything. And if you know me at all, you'd know I'm a highly private person and wouldn't just have anyone knowing shit about me. So ask me.”
He didn't move at all as he waited for me to question me.
Something only Jake would know. My mind raced, replaying memories like flashes of a camera. No. Even if it's someone impersonating Jake, he seemed pretty confident. He might know the important things but not the simpler ones. “What were your first words to me?”
He straightened up and looked down at me. A pleasing look glistened on his face. “Well,” he said, “How did you like that?”
My mouth opened up in shock. “Jake,” I whispered. How.
“Now, can we leave before your stalker comes?” The pleasing look disappeared and he looked annoyed and a little tense again. “I don't mind waiting for him and beating him to a pulp. But that would be a waste of my time. I’m sure he wouldn't be the one to come down here. He'd send someone to get you.”
“What, how do you know about him? Were you keeping tabs on me?” I tried my best to sound offended and angry but I'm afraid I came off as hopeful. Somewhere wanting to hear that he did keep a check on me after he disappeared. That he cared.
He gave me a look as if he was trying to understand me, trying to make sense of what I said. I wanted to shrink into myself until he couldn't see me. “Keeping tabs on you? I hope you realise we don't have time for delusion. We need to leave right now.”
I tried my hardest to ignore everything else as I said, “He can't know I am here. He had hacked into my laptop and not only was it at my apartment, I broke it.”
He pinched the top of his nose. “And how difficult would it be to hack into your phone if he could hack into your laptop?”
Fuck my life. All this while I was trying to get away from him while leading him to me. “My phone…” I trailed off, looking for my phone.
“I took care of it.” Jake said and I followed his gaze to find my phone shattered near the wall. That was the sound that woke me up in the shower earlier.
“You broke my phone?” I raised my voice.
“Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to send him an invitation, in case your location wasn't enough?” I didn't like the anger in his voice. Not one bit. And mostly because he was right. I hated right angry people. “For the last time, we need to go.” He was making me feel stupid. Jake used to make me feel smart and worthy.
“Fine,” I matched the bitterness in his voice. “Let’s go.”
He stared at me and for the first time, his eyes stooped lower, down to my body. And I realised what he meant. I was still wearing the overly large motel towel. “Right. One second.” I hurried back into the bathroom, eager to get out of the room as embarrassment rose to my cheeks and ears.
I didn't know what he did while I changed but I came outside, he was by the door to the hallway. He was waiting with my bag in his hands. “Come with me.” He said before opening the door.
I followed him, three steps back. We didn't speak as he took the stairs and we left the motel from the back exit. The rain had stopped, replaced by a cold breeze and a light smell of mud in the air. I always liked the smell.
Jake walked towards a car, looking around cautiously but there was no one around. He opened the back door and threw my bag in. Then, he held the front door open for me as his alert eyes scanned the surroundings. “Get in.” He said, without looking at me which helped.
He slipped into the driver's seat and we took off. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. He was focused on driving and I wasn't sure where to look. I could look at my phone but someone smashed it into pieces.
I couldn't take the silence anymore as questions started pooling in my head with every passing minute. “Why are you here?” I asked, looking at his hand on the wheel.
I felt the glance he gave my way. “Did I interrupt your kidnapping?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. When did he become so sarcastic? “What is wrong with you? What are you doing—”
“What were you doing with that man talking about me?” He raised his voice a little and he dawned upon me. He knew everything. He might have read every conversation I had with that man. It made me want to scratch my entire skin. “Do you realise how much in jeopardy you put me? You told him things you never should have and you know it. You compromised me.”
“Well, you abandoned me.” My voice came out as a small protest but I knew my words held value.
He was quiet for a moment. “That still doesn't give you the right to reveal information about me that I told you in confidence. The trouble that caused me was far more complicated than your feelings.”
I was stunned into silence. Somewhere along the way, he had started to rain again as we drove on the highway, somewhat empty. His words repeated in my head— the tone of them, the hatred in them. I wronged him. But he wronged me first. Disappearing without a word and then expecting me to uphold his privacy?
“231, Mayton Street.” I spoke. “Drop me there.”
He looked at me then. “Excuse me?”
“My friend’s house.”
“What gave you the impression that you’ll be safe there?”
“Who says I am safe in this car? At least, Nina is my friend.” I uttered, looking out of the window. I was not even sure how far away we were from her place.
“I don't need to be your friend to protect you. And it's not just your situation anymore. You got me involved. He knows things about me that he never should've. He knows about the nature of my leverage against my pursuers. Do you know how important that is to me?” Guilt pooled in the bottom of my stomach. I have messed up more than I realised. “We stick together till we deal with him.”
“Fine.” I said, ignoring the pressure behind my eyes. “What’s your plan? Where are we going?”
“To that safe house on the outskirts of Duskwood.” Jake said.
Duskwood. “Oh. Why not just go to Lilly’s?”
“I’d rather postpone the family reunion for now. In fact, I need you to do something.” He said and took out his phone. With one hand on the wheel, he called an unknown number with the other. He offered the phone to me. “It’s Dan. Ask him about the safe house. If it's empty right now. Don't mention I am with you.”
Before I could protest, Dan picked up the call. I glared at Jake before focusing on the call. “Hi, it's me, MC.”
“MC? It's almost two in the morning. I’m still like eighty-nine percent asleep so if this could wait till morning —”
“I’m afraid it can't. I was just calling to ask you about that safe house. The one you guys stayed in, remember?”
Dan was quiet for a moment. “Oh that, yeah, what about it?”
What about it? What about it? “Uhm, I was just wondering if me and my friends could maybe stay there tonight. We're driving up to this friend’s hometown and we're pretty tired.”
“Hmm. Well, it's empty and the locks still work, I hope. The key, however, is in a very fiery space.”
I pulled my eyebrows together. “Hell?”
“No, the top of the lamp by the main door. Goodnight.”
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hii, wrote after a longgg time, what do we think??
next chapter:
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Linger ·
Summary: MC has a stalker who turns out to be a hacker. And the stalker might know more about Jake than he would
Can somebody PLEASE tell me the name of that app which is kinda like pinterest but you can search images for a specific shade or color? PLEASE I NEED IT
I was thinking of picking up Getaway Car again and write the last and epilogue chapters. But I'm on the fence (it's been months?) so now wouldn't be the worst time if someone wants to tell me that they remember it and would want to read it😭
While reading a fanfiction, do you guys prefer the main character being addressed as "MC" or a real name (assuming it's not some bizzare name you can't even pronounce; so just a normal name) ??
Open body posture, with relaxed arms and shoulders.
Leaning forward slightly towards the person or object of interest.
Making eye contact with a warm and engaged expression.
Anger:
Tightened jaw and clenched fists.
Furrowed brows and narrowed eyes.
Standing or sitting with a rigid and tense posture.
Pointing fingers or aggressive gestures.
Raised voice or speaking through gritted teeth.
Sadness:
Downcast eyes and a drooping posture.
Slumped shoulders and shallow breathing.
Avoiding eye contact and withdrawing from social interaction.
Sighing or a subdued tone of voice.
Tearfulness, with watery or red eyes.
Fear:
Widened eyes with dilated pupils.
Raised eyebrows and a tense facial expression.
Frozen or rigid body posture.
Backing away or seeking physical distance from the perceived threat.
Trembling or shaking, especially in the hands or legs.
Surprise:
Raised eyebrows and widened eyes.
Mouth slightly agape or forming an "O" shape.
Leaning forward or recoiling backward in response to the surprise.
Quick inhalation or gasp of breath.
Rapid blinking or blinking more than usual.
Disgust:
Curling the upper lip or wrinkling the nose.
Narrowing the eyes and raising the upper eyelids.
Turning the head away or physically distancing oneself from the source of disgust.
Covering the mouth or nose with the hand or a tissue.
Expressing verbal disgust through phrases like "ew" or "yuck."
These are just some examples, and individuals may display variations in their body language based on their personality, cultural background, and the specific context of the situation.
