stalked (jenlisa)

chapter fifteen

It was a few weeks since the sex incident when I turned up at her house in the mid-afternoon. Since that day, she had been acting different, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't figure out why. We have even had sex since then. Our first time was amazing, of course. Our sexual chemistry was off the charts.

It was keeping me up at night and eating away at me every second of the day though. I had done everything perfectly, not stepping a single toe out of line. There was no way this was messing up. So, I had to find out what her problem was before it fucked everything up.

She's surprised to see me when she opens the door. I had been to her house before, not much, but this was the first time showing up unannounced.

"Hey. I wasn't expecting you. Come in." She steps to the side and gestures me in.

"Sorry for turning up unannounced. You don't mind, do you?" Of course she didn't; she loved to see me.

"Not at all. I was actually just thinking about you."

"You always say that." I chuckle.

"That's because I'm always thinking about you."

"You're so corny, Lisa," I tell her, kissing her cheek and pulling her into the living room with me.

"You love it."

"You're right, I do." I tackle her to the sofa and kiss her lips. Fuck, she's a good kisser.

It was always fine at first. It was just as the time gradually built when we were together, I'd notice a slow change in her demeanour. More closed off. As if she was trapped in her own mind and tormenting herself with overthinking. It wasn't as she usually was with me. And I knew her well enough by now to know when something was up.

I wasn't sure how many times she'd been in the shop before I noticed her. It can't have been too many; she wasn't a face I'd forget easily. She must have thought she was being slick, coming in every night I was working, pretending to browse the aisles whilst she was really just checking me out.

That first night I noticed her, she followed me home. My co-worker gave me a lift. I imagine she wasn't too happy about that. But at that point, I didn't know what Lisa was really capable of. It was only after I found out that I was thankful my co-worker was still alive.

The possessiveness was hot, I'll admit. She was protective over me in a weird way, and she wanted to take care of me. If it was up to her, I think she'd keep me by her side at all times. She was kind of like a weird mother. I suspected her own mother wasn't the greatest, and she had basically confirmed this to me at one point.

And there was the stalking, of course. She thought she was watching me whilst I was clueless. Bless her. I was always one step ahead of her.

Then came that night in the parking lot. I knew she would be waiting, and I had already orchestrated an excuse before we officially met for the first time; I knew good and well that bus wasn't coming. "It's not safe for you to be here at this time," she had said. Adorable.

Making plans with her the next day was risky. Who did that with a total stranger? But Lisa was too caught up in her infatuation with me to think things through. And with each day that passed, it only got deeper and easier to manipulate her.

It was the time that I was trying on dresses when I saw a real darkness in Lisa. Something so vile and evil that it would probably consume us both.

I had asked her to zip me up, and I saw the look in her eye. In all honesty, it that moment, I feared what she was going to do to me. But then I told her again to zip me up, and she did so, and that's when I knew Lisa truly loved me. So courteous and respectful. I couldn't ask for anyone better. She told me about her parents, and I knew we were similar. Made for one another.

At times she would slip up. She would talk to me in a tone that suggested she owned me, but I didn't mind it. She quickly corrected herself, and I knew she was trying her best. It's actually really impressive how she managed to be patient for so long, especially with me dating Mark. I knew that was a problem I had to deal with but at the right time.

The night we went clubbing, everything almost went wrong. I was dancing with Mark. I shouldn't have been, I knew Lisa wouldn't like it. But I wanted to see just how far she would go for me, and when I distracted her from killing him that night, I knew Lisa would take a life for me. Hell, she had probably taken them before. I found out that a little later.

One mistake I made was Rosie. I didn't notice the tension between her and Lisa, and it almost cost her her life. Thankfully, she survived, and I knew it was fate. If Lisa had managed to kill her, it definitely would have put a kink in our relationship, and it may have taken me a few weeks to forgive her. I liked Rosie.

I confirmed that it was Lisa who hit her when I first saw her in the hospital. When I told her that Rosie had survived, her face faltered, only for a fraction of a second, and if you weren't looking for it, you would have been oblivious to it. But I was looking. I was always looking, and I didn't miss a single thing after the hit and run.

It was obvious to me then that Lisa saw Rosie as a threat to our relationship, and I knew she had to go. It was me who convinced her to go back to Australia. I would have really hated to see her dead.

On our first unofficial date, she had opened up to me a little more. She wasn't comfortable in dresses and very feminine clothing. I knew her trauma went deeper than that, but she didn't go into detail.

Then when we came back, I got her drunk. It was like she was having an inner battle every time I handed her another drink; she knew she shouldn't, but because it was me, she did. She confessed her love and told me she would do anything for me, I already knew of course, but it was nice to hear it. In the morning, she didn't remember a thing.

We got closer after that, so much so that I had nearly forgotten about Mark. Then, one day I invited her over for pizza, and she asked me about him. I knew she was planning on killing him when she turned down plans with me for Thursday.

I know she probably wanted to do it herself, but I was scared she would get caught, and also, I wanted to give her a little gift, even if she never knew it was me. It was easier than I anticipated. Mark was in the bath when I went over. I had told the idiot not to keep his hairdryer next to the bath before; he was practically asking for it. All I had to do was give it a little push and then watch how his body convulsed as his life was taken from him in a few seconds.

I did it for us.

The hardest part was acting like I cared. The greatest performance of my life. Oscar-worthy, I would say. I wanted her badly, but I knew I had to wait a little longer, and even then, I couldn't dive into it. I had to take it slowly, so it seemed natural.

But then it somehow backfired. She initiated sex, and of course, I wanted it, but I lied and said I wasn't ready. I knew she would struggle with that, and if she took me anyway, it wouldn't matter. She didn't push, and I hadn't expected her to; she had a role to play just as much as I did. But that look in her eye told me she was seriously contemplating it, and I knew something was wrong then.

Lisa had been very careful in upholding her image, just as I had; it didn't make sense how something as trivial as me denying her sex would make her unravel. There had to be something deeper.

Lisa and I were both as unhinged as each other, but she could never know that. She had been building an image for me probably since the second she met me. That entailed an innocent Jennie, and of course, I was far from innocent.

But I had played the part as well as I could. Of course, me telling her that my mother had died took away from some of that innocence, but I don't think Lisa took it too deeply. If anything, I think it made her see me even more as someone who needed her protection.

I had to keep this image up. If I didn't, it would destroy everything. Lisa could never know that I had been lying to her. That I had always been a step ahead of her. She would not like that very much.

Although my current problem was figuring out what had happened in recent weeks, I knew the only way to do that was to get her drunk. So, of course, I had brought a few bottles of alcohol for us to have our own little special party. Because to remain one step ahead of Lisa, and to protect our relationship, I had to know exactly what was going on.