Chapter 8

NATHAN

Three days. That's how long it had been since I'd seen Aiden at the club and then took him out for dinner. But it was three days too long and I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. We still talked or texted all the time, but it wasn't the same.

I'd never felt like this over anyone, like I needed them. He was like an infection that got in my system, and I couldn't get him out. But in a good way.

Maybe.

I still hadn't decided.

During dinner, I had been pretty sure I'd been doing everything wrong. Starting with the fact that I'd originally tried to take him to a fancy restaurant while he was dressed for clubbing. Apparently, he didn't want to be compared to Julia Roberts. Go figure. So, after some biting remarks and glares, I agreed to take him to his favorite diner.

A diner! I felt ridiculous taking my little bird to a diner for our first date, but he insisted, and he was the one I needed to impress. So, to a diner, we went.

I'd never been on a real date before, but I didn't want him to know. Looking back, maybe I should have, especially with the whole where-to-go-for-dinner debacle. Logically, I knew the mechanics of what a date should look like—and yeah, the blowjob should have been how it ended rather than how it started.

But the way he smiled at me throughout the evening, despite my snafu, it gave me hope that maybe I'd done something right—not just in asking him out, but in how the evening progressed.

Talking and trying to get to know someone had never been my strong suit so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to ask Aiden during our date. The occasional stilted silence let me know he was just as unsure as I was. But it didn't make me feel better. I wanted to get to know him, but I didn't have any experience to fall back on.

He carried most of the conversation, talking about his favorite movies and music and asking about mine. However he was slightly appalled when I said I didn't watch much television or listen to a lot of music. So I scrambled to try and think of an artist I'd listened to, and by the look on his face, I was sure it was at least a decade too old.

That was why I had been texting him since the following morning, asking him stuff from a list of questions the internet told me were good things to ask a potential partner when you were first getting to know them. The problem was I already knew Aiden, at least the important parts. He just wasn't aware of all the things I already knew about him.

I realized the fact I hadn't asked him much might have sent the wrong signal, such as I wasn't as interested in him as he thought I was.

Couldn't have that.

AIDEN: I can't believe you've never seen it. It's iconic, man! They start off all cute and furry and then they change into little monsters that want to destroy and kill. lol.

We have to fix this one day. ??

ME: Sure. Just tell me when, and I'm all yours.

I let out a sigh as I rounded the street corner to catch up to Clint Davenport, my next unlucky victim. Thinking about Aiden had me distracted, and I couldn't afford a distraction when I was stalking my prey. That was how mistakes were made and people got caught.

And I had no intention of ever getting caught.

Especially when I had my little bird to think about.

AIDEN: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Nieces and/or nephews?

ME: No, I'm an only child. No real family left, since my parents are gone.

Of course, I couldn't tell him that my parents had been too afraid to have any other kids after they realized I wasn't like other children. I never did find out if it was because they were afraid they'd be like me or if they were afraid I'd hurt them.

Either way, it was probably the right call on their part.

AIDEN: Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry. What happened?

Forget that. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to.

ME: It's fine. They were in a car accident. Hit by a drunk driver when I was 24.

AIDEN: Did they catch the guy?

ME: No, the police were never able to catch him.

What I didn't tell him was that the police would never be able to find him because I had found him first. I may not have many feelings, or feel things the way other people do, but a part of me still cared that they were my parents and that some asshole had taken them from me.

ME: Tell me about your family.

I didn't want him asking too many questions about my family. It wasn't that I wanted to hide who I was but it wasn't something I wanted to get into. Considering I'd given Aiden my real name at the wedding, he could have easily looked me up. I was surprised he didn't, but it was obvious or else he would have had completely different questions for me. Part of me wanted to ask why but I also didn't think I should press my luck.

From a block away, I watched as Clint slipped through the doorway into his house. I waited back a few minutes before I wandered to the vacant house across the street and snuck into the backyard to minimize my risk of being seen. It had been condemned months ago, so I snatched it up when it went up for auction. Eventually, it would be one of my renovation projects, but for the time being, it was the perfect place to set up surveillance on Clint, who, as luck would have it, lived down the block.

Most of the house remained as-is from the purchase, except I had a generator hooked up to supply power to the wall of monitors I had set up in one of the upstairs bedrooms I turned into an office.

AIDEN: So… what do you do? You've been dressed all nice and fancy both times I saw you, even at the club. So it's got my imagination in overdrive trying to figure it out.

I let out a sigh. Answering questions about myself was as hard as figuring out what to ask other people about themselves. But I didn't want to lie to him even though I knew I couldn't tell him the truth.

At least, not the whole truth.

ME: I'm a land developer. I buy cheap properties that no one else wants, and I renovate them or do what I need to in order to change their zoning, and then I sell them for a lot of money.

Pretty boring, actually. But the money is good and I get to travel when I feel like in order to check out properties.

AIDEN: *whistles* Wasn't quite what I had in mind. But it sounds impressive.

Having multiple shell corporations to buy up land came in handy. I had various safe houses set up around the city and even outside the city limits. They were off the books—as all my properties were because nothing would ever be traced back to me—and usually had either a room or two, or the basement, outfitted for habitation in case I needed somewhere to lie low.

Then there were places like the one near Clint, where they were monitoring stations. Some of those even came in handy for the kill. The best part was then they'd shuffle through the hands of my other corporations before they finally landed with my legal business and then be slated for remodel. It was a surefire way to keep my hands clean, relatively speaking, and make sure all the evidence was destroyed and cleaned up.

I glanced up at the monitors in time to spot Clint hastily exiting his house.

Shit.

ME: I need to go to a meeting now, little bird. But I will call you when I get home, okay?

AIDEN: Sure. I need to get back to work, too. Talk to you later.

I still hadn't brought up and asked him what he did for a living. Mostly because I didn't want to talk about how he went after killers. Not that he'd ever be able to catch me.

But it made me wonder if he was suspicious of me at all. He was damn good at his job, so I assumed he must have caught at least a red flag or two. But he never mentioned anything. It almost made me even more uncomfortable than if he'd confronted me. I knew the longer this went on, the riskier it was.

I'd never let him go, though.

I let out a sigh as I snuck through a few backyards to get to the car I had stashed a block in the opposite direction of where I'd come from when I'd followed Clint back to his house.

Part of me knew it would be easier if I killed Aiden, but I had already established that I couldn't do it. He was the only one who had ever escaped through my fingertips.

Not that he went very far, as I still had him in my grasp. Just in a different way than I intended.

It was why I found myself sliding into my car and following the man who dared to put his hands on what was mine.