HUNTER

10

My fingers hover over the cool steel of the switch. My brain racing with ideas about what it could lead to. The impulse to flick the switch was overpowered by my sudden fear of my name being called from somewhere down the other end of the hallway. Stumbling back, I quickly move everything back to how it was and scuttle out of the room making sure to silently close the door behind me. Hunter was leaning against the wall as I turned the corner towards my room. His eyes burning into mine as he seemed to be trying to find my hidden secrets. "Angelica," he started suspiciously. "What were you doing?"
"Taking a bath."
"For two hours?"
"I am a woman." I cross my arms and glare back at him. "We tend to take our sweet arse time to melt away the stress." He poked his head around the corner in the direction of where I'd come from then glanced at me.
"You have a bathroom in your room."
"I do." I stumble over my words and grit my teeth as I struggle to try and find an excuse. "But I need deodorant." I stand a little taller as my confidence returns. "And I'm not wearing yours."
"Ouch." He chuckles, his hand touching his heart in an overdramatic show of hurt. "Wait here." He saunters off towards a cupboard between two of the spare rooms. He pulls out a small bottle and returns holding it out to me. "Here." I take it and read the label, Rose scented. And eerily it was the same scent and brand I usually wore. A chill runs up my spine at the prospect of this weirdo rummaging through my bedroom. The image of him sniffing my underwear came to mind, and it quickly died as a wave of nausea hit me. "Wonderful." I breathed, trying not to vomit. "You've been in my flat."
"Of course." He looked at me like I was some mad woman. As though it was normal for him to be in my bedroom going through my belongings. He stepped closer so his body was inches from mine. His fingers teasing the fabric of the towel I wore at my chest. "We've been there together many times. Having dinner, watching movies, making love." He reminisces, his lips coming down to caress my cheek. He kisses it then moves his soft, warm lips to my ear, "You've even touched yourself for me while I watched."
"What?" I begin to panic. How, what, why? When had he been in my home and seen these things? "You've never been to my home!"
"You didn't see me. But I saw you." I felt him grin against my skin and I covered my mouth as vomit threatened to spill. Pushing by him I rush to the bathroom, in my room, just in time clear my stomach of its contents. Sliding to the cold marble floor I rest my forehead against the white wall trying to get a grip of the panic and tightness in my chest. All this time I'd assumed he'd been watching me from afar, but I'd been wrong. Hunter had been there, in my home, watching my every move, every touch, every second of pleasure, happiness, and even sadness. He'd seen the most intimate moments of my life. My flat wasn't exactly Buckingham Palace, it was small but cosy, with very few places to hide. I would of seem him, right?
"You should never keep your windows unlocked, Angelica. You never know what, or who, may enter." He states with a sly smile and eyes that twinkled at me from the doorway. He was towering over me now all predatory-like. The fake morning husbandly act was now over. Now, I could see exactly who, or what, he was - a monster. A monster who had had the nerve break into my world and smash it. The thing about predators is: sometimes they underestimate their prey.