Chapter 279: Stalker Ex
Nova’s POV
If I thought heartbreak was the worst thing that could happen to a person, I was wrong.
Fear—raw, clenching fear—was worse. It had teeth. It gnawed at you until even breathing felt like a battle.
It had been three days since Jimmy had shown up at the bookstore. Three days since my world tilted into something uglier, colder. I tried to shake it off, to pretend that it didn’t bother me, but every time I stepped outside, I could feel him somewhere near. Watching.
Waiting.
The next time he showed up, it happened was at the campus coffee shop. I was balancing two steaming cups—one for me and one for Lara—when a shadow loomed in front of me.
"Careful," Jimmy said, smiling like a rattlesnake. "Wouldn’t want you to get burned."
The cups nearly slipped from my hands.
I sucked in a breath, straightened my spine, and forced my voice out, even though it quivered. "I have a boyfriend," I said, loudly enough that half the coffee shop turned to look. "Leave me alone, Jimmy."
The smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, like he thought I was joking. "I don’t see him here," he said, leaning closer. His breath smelled like cheap cigarettes and bitterness.
I took a step back. "He’s real. And he’s...he’s not someone you want to mess with," I said, hoping the tremble in my voice didn’t betray the lie in my heart.