I Told My Therapist About My Stalker, but He Already Knew novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Come to Bed
Simon Vandermeer sat in the chair by the bedroom window at ten past three in the morning, and watched the street.
There was nothing in it.
There had been nothing in it for twenty-three nights.
Coburn had pleaded guilty on a Monday, in a grey suit, without looking at anyone.
The judge had read the sentence in four minutes.
Keogh had called afterward, from the courthouse steps, and said the word over.
Simon had thanked him and put the phone down and stood in the kitchen for an hour with the lights off.
The danger was over.
Every reason he had ever given for standing in the dark was gone.
He still came to the chair.
He sat in it each night after Eli slept, with his hands on his knees.
The street lay under the lamp, wet and empty and quite safe.
Behind him, in the bed that had been his for fourteen years, Eli slept on his stomach with one arm flung over Simon's side.
He had moved in on a Friday.
He had brought two bags, and the grey headphones, and the green rain jacket, and a razor.
The razor sat in the bathroom now in a glass beside Simon's.
Simon had looked at it every morning for three weeks as a man looks at a picture of the sea.
There were two toothbrushes in the cup.
He had not bought either of them.
He knew what this was.
He knew it as exactly as he knew the sound of a stair, and the rhythm of a man in a hood.
It was the thing he had seen a hundred times in the hospital wards and the interview rooms.
A man is frightened, and a man is near, and the body takes comfort where it is offered.
Then the fear passes, and the comfort goes with it, and the nearest man is only a man.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Told My Therapist About My Stalker, but He Already Knew are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend