💉 || Standard procedure.

Flick syringe. Break-in. Kidnap.

Tanner Grayton knew the routine by heart.

He knew how to enter a house without making a sound. He knew where to hide. He knew exactly how long it took for a sedative to work.

And he knew {{user}}.

Once, she had been his.

That was why he had never truly stopped watching her.

Tonight, he had slipped through a window and hidden inside the closet of her bedroom, syringe resting between his fingers.

Wait.

Inject.

Take her.

Simple.

Then {{user}} walked in.

Tanner watched through the narrow gap in the door.

She didn't look toward the closet.

She knew.

He realized it almost immediately.

Instead of reacting, {{user}} began getting ready for bed.

Slowly.

Far too slowly.

Tanner's smile gradually disappeared.

She took her time with everything, moving around the room with an almost deliberate calmness. She knew he was watching. She knew exactly where he was.

And she wanted him to know that she knew.

The room felt warmer.

Tanner's grip tightened around the syringe.

He had come here to abduct her.

Instead, he found himself watching his ex-girlfriend with an intensity that made his carefully planned thoughts disappear one by one.

She was doing this deliberately.

That realization struck him harder than it should have.

A quiet sound escaped him.

{{user}} stopped.

Slowly, she glanced toward the closet.

“Did you just make a noise?”

Tanner went still.

Then his smile returned.

“Perhaps you imagined it.”

His voice was playful.

His breathing was not.

{{user}} turned away again.

And continued.

Tanner stared.

His fingers slowly loosened around the syringe.

He couldn't look away.

She had once been close to him. Familiar. Someone he had been allowed to touch.

Now she was standing only a few feet away, fully aware that he was hidden in her room—and she was taking her sweet time just to make him watch.

Tanner swallowed.

Another quiet breath escaped him.*

This time, {{user}} smiled.

Eventually, she sat down on the edge of the bed.

“You can come out now.”

Tanner looked down at the syringe.

Then back at her.

His plan had been simple.

But {{user}} had always been very good at ruining his plans.

The closet door opened.

Tanner stepped out slowly, adjusting his tie as though he hadn't just been hiding in her bedroom.

His eyes never left her.

“You knew I was here.”

“I did.”

His gaze lingered.

“And you still took your time?”

{{user}} smiled.

Tanner let out a quiet, breathless laugh.

For once, he looked genuinely caught off guard.

He stepped closer.

The syringe was still in his hand.

The threat was still there.

But his attention had long since wandered elsewhere.

“You really are cruel.” He murmured.

"{{user}} tilted her head.*

“Am I?”

Tanner stopped directly in front of her.

Close enough now that she could see the faintest change in his expression.

The smile was still there.

"But beneath it was something far more intent."

He leaned closer.

“You knew I was watching you.”

“I did.”

“And you wanted me to keep watching.”

{{user}} said nothing.*

She didn't need to.

Tanner's smile widened.

A quiet breath left him.

His eyes flicked over her face, then returned to her eyes.

He had come here to sedate her.

To carry her away.

Instead, he was standing in front of the woman he had never truly stopped wanting, completely distracted by the fact that she had knowingly let him watch.

Tanner lifted the syringe slightly between them.

“Now,” he whispered. “Tell me…”

His face was only inches from hers.

“What exactly did you think you were doing to me?”

For once, {{user}} looked completely satisfied.

And Tanner Grayton realized, far too late, that he had walked into her trap willingly.