Even though she’d made it clear she wasn’t interested. That he did fancy himself a hero out to protect her. It was easier to tell herself that he was harmless. She couldn’t go to anyone else at work either. Her job required her to beg favors from his boss on a near-daily basis, and if she caused trouble, his boss might put her requests at the bottom of the pile and then she’d lose her job.
Despite her fears, she was reluctant go to his boss. Suspicions grew in her mind that her “protector” from her previous stalker had turned into a stalker himself. No matter that she told him she wasn’t interested or that his attention wasn’t wanted, he acted like he thought it was just a matter of time until she changed her mind. Plenty of women would swoon over such declarations. He’d call her late at night “so her voice was the last thing he heard before going to bed.” Ditto for the early morning calls. How could she say she didn’t want his attention when he was only keeping an eye out for her? The security supervisor called “just to make sure she was okay.” He’d call when he was in the area to “check if she needed anything.”Īll perfectly normal and caring, right? The stuff of romance heroes everywhere. Over the next few weeks, the calls to her cellphone started. The flowers and the signature card on her desk mocked her with their innocence, yet it all still felt ominous no matter the explanation. He thought he was being charming.Ī wave of cold stiffened her muscles, and she stood, silent, the phone hanging loosely in her hand.
The signature was supposed to be a pun on his name. Feeling foolish, she called the security supervisor and expressed her concern. She couldn’t afford to lose this new job or move again.Ĭould that security supervisor do anything? It was just flowers after all. Flowers that weren’t signed except for a bizarre note that struck her as a reference to “Peeping Tom” type behavior.Ī mantra started in her head. She didn’t know if the man contacted her old stalker or not, but the stalker didn’t call again. Grateful, she handed over all the information she had. The man who shared her friend’s office overheard every word. In tears, she poured out her story to one of her new friends at work. Then her stalker from her old job tracked her down. When the promise of a better life beckoned from across the country, she took the chance and settled in a place where no one knew her and she could get a fresh start.Īt first, all seemed brighter. Once upon a time, a woman was facing trouble at home and a stalker at work, and she wanted nothing more than to escape. Other readers-readers who have had a real-life stalker-might not see that behavior as sexy at all… A Story of a Romance Hero Wanna-Be Some readers will sigh and think the hero must really love the heroine to do all that stuff. Forcing himself into her life? His controlling behavior shows how much he loves her. Tracking her phone? His invasion of privacy shows how much he worries about her. Following the heroine around? His obsession shows how much he wants to keep her safe. The pretext of fiction-that we know the author has a plan-can allow us to see such behavior as sexy.
In an adult (non-paranormal) romance heavily discussed on Twitter last week, the hero breaks into the heroine’s home and wakes her for sex, and this goes on for almost a year without them even exchanging names. In Twilight, Edward breaks into Bella’s room and watches her sleep. Stalking in Fictionįrom Twilight on down, many, many Young Adult, New Adult, and adult stories contain the subtext that stalking behavior (usually from the romance hero) is sexy. Stina’s a friend of mine so I knew I wanted to support her debut, but I also support the idea behind her blog-hop focus. In light of that premise, Stina’s focusing her release around raising awareness of the issues and dangers of stalking. This post is part of Stina Lindenblatt’s Tell Me When blog hop. Her debut releases January 20th from Carina Press, and as Stina mentions on her blog, Tell Me When is about “a college freshman who struggles with the aftermath of being stalked and kidnapped during her senior year of high school.” I’m going to tell you a story in today’s post, but I first want to provide some context, as the topic is out of the norm for me.
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