Every once in a while, her eyes dropped to the mask that I wore. I had different ones. But my favorite was my all-black mask. It had the outline of sharp teeth and a monstrous grin, and since it came up over my nose, it had the hollowed out imprint of a nose cavity on it as well.
Loved the damn thing.
Got it from Ranger a few years back when he was out and about with his fling-of-the-month.
You know, back when he did that kind of thing.
However, the short ten-minute ride back to her place wasn’t fraught with anyone watching. No one looked suspicious. Ididn’t see any cars that were double-backing to get a better view of us. And while I found that a relief, it also made me worry.
What if they were waiting for sundown?
She parked in the space she parked in last time, when I was perched across the street in the darkness. Did they have assigned parking at this place? Maybe she was just a creature of habit. I couldn’t ask the question without outing myself, so I kept that little part of her life a mystery as I followed her into the building and up to the third floor, where I knew her apartment to be.
And when we stopped so that she could fish out her keys, I took the grocery bags from her.
“Oh, thanks,” she said breathlessly as she dug for them.
“Not a problem,” I muttered as I watched her face brighten.
“Aha,” she said as she tossed her keys into the air.
Only for them to slip through her fingers before she could catch them.
“Well, fuck,” she said as she dropped down to pick them up from the floor.
I chuckled as I watched her.
I couldn’t help the way my eyes slid down the length of her back. They took in the way her waist dipped in just a smidge. The way her hips flared out in a way that made me lick my lips. Her body looked like it had so much love to give. When was the last time she had been touched?
I cleared my throat as she slid her key into the locks on her front door.
“So,” I said when she threw open her front door, “any plans this weekend, other than snacks and video games?”
“Nope!” she chirped as she took the bags from me. “Just lounging around and being lazy. I never get time off like this, so I’m going to enjoy it.”
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
I searched her face. “Why don’t you get time off like this?”
“Oh,” she said with a small shrug, “just don’t. I prefer to work.”
I chuckled. “Ah, a workaholic.”
“I mean.”
I tilted my head and waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. “You mean… what?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a soft snicker and a shake of her head, “isn’t everyone pretty much a workaholic? Trying to climb out of debt? Or save back for things? Can’t really do that if you don’t work. So I just take all of the overtime my boss can give me and I roll with it.”
“You deserve a break every once in a while, though.”
“Oh, I know,” she said as she walked into her apartment and turned to face me. She still hadn’t invited me in, and I realized at that moment that she was probably hesitant. “Just a thing with me.”
“Why?”
She snickered. “You’re a curious one, aren’t you?”
