“There’s no one here,” he stated. “I even checked the doors and windows after you fell asleep, and they were all locked. So I turned out the lights and went to bed.”
“I wasn’t dreaming,” I said weakly. “I know I saw someone. But I guess ... I guess it wasn’t analivesomeone.”
He looked a little incredulous, despite everything. “Wouldn’t you be able to tell?”
I shook my head. “No, I’d just woken up. All I could see was a shadow because it was so dark. I heard a noise, then saw the outline of a person in the shadows. It moved away when I woke Enyo up. I couldn’t tell anything about them, but it felt like I was being watched.”
“Do you think it was that fucking asshole who broke your ribs?” He looked pissed, but at least he was giving me the benefit of the doubt and wasn’t treating me like I was stupid or crazy.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I didn’t get terrible vibes from it, just the feeling of being watched. I tried to wake you up. I could swear Enyo saw it when she woke up, but she didn’t hiss or growl. I think if it had been too bad, or someone angry and threatening, she would have. It was there.” I pointed to the spot where the shadow had been standing, near the couch. “I swear, Mason, I saw it. I know something was there.”
He walked over and hugged me. “I believe you. But even if I’d woken up when it was standing there, I probably still wouldn’t have seen it.” I could hear thesucks to be youthat he didn’t say.
“Ugh, what time is it?” I asked, grabbing my phone off the end table where I’d left it when he pulled me into the bedroom earlier.
“Early enough that we have time to go back to sleep,” he said, yawning as he stood there in my living room, holding a shotgun in all his glory. He walked past me and back to my bedroom, climbing into bed without waiting for me to follow, but holding the covers back because he knew I would.
Enyo glanced at me, yawning just like he had, and then followed him. Neither of them was worried, apparently.Whatever had been there was gone, so I followed them. I flicked off the lights and closed my door, then climbed into bed and Mason covered us up.
He pulled me into him to spoon, and he wrapped an arm around me. “Are you okay?” he asked when I settled in. At first I thought he was talking about what had just happened, but then his hand came up and traced the spot on my neck he’d been squeezing when I panicked. “I won’t hurt you,” he said softly. “I hope you truly know that. I know when I showed up here you had no reason to trust me, but thank you for remembering who I was before, back when we were best friends. Thank you for hearing me out. And thank you for using your safe word with me when you needed to. Just knowing that you knew you could say it, and that you trusted me to stop even after everything you’ve been through and what I put you through, Elijah... it means everything... I...” His voice broke.
That was the moment that my heart truly, fully forgave him. The moment I let go of everything bad in our past and knew I could start over with him. He’d been broken badly since the last time I’d seen him, but he’d broken himself even before he lost his partner. I knew I risked heartbreak, and I knew that even if I somehow survived everything going on, I’d never be able to go to Chicago with him and he’d never be able to stay here with me. He hadn’t been able to get out of town fast enough before, and I could never live in a city. For right now, though, we were okay. We were together.
I turned in his arms and touched his face. “Thank you for not being like them,” I whispered. He was everything I’d been looking for since senior year, but Mason was the last person I’d ever dreamed would be the one I needed. Though maybe my soul had known all along. Maybe it had been waiting for him to come back.
He pulled me to him, hugging me tightly, protectively, as Enyo curled up against my back. It felt as though they both wanted to protect me from whatever was coming for me. It was an odd thought, but it comforted me enough to allow me to fall back to sleep and rest peacefully until morning.
Chapter 17
Mason
Iinsisted on making a quick breakfast for Elijah because he insisted on going to work despite being arrested there the previous day. His boss had called and told Elijah he was sorry he hadn’t been able to stop it. He’d had a talk with Chris, and he told Elijah he could take the day off if he needed it, but he was welcome to come in if he wanted to. Elijah, ever the responsible adult that he had been since he was eight, was in the bathroom getting ready for work, while I started some eggs in the kitchen and his cat followed me around watching me.
Something felt different this morning. It had nothing to do with the fact I was freaked the hell out, even though I’d never admit it, that Elijah saidsomethinghad been in the living room in the middle of the night. What felt different was Elijah. The way he smiled at me as he just looked at me in the early-morning light. The way he was no longer avoiding me when he woke up, and wasn’t even being sarcastic. I was sure the sarcasm would return no matter what had changed, but it almost felt like... well, like we were an actual couple. Like I was his boyfriend instead ofthe guy who’d royally fucked up our relationship in the past and who he now let fuck him sometimes.
I glanced back as he came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and headed for his bedroom. He glanced at me, and there was that smile again, and then I was just grinning like a damn fool while I made eggs and bacon. The cat, Enyo, just stared at me, unimpressed. I earned some more of her favor by slipping her a little piece of bacon.
I’d just placed the food on the table when he called for me. There was something odd in his voice. It wasn’t fear, exactly, but something close to it. I ran into his bedroom. He had scrub pants on but no shirt, and he was standing in front of the window where he’d opened the shades for light. He didn’t look at me when I entered, his eyes trained on the view outside. “Can you see him?” he asked me.
I hated that he did this shit. I walked over to stand beside him, adamantly refusing to admit to myself that I was trembling. I looked out the window, over his back yard and garden and through the tree line of the woods. Everything looked normal. There were some birds, a squirrel. Just nature. “Who?” I asked, even though I didn’t really want to know the answer.
“By that rock,” he said. “About ten feet into the trees.”
I looked harder. I moved over to look from his angle. “I don’t see it,” I said. “What are you seeing? Can you actually make out a person?”
“He’s blond,” Elijah said. “But his back is to me. He’s not looking at me, but I had a feeling it wasn’t a real person out there.” He proceeded to turn away like it was no big deal and grab his shirt out of the closet. Like he dealt with that shit all the time.
I, on the other hand, was shaken completely, and had to turn away in hopes he wouldn’t see the horror on my face. “Breakfast is done,” I squeaked out, then cursed under my breath and left the room.
While we were eating, I looked at him and said, “Does that happen a lot out here?’ I could not fathom living out in themiddle of nowhere alone if I constantly saw dead people. “Do you see a lot of ghosts?”
He shook his head. “No. Not really. Not here. Things have been weird lately, though.” He didn’t offer any further explanation. I went back to my food and tried not to think about it.
We left together, and he gave me a kiss goodbye at his car. The reminder of that difference in him, inusthis morning, let some of my uneasiness dissipate. “I’ll see you after work, okay?” I asked him. I hoped he was aware I wouldn’t be letting him out of my sight a second longer than I had to until all this was over and the killer was caught.
He smiled. “See you.”
I followed him into town, separating only when he turned onto the street the vet clinic was on, and I headed on to my parents’ house.
