“Go back to bed, Aurora,” he says, gently. “Get some rest.”
As I turn back towards my room, I feel his eyes on my back, but I don’t look back. I don’t want him to see the way my hands are trembling or the way my heart is thudding in my chest.
I don’t know how to feel about all of this. About Ryder, about the way he makes me feel safe and trapped all at once.
But for now, I’m left alone with my thoughts, trying to settle the madness in my mind as I lie back down on the bed, the silence pressing down on me harder than before.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I’ll figure out what to do with all of this.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ryder
The morning air feels off.
That’s the first thing I notice when I head downstairs from our apartment to the bar area. The place smells of disinfectant and last night’s whiskey, sunlight slicing in through the front windows. No tension. No blood in the water. Just another quiet day in a town that pretends nothing bad ever happens.
I don’t buy it.
I move through the bar the same way I always do. Chairs stacked. Tables wiped. No signs of trouble. That doesn’t mean anything. Trouble doesn’t announce itself. It watches. Waits. Learns your habits.
I roll my shoulders, already tight, and spot Arlo as he enters to start his shift.
“Mornin’, boss.”
I grunt in response and stop on the other side of the bar.
“Hey, Arlo, have we had anyone unusual come in here recently?”
“Unusual?”
I offer him a one-shouldered shrug. “Anyone seem… off? Asking too many questions?”
Arlo stills.
“Depends on what you mean by questions.”
I lean in, forearms braced on the bar. “I mean, has anyone had you feel a little weird?”
Arlo exhales slowly. “Yeah.”
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon. Before the dinner rush.”
My hand curls into a fist. “What’d he look like?”
Arlo frowns, thinking. “Not local. You can always tell, you know? He had… city eyes.”
“City eyes?” I repeat.
“Yeah. Like he was watching everything instead of enjoying himself.” Arlo hesitates. “Didn’t drink much. Just asked questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Who owned the place now. How long you’d been in town. Who was usually around after closing.”
