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Two more men appear out of nowhere—the two from earlier, in overalls. The toothless one approaches, spitting out his chew. “Hey, pretty little lady. Why are you out here all by yourself?”

I step back to assess the situation. Remy, concealed in the shadows behind the mask, watches as the two men in overalls remain oblivious to him.

I jut my chin. “Mrs. Holly will be here any minute, so you need to go.”

The toothless one laughs and looks at his friend. “Oh, we know you’re lying. Mrs. Holly ain’t here, is she, Billy?”

Billy cranks his head. “That’s right, Clyde. I think she’s don’ gon’ here alone.”

Clyde and Billy…poor as dirt.

I stumble against the building, and Billy is on me immediately, pinning me in place. “Where do you think you’re going? We’re just gonna play a little.”

His breath smells like cow patties, and all I see is skin and suspenders.

I look past Billy, finding Remy is gone, evaporating into the shadows from which he came. Perhaps I am seeing things, and Remy wasn’t here at all. Perhaps I was just praying he was…

I peer inside, just ten feet, and I could be at the rotary phone near the front. I could call the police or Tommy, but I dismiss the idea. They’d get to me before I’d be able to turn the dial to call anyone. And I have a gut-wrenching notion that, even if I did call someone, they wouldn’t come.

Clyde comes at me, the two of them trapping me against the wall. My hands curl into fists as his hands slide up my shirt and tug at my breast, just as a shadow presses in on us.

A knife flashes, and Billy’s eyes grow wide.

“Get your low-life, cousin-fucking hands off her,” Remy growls, the knife pressing onto Billy’s neck. “One move and I’ll slice off your overgrown ear, you inbred, honky-tonk, piece of shit.” Billy lets go of me and stumbles backward, and Remy yanks his hair while keeping the blade on him.

“Now, now,” Clyde, the gap tooth, says. “We didn’t mean the girl no harm. We were just here protecting her. Townsfolk are saying Shadowface is back, and we don’t want no pretty girl scared of Shadowface, now do we?”

“What the hell do you know about the townsfolk? You live in the grass, you piece of shit.”

I stand with my back to the wall and my heart in my throat. Remy pushes Billy away from me, who then falls and scuttles up to his feet like a jumpy spider.

Billy spits out a piece of tobacco near Remy’s shiny boot. “We hear about things in the grass, too, boy. We got eyes and ears all over these parts.”

Remy pushes him again. “If I see you again, I’ll cut off your dick,” he barks at them. The two of them exchange a quick glance and then run off into the night, cursing and howling like wolves.

Remy watches me and pulls off the mask, and I’ve never been so happy to see him.

His dark eyes are unyielding as he presses in on me, and I wrap my arms around him, squeezing him as hard as I can, shaking beneath him as Billy and Clyde howl into the night from the darkness beyond.

Remy’s hands find the small of my back, and he rests his hands on my hips.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I gaze up at him… “Why are you here?”

“Protecting you. If I weren’t here, they might have taken you home and eaten you.”

Jesus. I give the sign of the cross.

“Who are they?”

Remy pulls his hands through his hair, his eyes taut with anger. “They are low-life hillbillies who like to come into town and scare people. Those two are cousins and brothers. Their parents are cousins, their sisters are cousins…everyone in their hamlet are either siblings or cousins. Their heads ain’t right, Diana. They would have seriously messed with you if I hadn’t been here.”

“Why are you here though, Remy? Right now.” I take in his tight black jeans, his toned waist, and his lips hiding beneath his dark beard and equally dark expression.

Looking at him does things to me, and I remember the way my body reacted to his mere touch. The same way my body is reacting now.

His eyes grow dark. “I’m watching over you, Diana,” he says, pulling his hand down my face and running his thumb along my lips. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since the other night. You’re driving me crazy, Didi; I can’t stop watching you.”