Page 23 of My Turn

Erebus:Let’s play a game. You guess and if you get it right, I’ll reward you.

Alana:Seriously, who is this?

Erebus:Come on. You’re a clever fox.

While I waited, I leaned against her car. Mine was parked a few blocks away so that she wouldn’t spot it. I was donning my new mask with the neon lights turned on. It was Halloween, so if anyone saw me, it shouldn’t look too strange, but I didn’t really care either way.

Erebus:You shouldn’t read on your phone. It’s bad for your eyes.

And they’re such pretty eyes.

After a few minutes, she appeared in the window, just as I expected she would. She scanned the parking lot, then her gaze landed on me. Immediately, she took a small step back. I cocked my head, never looking away from her.

Through the window, I could see the tops of her thighs where the shorts ended. She had on a thin tank top that would do nothing to conceal her breasts if I was close enough. I wanted to take her nipple between my teeth through the shirt. If I bit down on one, she’d make such a beautiful sound.

Her lips parted and her chest expanded with her heavy breaths. She was no doubt wondering if I was the one who’d texted her. It could be a coincidence. There were bound to be people in masks still meandering about tonight.

I glanced down at my phone to type out a message.

Erebus:If you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to get self-conscious.

She checked her phone, then closed the curtains. I could still see her silhouette but after a minute, she rushed away from the window.

Well, we’d officially been introduced. I guess it was about time after twelve years doing this exact thing in the shadows. It was funny when I thought about it. Plenty of people had been stalked in their life, but there must be more who never found out that they were on someone’s radar. How many went to sleep with eyes on them or got into their car completely unaware that someone tracked their every step? Right now, anyone in existence could have their own shadow and they may never know.

I pulled a window marker out of my pocket and started to write on the driver’s side window of her car. When I finished, I stared at the red letters for a moment. I glanced up at her room one more time before I began walking down the street.

My sweet, beautiful Alana. I was going to turn her mind upside down until all that remained inside were the things I wanted her to keep.

Chapter 9

Alana

Last night, I barely slept. On top of my racing thoughts about Jake, his secret love child, and my upcoming date with Mike, I had a new issue to deal with. I didn’t even know what it was exactly or what it meant. It couldn’t be good, though.

Erebus. The contact was in my phone, but I hadn’t put it there. It was impossible to know if it had been recently added or had been there for a while. I looked at the number and I didn’t recognize it. When I typed it into Google, it didn’t come up with anything. If it was just the messages, I might be able to brush it off as a prank. My first thought was that Jayce was messing with me. Then, I saw the man outside.

I was shaken. He’d been wearing a neon mask with Xs for eyes and a mouth that looked stitched. And he was leaning against my car. Maybe that was a coincidence but given everything else, I didn’t think so.

Who the hell was it? I didn’t even socialize for the most part. It could still be a prank. Fuck, he was going to think I was insane if I was wrong, but I had to try.

Alana:You don’t happen to own a mask, do you?

Jayce:You know I do. Why?

Alana:Is it neon?

The phone rang and I groaned but answered it. “Hey.”

“What’s going on?”

“I… It’s hard to explain.”

“Alana, you know if you don’t tell me, I’ll just come to your place.”

“Jesus. Okay, so I got some weird texts last night.”

“Weird texts?” he repeated. “Tell me what they said.”