Page 4

Four

MELODY

Eye spy with my little eye

Something that looks like a crown

On the place where the Reaper’s war cry

Echoes still resound

Clue two of who do you do

Is lying beneath its frown

Spot the unshadowed image of truth

When perched upon your brow

M y breathing comes out shallow as the card shakes in my hand. I slump to a sit on my mattress staring at the words, carefully studying them. What is happening ?

And why do I like it?

A million thoughts invade my mind as I place the paper on my nightstand and float into the bathroom. As I take a long and hot shower, I scrub every inch of myself like I’m tainted and dirty. The masked man left his mark under my skin and it burns. He said he was my punishment. My Reaper .

He must be a guy from my past. The problem is… I have too many from my past to make that a narrow list.

I don’t believe in being friends with my exes. All of them were losers. Most turned out fat, bald, and addicted to something. None were as fit and commanding as the masked man. But people can change, I suppose.

Could it be someone from law school? Those guys would never test the boundaries like that and risk getting disbarred. Would they?

There was Cade that was way too into the idea of us. We dated for almost a year and a half. The longest I’d dated anyone before. I knew I broke his heart when I left, but last I heard he got his dream wife and lots of kids. So why would he come back now?

The frat boys from undergrad were usually drunken one night flings. Sometimes I’d get hung up on one and we’d be a thing for a few months. Alex and I were together for a while. He was a baseball player and when it was winter, he needed someone to do consistently and I appreciated his dick. But not the way he used it so carelessly with all the girls that would show him attention.

When I backed off, I thought he wouldn’t care. Then he showed up to my dorm room soaking wet from the rain and telling me I was the only girl he’d had feelings for. I’d already moved onto his fraternity brother by then and didn’t care enough to listen. He threatened us when he caught us the next week, but that was so long ago. Would he find me here?

High school was all about the jocks. I had an image to maintain and anyone with a letterman’s jacket was on the docket if he looked good on my arm.

What an absolute cunt I was then. And I see it in the Reapettes now. Having to help my parents and certainly after their deaths put life into perspective. I kind of gave up on finding anyone, now preferring my own company. I’ve been alone so long, I’m not sure I’d know how to be with someone else.

The last time I had a great friend was maybe college? Chelsea Rhodes then. Before that there was… Lincoln Pierce.

That’s the second time today I’ve thought about him.

He was the boy next door until his family moved away when we started junior high. In fact, now that I think of it, Link was actually my first kiss. Maybe we were eight? Ten? Sitting on a log at the pond near our houses. Todd something or other had put a frog down my shirt and I screamed at the sliminess crawling up my back until Link rescued me. As a reward, I held his hand, and we pecked lips.

When I saw him again, we were sixteen, and he had grown like a beanstalk. A thin torso stuck up from sprouted little legs until he was heads above most of the other boys. He spent most of his time in the computer lab and on the outskirts of every social group in school. I don’t think I saw him at any parties or?—

Except for Homecoming our senior year.

A heavy sigh leaves my chest as I turn out the light for bed.

That’s a memory I wish to leave behind.

In the morning, I wake up in a slight panic, a feeling that someone was in my room still hovering over me. Maybe I need to ask the building manager to change my locks again.

I’m early for work, though I don’t want to be. Shockingly, there aren’t any angry texts from Jake or emails claiming I’m fired waiting for me when I turn my phone back on. In fact, things seem oddly corporate as I arrive.

When I round the corner for Jake’s office with an extra large paper cup of his favorite coffee, I come to a rapid halt. “Wh-what are you doing here so early?”

Jake’s eyes flash to my face and a broad, warm smile crosses his lips. “Come in, Mel. Have a seat.” His hand waves at the chairs in front of him and my stomach ties into a knot. What does that mean? Is he going to fire me now? “Please shut the door.”

Sweat pours from my hairline as I do what he says. This is it. The first job I'm let go from. I’ll have to move away. No one in this little town will hire me. Just another thing to add to my resume of embarrassing acts since I returned home.

Instead of frustration on his face, he still seems happy, and I slide his coffee toward him. “I already got one. That’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

My shoulders tense up at his words. “About your coffee? Have I gotten it wrong?”

His brow crinkles as his eyes scan the desk like he’s struggling for words to say. That’s not like Jake at all. He runs this town. He’s…indestructible. Seeing him so fragile and vulnerable makes me want to vomit and run away.

“One of your emails accidentally ended up in my inbox. A firm from Verona is very interested in you and it made me pause. I’ve treated you really poorly, Mel. You’re my primary counsel, not my assistant and it’s beyond time I treated you so.”

He flips his computer monitor around and the email sits on the screen. My eyes bug at the exorbitant salary and benefits including so much time off . “Wow!” It’s not any type of law I’d like to study, if I admitted it. And, even if it’s pathetic or masochistic, I enjoy working for Jake and the people of Crystal Frond. It’s my home. The place where my parents are buried.

“So this is what I’m offering you.” Rubbing my sweaty palms along my skirt, I await his next words carefully. “Double everything that they are.”

My tongue makes its way into my cheek as I try to contain my facial expression. I have power here and leeway to argue. “Triple. I want triple.”

With no hesitation, Jake sits forward. His smoldering eyes hold my gaze. “Done. ”

“That includes three months of time off, Jake.”

Sitting back, his full lips smirk and he crosses his arms like he’s just won. “I know. Want to take some now?”

A gasp leaves my lips as I sink into the chair with some relief. “Contract?”

He slides a paper forward with the updated terms. Crossing out some figures, he updates it to what we agreed on. Seeing the increased salary makes me almost panic. I could hire a designer for my sad place. Or just do it myself with all my time off. “I want to leave at five every day and not have you bothering me at night.”

His eyebrows shoot up and he scribbles it on the paper. “Fine.”

Leaning back in my chair, I question him. “Why, Jake?”

When he lifts his gaze, I’m caught up in his charms. “Because I need you, Mel. I have to have you. And I’m not letting you go.”

Jake’s a flirt. I know this. Very much like Alex from college. Is he saying something more? He’s got dirty blond hair and no visible tattoos, but my eyes dart to his neck just to be sure. He’s not my Reaper. When I check deep inside myself for disappointment, oddly, I don’t find it.

Whoever the man was yesterday seems even more powerful than the one in front of me.

Standing, I shake his outstretched hand and sign the paper on the desk. “I’m taking the rest of the week off and will be back on Monday at my regular time.”

Hesitation clucks in the back of his throat, and I pause. “What if I need you for work stuff? C-can I call and ask for your advice?”

With a smile and a shrug, I let my shoulders drop, finally feeling free. “This week, you may. But after this, I’m hiring an assistant myself that you can bother. Got me?”

Tossing his hands behind his head, he throws his feet up on the desk and crosses them at the ankles. Like he just won a big poker match. “Yes, ma’am.”

The dimples in his cheeks don’t give me the same buzz as they usually do. Jake’s a catch, that’s for sure…

But he’s not The Reaper.

Instead of going straight home, I venture into town and visit a salon for an updated cut, a massage, and a facial. When I get home, I take a nap. By the time evening rolls around, I’m dining on a home cooked gourmet meal complete with my favorite red wine. I kick up my heels onto the coffee table and sink back into my sofa. Life is good .

My mind trails often to the envelope next to my bed. I think I understand where he’s leading me. Slipping into some jeans and a sweater, I pack my purse and stuff the note inside. On my way out of the building, I stop by Roy’s station.

“Has anyone been in my apartment?”

Roy looks stunned by my question and leans forward, like I’m about to tell the punchline of a joke. “No, Miss Locke. No one ‘cept you. Why?”

“No reason. Well, I think some things were tampered with. Is it possible to have my codes changed?”

He blinks several times like I’ve made a superfluous request. “Of course. I’ll call the guy right away.”

“Thanks, Roy.”

It’s dark by the time I pull out of the parking garage. Winter chill is still in the air, so I pull on my jacket. Being the middle of the week in March, the high school football field is deserted when I reach it.

The smell of the place is overwhelmingly familiar when I step out of my car. My old stage was right there on the sidelines as head cheerleader, gazing up at the fans in the stands. With a loud squeak, I step through the chain-link gate and onto the running track surrounding the green lawn.

Painted dead center on the fifty yard line is our old mascot, The Reaper. Just beneath its terrifying grin is something that sparkles in the moonlight. When a dark cloud rolls past, it fades into blackness, then reappears brighter than before. What is it ?

I stroll over the firm but not frozen grass, making my way toward the object. As I near it, my heart pounds hard in my chest with recognition. My Homecoming Queen tiara…

Bending over, I reach forward and feel it’s cold faux diamonds in my hands. When I lift it up to place it on my head, an inscription on the circlet catches my eye.

It should have been me .

I almost drop it. A sob wrenches from my chest, but before I can run, a figure approaches and presses his chest to my back. He slides his gloved hands over mine and helps me place it on my head.

I don’t need to turn.

Don’t need to look.

All I ask into the night air with a frosted breath escaping me is, “Link?”

The masked figure leans forward to place his chin on my shoulder. His deep voice resonates against my skin as he says, “Wrong, prom queen. I told you who I am.”

“I know who you are and why you’re here. I’m sor?—”

His hand slaps over my mouth before I can get the words out. A formidable arm grips me by the waist and holds me firm so I can’t look at him. “Don’t you dare. You want to be escorted down the fifty? Then you should run from me. I’m your haunted past come to claim you for his own. Once I catch you, you’re mine from now until our last breath.”

The words hold a finality that terrifies me. Does he mean he’ll kill us both? How far does his obsession go?

With a shove against my mid back, he growls, “Run.”

My legs take off like I’m in track back in school again. I’m not sure what he’ll do. Even as I scream when he gets close, I wonder… maybe I should let him catch me. What does it matter now?

I deserve his punishment and I think I’m going to get it.

So when I fall and flip around to face him, I let him grip the back of my neck and stay still.

For Lincoln Pierce, the boy whose heart I crushed.