Page 3 of Stalked By Shadows

“Are you into him?” Lukas didn’t have a preferred gender. Well, so long as he got sex—he was a bit of a whore—it didn’t matter the gender. I was wholeheartedly gay despite having a particular kink. Lukas liked pretty. Pretty anything, boy, girl, a mix of the two, just pretty. He never dated, but maybe Micah was an ex or a weird hanger-on.

“He used to work in porn.”

That wasn’t something I expected.

“If I recall, you were a fan.”

I tried to think back to my time between tours. It felt like a long time ago. Another lifetime even. Before endless doctors, waiting rooms, and psych wards. Before some sort of monster killed my team. “Okay?”

“Went by Cosplay Boy or something.”

The vivid memory of clear blue eyes staring through the computer screen with an intensity that made me come more than once flashed through my head. I felt heat flush my face and my dick gave a little twitch. Wow, I hadn’t even thought that fucker worked anymore; my dick hadn’t stirred since before the attack. It wasn’t at full mast, but more of a ‘hey, hello, I’m awake.’

“Or maybe it was Fem Boy. I know you sent me a link once. Blue eyes, black mask, usually pink hair.”

Oh fuck, yeah, him I remembered. Cute and small, with kohl rimmed blue eyes to die for. Nose and mouth always covered in a black mask while he wore little school girl outfits and cosplay bright-colored wigs when getting fucked by some guy with a big dick. Yeah, I still had those saved somewhere. “His face was always covered, not sure how’d I’d recognize him anyway.”

“I recognized him,” Lukas pointed out. “From the one video I saw. It’s the eyes. Unmistakable. Haunting. Like they could look right through you.”

Yeah, those eyes had been something. He’d been really good about eye contact in the videos. I cleared my throat. “He doesn’t do that anymore?” Obviously. Not that I’d searched out his videos since I’d been back in the sane world. But if he owned a shop and did tours, did he have time for porn?

“No. Had an incident two years ago that set him on the path he’s on now. I didn’t want it to get weird if you met him and recognized him right away. You’re not exactly subtle.”

Subtle was not the army way. “You weren’t in the videos with him or anything were you?” ‘Cause not only would that be awkward but also kind of gross since I’d gotten off to them.

“No. Micah and I have never been anything but friends.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “So the drunk frat boys, do they hit on him because they recognize him?”

Lukas shrugged. “Maybe? All I know is that it happens a lot. I’d rather he not do the tours at all. He’s one of the few guides who have access to some of the most dangerous areas of the city, like the graveyards. We don’t have enough cops to be trailing him every night, and he’s making enough now to pay for help. I thought maybe you could put your hero complex to work.”

“Asshole,” I said without heat. “I don’t have a hero complex. I think you’re confusing me and you.”

He snorted and made his way to his bedroom, unbuttoning his shirt. “Right. Get cleaned up. I’ll walk you over and introduce you before your first shift.”

He vanished into his bedroom and the confines of his closet. I followed at a slower pace, making my way to the bathroom to shower, trim up the beard on my face, and make some sense of the rat’s nest on my head. I’d be meeting my number one favorite porn star of all time. Only he was no longer a porn star. How did one bring that up in a conversation? Or did I avoid the topic? Fuck, I was so bad at being human anymore.

I sighed and hoped that whatever happened, at least the job would work out. I needed something. Not for money, but to keep my mind from wandering to dark places that didn’t always want to let me go.

Chapter 2

By the time I emerged, clean and dressed in the nicest pair of jeans I owned and one of Lukas’s button-ups, I felt halfway awake and was sweating like a pig. “I’m going to melt,” I grumbled. “Dressing like this.”

“A manbun? Really, Alex?” Lukas asked when he saw me.

I felt my cheeks heat. “I need to cut it. And I’m already sweating without having a ponytail touching my neck.” At least the bun kept the ponytail from becoming a giant frizzy poof like a poodle’s tail. I’d been tempted to shave clean too, but then Lukas and I really looked alike, which was weird in a city that knew him well enough for shop owners to greet him by first name.

Lukas shook his head, stepped into his closet and then back out a minute later with a T-shirt in hand. “Wear this.” The shirt read: Witch Companion, and was in bright sky blue with a black cat on it. “I realize it’s not black and depressing, but it’s cooler, and since it’s from Micah’s shop, he won’t mind.”

I took the top, instantly liking the soft cotton feel of it. I stripped off the dress shirt, and undershirt, and slipped into the tee.

“Tuck it in,” Lukas instructed, looking me over.

I sighed and did as he said. “Better? I’d hate to look like a worthless slob or something.” He didn’t even acknowledge my sarcasm. Lukas had changed into a pair of jeans himself, and a pale purple button-up top. He wasn’t afraid of color. I’d spent years trying to blend in and avoiding color, so it was only natural that I gravitated toward the neutrals of the color spectrum.

“It’s good. You ready?”

Was I? Not really, but I had to go anyway, right? “Sure.”