Page 33 of Stalked By Shadows
“You didn’t walk the cemetery before we went.”
He shrugged. “I never feel anything in the cemetery. I think it’s because I’ve always thought that who would want to hang around a place like that? If it is the dead or some higher consciousness, I’d think they’d want to listen to the musicians in the Quarter, or hang around the fun pop-up shops, or take a carriage ride. Anything would be better than hanging around a bunch of stone buildings which very few people are allowed to visit.”
And that made sense. If I were dead, I probably wouldn’t want to hang around a cemetery. “You never see anything. You feel it?”
“Yes. I mean sometimes I feel it so strongly that I worry any second something will pop up for me to see. Like last night in the cemetery when we got close to that new burial. I could feel something.” He put the crocheting down again. “You said you saw a shadow.”
“I guess? It came through the tomb, reached for you. It wasn’t a reflection from your light. Didn’t move that way. But I couldn’t make out much before it hit me.” It felt odd to tell anyone what I’d seen. Probably because I’d spent too long trying to bury those feelings, memories, and thoughts.
“It made you afraid?”
I sucked in a breath. “Yes. Afraid of what would happen if it touched you. It made me remember that day in the desert when my team died.”
“But you don’t know if it would have done anything.”
“No. It just didn’t feel right.”
He nodded and started his work again. “Do you still want to quit?”
“Do you want me to?”
He smiled. “Answer a question with a question…”
“You’re hard to read,” I admitted.
He sighed. “It’s habit. To withdraw. To keep people away.”
“So how about you be plain with me? Lukas wants us to be a couple, not only to work together. I’m not sure if he told you that, but I really don’t believe in pretending. I’m attracted to you, but nothing has to come of that. I’m not sure I’m whole enough to offer anyone anything in a relationship.”
“Your brother is not subtle. I know his thoughts on us, and I’m not sure about all that. He has been talking you up for a while, even before you left the military. And I do find you attractive as well. But I’m not going to force the issue. I can get sex easily enough, but I want more than that. I want someone who is a friend and a partner. And I want someone who doesn’t think I’m crazy or is annoyed by all my quirks, but maybe enjoys hot sex in regular intervals.”
That comment made my dick stand up and wave. “Fuck,” I grumbled. “Stupid body.”
He looked at me, a brow quirked.
“I’m getting the ‘hey, hello’ from my traitorous dick again, don’t mind me. I don’t wake up with morning wood anymore, but apparently you say the right thing and it’s like ‘Let’s go!’”
He laughed. It was a soft thing that I could really enjoy, smooth and rich, like a fine wine, with a bite of bitterness at the end as if he were a bit self-deprecating. “I like the idea of having someone in my life, even if we only work together, who maybe sees things a little differently.”
“Someone else as crazy as you are?” I teased. “’Cause I’ve been called crazy for the stuff I saw in the desert.”
“Not crazy. More aware, I think. People in general, often seem to sense something. Not everyone, as some people are completely self-absorbed. But I think even guys like Lukas, who are by the book and very fact oriented, often sense things. They call it gut instinct or whatever, but it’s something. I think of myself as more sensitive to those instincts. Perhaps you even more so than me.”
I thought about that for a while. It was a bit like what the guy Jared had said in the shop yesterday. Maybe my brain was simply wired different.
“You saw Mark’s body?” I wanted to know, thinking in that moment he didn’t really need that memory either.
“Just a foot.”
I thought about that in a dozen ways at first. Just a foot. Nothing attached? “It was bad?” I’d seen enough blown up body parts in my lifetime to be okay with never seeing another.
“Didn’t make sense at first. My brain was trying to put together what I was seeing, but it wasn’t falling into place. Then you grabbed me. You wrapped your arms around me like a vice, holding me against you. If you hadn’t, I probably would have seen more.”
“But no Sarah?” Not Sarah’s foot. I tried to recall if I’d even noticed what she’d been wearing on her feet. He probably would have noticed if the foot was more feminine? Smaller? Still in a shoe? Those were questions I didn’t want to voice.
“I didn’t see anyone else. Not until the police came. They took the guard away in an ambulance and another group of cops started screaming at you. I didn’t know what else to do. You weren’t doing anything wrong, and you were hurt. I tried to talk to them, but they were unreasonable. I’m grateful that Lukas arrived as quickly as he did or they might have shot both of us.”
“Thank you,” I said.