Page 91 of Stalked By Shadows
“Great. So there are two somethings out there. Shadows or whatever. Stalking you both. Ready to rip either of you out of this world at any time?” Of course he would put together the gist of it without my help. There were probably more than two. The fact that Micah and I both seemed to have someotherbeing following us around was more coincidence than by design, I thought. Sarah had been taken too. Jared had seen something. Part of the curse of whatever had been on that ring? Or another shadow thing? I wasn’t sure we would ever know.
“If we run will it follow?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure whatitwas. “Run where? I first met it in the desert of Afghanistan, now it’s here, do you think it can’t find me anywhere?”
“We could go home to Mom and Dad.”
“No.” Those were memories I didn’t need to return to. A life that was no longer mine. And he was suggesting he leave his job? His apartment? Sky? And for me, Micah? “No.”
“Running never helped me,” Micah whispered.
“And you haven’t vanished again,” I pointed out. “Maybe it was a one-time thing. Besides, you guys don’t know I didn’t have a concussion and spent the past month not knowing who I was.”
Lukas gave me a droll stare. “And you happen to forget the past month when you remember the rest of your life? Oh and never mind that they did a CT scan on you when you collapsed in the ER and found no trace of head trauma.”
I sighed, too tired to fight, too happy nestled in Micah’s arms to even think about arguing with Lukas. “I’m not sure what you want me to do.”
He growled and paced. “I’m not sure what to do. I can’t protect you.”
“I don’t need you to.”
I got another glare for that remark.
“Seriously. I love you, Lukas. I didn’t realize how lonely I was when I served until I came home. Not for a relationship, but for my best friend, which is you, you moody jackass. So how about you sit the fuck down and wait for breakfast with us, then we’ll head home? Solve the world’s problems another day?”
We had a bit of a glaring contest then, him angry, me determined. That too was familiar and made me smile remembering stuff we’d done as kids. He’d always been the overprotective big brother, didn’t matter that we were the same age and had mostly the same build growing up. His sense of responsibility was a huge part of his personality. “Food and then home, yeah?” I prodded.
“Fine,” he agreed, begrudgingly throwing himself onto the unused bed and picking up the TV remote.
“Do us a favor and answer the door when food comes, okay?” I asked him.
He turned his head my way, giving me the ‘are you kidding me?’ look that I’d seen enough times in my life to have memorized. It made me laugh.
“Please,” I said. “I’m sort of warm and snuggly and don’t want to get up until there’s coffee to be had.”
“Mmm,” Micah mumbled against my skin, his breath warm and waking up parts of me I thought should still be sleeping. “Coffee.”
“Drug of choice,” I agreed.
Lukas gave us an irritated huff as he began flipping through channels. “Fine. Assholes.”
* * *
The drive home was uneventful. After they’d fed me enough to nourish an army, Micah and Lukas took turns driving, not letting me behind the wheel. We even stopped at a grocery store on the way out of Atlanta, picked up a small cooler, and filled it with cold cuts, fresh fruit and veggies, and lots of water.
The entire seven-hour car ride had been a careful dance of not speaking about anything important. No questions about where I had been, or why Lukas looked like crap, or what had happened. Was all this because I’d disappeared? He’d lived without me for years while I’d been in the service, not hearing from me for months at a time. I wasn’t sure if it was the idea that some paranormal thing took me, or something else he left unsaid.
Instead I’d filled the tense silence on the drive home with my horrible singing voice as I danced along to the radio. Lukas tried to be annoyed with me, but it never lasted.
When Lukas pulled up in front of his apartment, I wondered a few things. “Who’s looking after Jet?” I asked Micah.
“Sky,” he answered as we got out of the car and started unloading bags. There wasn’t really all that much. Lukas hadn’t brought more than a backpack, but Micah had a small suitcase which had both his and my stuff, which was a good thing because there was no way Lukas’s clothes were going to fit me now. My own clothes hung on me, loose and oversized. “She’s been staying at my place.” So Micah wasn’t alone. I understood that. However, with the way Lukas’s shoulders tightened at the mention of her name, I wondered what I’d missed.
When we entered his apartment, I knew. Apparently my brother had come apart at the seams. The place was a mess. Books everywhere, dirty dishes in the sink, bed unmade. And there was a bit of a smell. When was the last time he’d emptied the trash? Everything needed to be cleaned. I frowned and glanced at Micah who shared my expression of concern. Obviously he hadn’t been in here either since I’d vanished.
Lukas brushed by us, heading into his room with his bag and moving around the apartment like he was suddenly embarrassed that we were seeing it this way. “Give me a few minutes to clean up,” he said.
Micah held up his phone, flashing me the screen and a text to Sky. I nodded, understanding. Something had happened.