“Well, that and feed all the animals. The rest of the time, though?”
I felt Caleb laughing as his body shook against mine. He pulled me closer. “The rest of the time would be spent here, if I had the choice,” he whispered in my ear. The warmth of his breath against my skin sent a tingling feeling throughout my body again.
I nestled closer into his chest, pulling the blanket up under my chin, my eyes fluttering shut when I heard Duke growling. I looked at Duke and saw something out of the corner of my eye outside the window. It looked like the shadow of someone standing there. I blinked and it seemed to disappear.
Caleb had picked his head up to look, too, when Duke’s growling grew angrier. When he didn’t seem bothered by anything, I figured I had seen the shadow of a tree or something, soI relaxed again.
Suddenly, Duke’s growling that had subsided became angry again. This time, it was even more angry than before. I looked towards where Duke was staring, and I saw it again. This time, though, it wasn’t my imagination.
The air inside my lungs quickly vanished, and it felt like the room was spinning.
I forced myself to take a breath. “He-hey, Ca-Caleb.” My voice trembled. “I th-think there's s-someone at the window.”
Caleb's body immediately stiffened, and he picked his head up to look in the direction of the window. “I don't see anyone, but Duke doesn’t typically just growl for fun. The porch light has a motion sensor on it and it's not on. Was it on when you first saw it?”
“No. I—I'm not crazy. I know I saw someone.” My voice sounded frantic. Part of me wondered if he actually believed me, but I pushed that feeling aside. Of course he did.
Caleb was up from the bed, pulling on his jeans.“No, baby. I believe you. Promise.” He walked around the bed to kiss me. “I just want to know why the light didn't come on and who the hell is on the porch.”
Duke was watching outside still when Caleb went to check that the windows were closed and locked, then shut the curtains. He scratched behind Duke’s ears as he praised him for watching out for us.
When Caleb went to the bedroom door, Duke followed him before looking back at me. It was like he was trying to figure out who he needed to protect more.
“No, buddy. You stay with Rae.” He knelt and looked into Duke's steel gray eyes “you watch her, boy. Okay?”
As soon as Caleb said that, Duke jumped up on the bed in front of me, facing the door and window, floppy ears up.
“Rae, come lock this door and don't answer it unless you hear my voice.” He walked to his side of the bed and grabbed his gun and phone from the nightstand before walking back to the bedroom door. Caleb turned towards me and looked at me with an intensity I had not seen but only once or twice before. “I love you,” he said before opening the door.
I could feel my heart racing. Blood pumped in my ears so loud, I felt like I was deafened by it. “I love you, too,” my voice squeaked.
I got up and locked the door to our room after he left and then crawled back into the bed, behind Duke.
I heard Caleb grabbing the keys to the house and then the front door opening. I wished when I heard the door close and him lock it behind him that it calmed my nerves.
Minutes that felt like hours passed by. I looked at the clock. It had only been five minutes since he walked out of the house.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
Seventeen minutes had passed by the time I heard the keys in the front door. I let out a long breath of air, realizing I’d been holding my breath, while waiting for the sound of the keys in the lock.
I waited until I heard him close and lock the front door and then come to our room to get off the bed. “Hey Rae, it's me. You can come unlock the door.” I walked to the bedroom door, my legs shaky under me. Duke was right next to me the entire time.
“Did you see anything or anyone?” My voice sounded more panicked than I intended.
“No. I know how they got past the porch light, though. The bulb is shattered. The motion detector is still working, but it can't connect to a light. I can't confirm that someone threw a rock at it since there's rocks all over, but that's the only thing I found among the broken glass.”
“But how did we not hear the bulb being hit, or the glass breaking?”
I'm wondering if it was while...well, while we were...distracted.”
“Oh gosh.” Suddenly the room felt like it was spinning. I reached out for anything to hold on to as I stumbled backwards. “Caleb, he's found me again.”
Caleb caught me so I didn’t fall and led me to the bed, sitting me down before sitting next to me. “We can't confirm it's him.” He ran a hand over his head, and the look on his face told me he was frustrated. “Even though it probably is him, we can’t confirm it. I just want you to be aware of that when the cops show up, they can't pin it on him if there's no proof, okay? I texted the sergeant on duty instead of calling, since I didn't want to alert whoever was out there that they’re coming. I fully believe it was Ethan, but I also know they can't do anything without proof.”
I nodded and hated that we probably wouldn’t find any proof that Ethan had been here. I thought more about what he said and then a wave of panic ran through me. “Do you think he was still out there when you went outside?”
