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He wasn’t a man. “W-W-What are you?” she croaked, utterly terrified.
He — it — whatever, strolled up to her with his hands in his pockets. If she could’ve melded into the wall, she would’ve. Humans didn’t have that ability.
Maybe they did. Maybe somewhere out in the world there were humans who could walk through walls like a ghost, her mind rationalized. She definitely wasn’t one of them, but maybe the thing in her bedroom was one of those humans who could.
Maybe...? She silently pleaded while attempting to make herself invisible. It didn’t work. Her reflection in the dresser mirror on the other side of the room told her so. He stopped in front of her, only a few feet away. He was definitely a he. Overwhelmingly masculine.
She was a tall girl, had been teased her entire life. Clocking in at five feet, ten inches, there wasn’t anywhere she could hide. He towered over her; he had to be close to seven feet tall. And broad. So very broad and absolutely intimidating in a white T-shirt and dark blue suit. His skin was a lovely sun-kissed tan, and his deep-set eyes were chocolate. Add high cheekbones with a hint of scuff lining his chiseled jaw and full lips any woman would beg to feel anywhere on her body, and damn, he was brutally handsome. Almost aggressive. Looking at him shocked her senses. She could lose herself in this man, let him fuck her a thousand times, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
Except... “You killed Harry.”
A deep frown drew his features tight. “I killed no one this night.”
This. Night. As opposed to last night. Last week. Last year.
His frown cleared and his head tipped toward the bathroom. “You mean Harriet. Your roommate.” The low timbre of his voice throbbed against her skin.
Eden managed to nod once.
“She lives.”
“Liar!” she hissed and barely stopped herself from scratching his eyes out.
His frown returned. “You will learn I do not lie. I have no reason to. Harry is alive.”
“I shook her, slapped her, screamed at her. Is she in a coma? Did you hurt her and leave her to die?”
“I could have. But I refrained because she possesses no threat to me or you.”
“What does that mean?” Eden demanded.
“It means instead of killing her, I placed her mind in limbo.” He must’ve seen her confusion and continued. “Limbo is similar to a coma, only there is no way out of it until I release her.”
A smidgen of hope was better than none. “Prove it.”
Silence stretched the tension between them. He didn’t move, didn’t blink, and neither did she. Though she had everything to lose, she also had nothing to lose because she was already dead.
The floorboards creaked in the bathroom. Then the squeak of the toilet lid raising, and the shuffle of clothing being lowered, and the smack of an ass plopping on the seat quickly followed by a groan and the rush of urine hitting the bowl.
“Harry?” Eden called out.
“Huh? Hey. I’m so wiped out.” The toilet flushed. Clothing shuffled again, then two pumps from the soap dispenser and the faucet flicked on. From her position, Eden could see Harry washing her hands. “You good ’cause I’m going back to bed.” Harry yawned. Proof of life confirmed.
The man in front of her arched an eyebrow and waited for Eden’s answer.
She couldn’t involve Harry in this any more than she always did. If it were the only thing she could do, she’d protect her friend. “Yeah. I’m good. Go back to bed. Close your door, okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
Together, they waited for the click of Harry’s bathroom door. What now, she wondered, her attention on the thing only a few feet away.
She’d defied him, challenged him. All he had to do was reach out and deliver a punch, a hit, a slap, a stab. Killing her would be all too easy.
He shifted to his left and pulled out her desk chair and lowered himself into it. Inches away from her, he sat. Even though the dresser barred the door, she had a path to leave. The bathroom was always an option because though Harry was alive, Eden was positive he’d placed her back in limbo. Whatever he planned to do, he’d do it undisturbed.
“Now that there’s no other place for you to run,” he said calmly. “We are going to have a conversation. You will not like what I have to say. It will change your world.”
Too late. “I don’t want my world changed,” she whispered. “If you leave now, I can pretend you were never here, we never met, and everything can return to normal.” It was worth a shot.
