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I nodded. “Let’s get away from here at least. My Jeep is just back there.”
“The bayou is up ahead,” he said. “Short walk. It’s a nice view with the moonlight and all.”
I glared at him, adjusting my weapon. “Trying to get me out in the dark alone, pretty boy?”
He held up his hands innocently. “Hey, you’re the one with the gun. Pretty sure you’ve got the advantage.”
I pursed my lips in thought. “Lead the way then. But don’t try shit. I’ll blast your head off too.”
“I’ll be chaste as a saint,” he said, pressing his hands together in a mock prayer as I followed him. I rolled my eyes. Typical. A hot liar. What a shock.
It took only a few minutes to reach the water. The trees opened up and the marshy river stretched out before us, shimmering with silver moonlight. He sat down near the roots of a cypress and leaned back against the trunk, pulled out a lighter, and lit up.
“What’s your name?” he said, as the herbaceous odor of marijuana wafted around us.
“What’s yours?” I didn’t like giving out personal information, even so far from home. No matter how far I went, my past would follow me. I dreaded speaking my name only to see recognition in someone’s eyes.
Juniper, the girl who went missing? I thought you were locked up. I thought you were crazy. Seen any monsters lately? Didn’t you try to kill —
“Zane,” he said, passing over the joint. I took a long, slow drag, savoring the taste. It had been too long since I’d had good weed. “And you don’t need to tell me, if you don’t want to. I get the need for anonymity.”
“Are you local?” I said, coughing a bit as I passed it back. He shook his head.
“Nope.” He let the smoke cascade from his lips, around his face. It was probably just the weed talking, but damn, he looked good. Those honey-brown eyes, so oddly familiar, seemed to glow with golden flecks. He passed the joint back, and gazed out across the water. He had a strong jaw, and there were more tattoos beneath his buzzed hair.
“Where are you from then?”
“Here and there. Everywhere. Hell, originally.”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t hold back a smile at the smartass bastard. “Oh, yeah? Why’d you leave? Couldn’t take the heat?”
He shrugged. “All the monsters are here on Earth. Figured I’d join them. What about you? Where are you from?”
I hesitated. “Washington.”
“Beautiful place. I have a friend there. He’s a lot like you actually.”
The weed was making my head pleasantly hazy, the usual ache melting away from my muscles. It was the closest I’d felt to relaxed in a long time. “Like me? How’s that?”
“He’s been through shit,” he said. “It made him bitter. Angry. A little murderous.” He shrugged. “But damn, all that anger makes him a good fuck.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “There’s really nothing like a hate-fuck, is there?”
“No, there really isn’t.”
We sat for a while, sharing the silence and what remained of the joint. Between the moonlight on the water, the crickets chirping in the brush, and the high, I was feeling really damn good. So good that I began to let my eyes wander over that fine-as-hell body seated next to me. He’d kept his word; he wasn’t getting handsy. But when I looked, I could see the bulge in his jeans. And goddamn was it abulge.
“You’re really not going to make a move, are you?” I said.
He glanced over at me. In the strange light, between the silver moon and the red cherry on the joint, I could have sworn his eyes were molten gold, like the sun right before it sets.
“Why?” That filthy grin was back on his face. “Are you just waiting for me to take advantage of you?”
I rolled my eyes and ran my tongue over my lips. “Why don’t you find out?”
He shifted. I was seated on the ground, cross-legged, and he moved so that he was crouched next to me. He was tall enough that he could still look down at me like that. “Dangerous words, from a woman with a gun.”
I smirked, picked up the weapon, and aimed it at his head. “Scared?”
