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“Fantastic,” I murmured as I finally turned on my car and reversed out of the space. “Move to a small town to get away from everything, and I make an ass—”
I slammed on the brakes almost as soon as I started driving when my attention snagged on something out of place.
A man and a mountain of a dog just feet from where I’d nearly run into them the first time and nowhere near where I’d last seen them.
Dog sitting stoically by his person’s side. Man standing eerily still with his head slanted in that same menacing, almost taunting way as before.
Neon mask in place.
Both of them watching me.
No, no, no, no. This isn’t happening!
My chest pitched as adrenaline and fear raced through my veins as I once again—stupidly—sat there. Frozen.
A year ago, I would’ve been confident in saying I knew how to handle myself in situations that had my pulse spiking. I had handled myself in one of those situations.
But a lot had changed in a year. A lot had changed in a night.
And this? That mask?
It was the ominous air the mask created and the memory of that veiled look that had the ability to hold me hostage. And I’d let the memory of it catch me twice in one morning...but this couldn’t be real.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
Forcing my stare away, I squeezed my eyelids tightly shut for only a moment before I blinked them open. My lungs were straining and every muscle was locked tight in preparation for being met with a nightmare I wasn’t ready to relive when I risked a look in the same direction.
A heaving breath ripped from my lungs when I found the space empty. But the chill that continued clinging to my spine had me tearing from the parking lot even though I didn’t see the man or his dog anywhere at all.
I reached for my bag once I was on the main street, already digging for my phone before I realized I didn’t know who to call. My parents would use any excuse to get me back in Virginia. My heart was screaming for me to call the man who’d continued watching over me, no matter how infuriated I was with him, but I didn’t know his number. And my therapist?
I didn’t need her asking me in that tone, “And who else are you seeing that isn’t really there, Willow?”
Even still, I couldn’t make myself put my phone back in my purse throughout the drive to grab some much-needed caffeine and then to school. Because as I repeatedly went over every second of the short encounter with the man, second-guessing everything I saw and felt, I knew there was one number I wanted to call. One number I could call.
Just to ask.
To speculate.
But I already knew the answer he would give. And talking to him would reopen wounds even deeper than my neon-masked nightmares because he made it real.
Gathering my things in a freaked-out daze, I awkwardly climbed out of the car and nearly screamed when I came face to face with Cora.
“Jesus,” I cried out, desperately clutching my bag close to my body.
Her brows lifted in amusement and curiosity. “Is that so?”
“Sorry, I—ugh.” I released a ragged breath before shutting my door and starting toward the school with her by my side. Hurrying to explain about the man and the dog, excluding the fabricated mask, and how running into them had me jumpy.
“Okay, now, wait,” she said as we reached the back entrance. “First, you have a dangerously hot, Ted-Bundy-wannabe crawling through your window. Now you have a gorgeous man just showing up out of nowhere with his adorable puppy outside your apartment, and you didn’t get his name or number or ask him up to your apartment for a quick get-to-know-you?”
“Cora,” I hissed as embarrassed heat crept up my neck and into my cheeks, all while that chill around my spine fortified. “First, I never said anything about the way the guy this morning looked. Second, that dog was closer to a horse than a puppy.”
“Details,” Cora said over me, brushing away my words. “I’ve already seen this whole thing play out in my head. He’s gorgeous. Also probably a serial killer with your track record.”
A frantic-sounding huff left me as I lifted my coffee, but before I could think of a proper way to respond, we both caught sight of Rorie at the end of the hall...talking with Diggs.
“Oh,” Cora whispered on a gasp, reaching for my arm as she did and gripping tight as giddiness poured free. Her next words falling from her as quickly as they did quietly. “Did you know he would be here, or does someone have oddly perfect timing considering the gorgeous stranger outside your apartment? Wait, how do we know if it’s the family man or Mr. B&E?”
