Page 6 of Out of My Flocking Mind

I twisted, coming to a stop when I spotted someone in the room. At first, they seemed like just a shadow, a form I couldn’t identify. Fear hit me, as though such a shadow were beyond terrifying. As my brain woke up fully, I recognized the person.

And immediately found myself even more confused.

“Harrison?”

The blond man sat in the chair before my desk, staring back at me as though it were perfectly normal for him to sit there and watch me sleep, or like he had any good reason to be here, in my bedroom.

I opened my mouth to say something rude when the memories from the night before crystalized in my head, reminding me of what had happened.

The fear and pain that had swarmed me back then threatened to overwhelm me again.

“Breathe slowly,” Harrison said.

I wanted to snap at him, but the panic beating at me wouldn’t allow it, so instead I tried to do as he said. I leaned forward, bracing my hands on my knees as I tried to draw air in slowly.

And fuck him, because it helped.

“What happened?” I asked when my throat loosened enough to let me speak.

“You were attacked.”

“Yeah, I figured that much.”

“How do you feel?”

I rolled my eyes at the way he asked me something without answering my question. “I feel great. Can’t you tell?” I twisted my head, still bent forward, to glare at Harrison, who hadn’t moved in the least. “Besides, you already know how I feel, don’t you?”

“No. I told you before—I can’t feel your thoughts or emotions.”

“Then how did you know to tell me to breathe slowly?”

“Because you panting like a racehorse was a fairly obvious indicator.”

“Rude. Besides, you try to get cardio in however you can when you’re as busy as I am.”

He twisted his head, glancing over at my bed. Despite the fact he must have put me in there, he had evidently left the vibrator in its place, where it still sat there like a joke.

“It’s called self-care,” I snapped, then picked up the vibrator and tossed it into the drawer in the nightstand. “So who the hell was that last night?”

“I don’t know who it was.”

“Then it was pure luck that you showed up?” I frowned, feeling as if I were making far too many leaps in my thought process. “Wait, did you scare him off?”

Harrison nodded. “Yes, I did. And as for why I came, it was because I’ve been searching for specific blasts of mind power. I tracked it there.”

“And me being there was just dumb luck?” I thought back to what had happened, then shuddered as I allowed myself to sit on the end of the bed. “Maybe luck was the wrong word.”

He didn’t smile, as though that were not funny at all. It felt a little harsh, but I supposed everyone was a critic when they wanted to be.

I sighed, trying to ignore the pain in my head and the way my stomach rolled and my knees still shook. It was hard to tell myself I wasn’t there anymore. The memories of living there, in the trailer…the fear and panic still existed inside me, bouncing around and threatening to pull me under.

“You seem to often end up in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “However, I doubt you’ll have another issue.”

“Really? Because the asshole said he’d see me again.”

That got Harrison’s attention. His focus snapped onto me so strongly, I flinched. Even with that, he didn’t lighten his expression in the least. “He said that?”

I nodded. “He said he’d never found anyone like me before, that he wanted to see what I tasted like.” I shuddered at the phrasing, at the way he’d said it, the sickening lust inside it. I still didn’t really understand what he’d meant, but I knew really fucking well it spelled nothing good for me.

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