Page 16 of A Very Happy Halloween

“It’s a nickname. My friends call me that.”

“Well, I’m not your friend. And what about Eyes? Another nickname?”

“No, that’s my real name.”

“Who calls a child Eyes?”

“My parents? It’s short for Eisen.”

“Eisen?”

“E-I-S-E-N. Eis for short. Wait, how did you think it was spelled?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re a lying bastard.”

“You thought it was E-Y-E-S?” He pointed at his own face, then grimaced. “Like the body part?”

“Well, you have very striking eyes. Eye.” I smacked my own forehead. “Sorry. Sorry for being insensitive, and sorry for whatever happened to…you know.”

“You have nothing to apologise for. The blame lies squarely with me. Will you let me explain? Please?”

Should I? If I kicked his oh-so-fine backside off my property, a broken part of me would always wonder why he’d done what he did. Why he’d led me on and then dumped me by text. Didn’t I deserve closure?

“Janie?”

“If I say yes, do you promise to leave straight after?”

“Unless you want me to stay.”

“There’s no chance of that.” I pulled the door closed behind me and put my hands on my hips. No way was I inviting him in. “Fine. Explain.”

Now it was his turn to hesitate. “Fuck, I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about answering a simple question: why did you screw me in a birdwatcher’s hide, sweet-talk me over the phone for three days, and then disappear? What did I do wrong? You owe me that much.”

“You did nothing wrong. The short answer is that I went to prison.”

Prison?

Prison?

Oh, hell. And now this criminal was on my doorstep. The hedge was overgrown, and the road outside was quiet. If he decided to murder me, would anyone even hear me scream? Eis was huge, six feet of solid muscle, and if he tried to subdue me, I wouldn’t stand a chance. All I had to defend myself was a freaking mop.

“Leave. Just leave.” I tried to sound strong, but I couldn’t keep the tremor out of my voice. “Get the hell away from me.”

Eis took two steps back, but his gaze stayed focused on my face. “Don’t look at me that way, Janie. I’m not going to hurt you. I’d never hurt you.”

“I can’t do this.”

“Please, just hear me out.”

I fumbled my phone out of my pocket and typed in 999. My thumb hovered over the “call” button.

“If you take one step farther forward, I’m calling the police.”

“Fair enough.” He blew out a long breath. “That’s fair enough. So… My lawyer thought I’d end up with community service. And then I figured I’d find a way to tell you what happened, and maybe things would be okay. But the cops dressed it up as assault with a deadly weapon, and I got four years, two with parole.”

“A weapon?” Now I took a step back, only for the door to get in my way. “What kind of weapon?”

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