Page 43 of When the Woods Go Silent

Am I overreacting? No. I trust my gut, and my gut has not been impressed by Arlo in a while. At least he didn’t try to follow me.

Then again...

There’s a shadowy figure up ahead, leaning against some trees next to one of the shops. Tall and male, by the look of it. I palm my phone, ready to scream or dial as needed. It couldn’t be Arlo, though. I keep my shoulders squared and my steps strong as I near him, debating whether to make eye contact to let him know I’m watching, but risk inviting another weirdo into my life.

Men are so fucking unpredictable.

I figure that in a town this small, it’s safer to let him know I see him. He’s probably just out for a smoke or something. I nod at him as I near, looking him dead in the eyes, or as well as I can with the darkness around us. Why doesn’t this damn town have more streetlights?

He seems to startle as our eyes meet, and I feel a little better as I determine he wasn’t even watching me.

“Nice night,” I say flatly, deciding he’s probably just one of my new shop-owner neighbors.

“It is, verra nice.” He answers with a hint of surprise in his tone, along with the lilt of a sexy accent. Irish, maybe? Thank god, he doesn’t move to follow me, and neither of us speaks again as I continue past. I feel calm, like I made the right call letting him know I was watching.

Of course, my nerves never do let me rest, and I start thinking about Ruby, still back at the restaurant with Torrence.

My anxiety flares. What if both men are rough? What if Torrence is even worse? I’d been getting weird vibes from him all night, too, like he didn’t want me around.

I send her a quick check-in text, letting her know I can come back and pick her up if she wants, but my phone stays silent.

Praying to her Goddess that this only means she’s having a great time, I hurry up the steps to the bookshop porch.

RUBY

When I open my eyes again, I’m shivering. The blanket is tucked around me, but Torrence is gone. The magic of the night has congealed around me into a cold, flat darkness. There’s a certain unease in realizing that he left me alone on the rooftop in the middle of the night, regardless of how secluded the garden feels.

I sit up and wrap the blanket farther around my shoulders, feeling a little dizzy. I must have had more to drink than I realized. I fumble for my phone and check the time. It’s only been an hour since we came up here - maybe he went to the bathroom or something. There’s a recent message from Rose asking if I’m okay, and I quickly type out three black hearts before a noise near the rooftop door freezes me.

“Torrence?” I call softly. It’s so much darker up here now, with the moon covered over by clouds and the fire pit dark and cold.

“He’s gone.”

A shadowy figure moves toward me, and I scuttle up from the couch, clutching my phone tightly and trying not to stumble as my legs go all tingly and numb. Blond hair appears in the moonlight, and I swallow a little shriek as I recognize the man.

“Arlo? Where’s Torrence?” I let myself sit again until the dizziness passes.

“Something came up.” He inhales deeply of the night air, white teeth flashing in the darkness as he grins at me. “He asked me to check on you, since Rose already went home.”

Something about his tone makes me think he’s lying, and I eye him warily, judging the distance between the door and me, and where he stands. I rub my face briefly, still trying to wake up. My body feels weak, and my neck hurts from sleeping on it funny.

Nothing from the night feels good anymore.

“Do you need more than he gave you?” Arlo asks, and I do a double take as I try to figure out what that means.

“I’m fine. Thanks. I’ll just uh, head home, too.” I lurch off the couch, still trying to find my balance, and Arlo chuckles, making no move to help me.

“Light-headed, little kitten? Maybe I should walk you home.”

“I’m fine,” I repeat, dropping the blanket and waving him away. I’m getting a bad vibe from him, and I donotlike him giving me a nickname. Hopefully, Rose had a decent night. Otherwise, I’m going to feel so freaking guilty for asking her to do this.

“If you say so,” Arlo murmurs, reaching back to open the door. He gestures to the narrow staircase that leads into thedarkened restaurant, and even though I know I’m going back to ground level, it looks like I’m climbing down a deep, black hole.

Not even looking behind me to see if Arlo is following, I hurry through the silent, dark restaurant to the front door, trying to figure out how I feel about the night now. Maybe if I had been in a bed somewhere, in Torrence’s apartment, leaving me to sleep wouldn’t seem weird. But the roof?

Waking me up before leaving would have been nice. Even a text explaining why he left.

Arlo catches up to me at the door, watching me with an unreadable expression.

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