Page 22 of Loving Leo

His mouth opens and closes like a guppy. “I…I don’t know.”

I shove at him and his book falls to the ground. “You just like the mystery.”

“I do not. I’m horrified. I am genuinely afraid for my life.”

I eye him and he cracks a small smile at me.

“You are a terrible liar.”

“I am, but seriously,” he says when the sound of a saw starts up. “It’s suspicious as fuck.”

“It is. Should we go knock and see what he’s doing?”

Asher’s face reddens as I jump up from the couch. His hands scramble for me and he grabs onto my legs before I can reach the door. I tumble forward and the wall which was already precariously falling inward seems to crack under the pressure of my body weight.

“Ash!” I wheeze, but he’s leaning against me now, his body pressed up against my back, trying to keep me from moving. Not that I can.

I can hear the inevitable crack, the way the wall continues to cave and before I know it, we’re falling forward.

Our bodies land with a loud crash, white dust from the walls puffing up around us like cocaine. The sawing stops and everything is ridiculously silent. All I can hear is Asher’s frantic puffs of breath as he lies on top of me.

“What are you doing?” a deep sexy voice asks and Asher scrambles off of me, slipping slightly on the dusty boards.

“Um…well…”

I push myself up and let out a long breath, white dust billowing out as I do so.

“Sorry. We just fell through the wall. This placeisa shithole.”

“It is,” Asher agrees, nodding wildly.

Our neighbor just stands there, a saw in his hand, his shirt off, no shoes in sight.

He really is a serial killer. With a really nice body and a six pack, but I digress.

“Um,” Asher squeaks and then waves his hands around as I stand up, brushing the dust off my pants. “Um. So sorry. We didn’t mean to. Please don’t kill us.”

Our neighbor glances down at his saw and then back at Asher, his eyes narrowing.

“You think I’d kill you. With this?” He holds up the saw and Asher’s eyes widen, his hands flapping far more wildly than they should be. He looks like a bird trying to take flight.

“No, I mean, don’t mind him. He’s just…he has awild imagination! He doesn’t really think that.” I elbow him and he squeaks loudly.

“I do. I totally think that. He has a saw, Leo. A saw!”

The saw is set down and the neighbor looks at Asher, his fingers clenched into a fist.

“I’m not killing anyone with a saw. Far too messy.”

Asher’s words fail him, his mouth opening and closing.

“I’d use some kind of chemical and dissolve you in my bathtub.”

The silence is palpable. Neither one of us can believe what we’re hearing. But the neighbor seems to enjoy it, a twinkle lighting those dark eyes up.

“I’m Jack,” he finally says.

“Like Jack the Ripper,” Asher whispers and Jack’s lips twitch.

---