Page 15 of Look My Way
I’ve never met anyone as cute as this man before. It’s in every single thing he does. I twist around the marker for the tomatoes and trace over the words“feeling cute, might die later”with a smile creeping up on my lips.
A light turning on in the kitchen has me dropping low to the ground and under the glass table the plants are on. The door opens and I stay where I am, slowing my breathing while remaining hidden.
“There you are,” a soft voice says.
Pressing my back to the table leg, I rest my hands on the ground as Liam snatches something from the table. A light flashes from his phone when he taps at it. “I swear, I’d lose my ass if it wasn’t attached to me.” Shaking his head, he laughs to himself, and the bottom of his plaid pajama bottoms graze the concrete slab.
His steps come to a halt and he goes still. With labored breathing, he slowly turns around, and after seconds of scanning the area, he quickly goes back inside the house. I don’t hear the lock click, though it could be one of those quiet ones. He seemed on edge so why would he leave the door open?
Does he think his muscular cop fiancé will keep him safe enough that those kinds of precautions don’t matter? Or does allowing others to have easy access to him while he has company make him more at ease? Can he feel someone else here? Can he feel me?
Once the light goes off in the kitchen, I come out of hiding and reach into my pocket. The note I wrote him is folded into a perfect square. I had to keep starting over when the edges wouldn’t line up to my liking. I need things to be a certain way too. I wonder what else we have in common. I could always wait until Monday to ask him what his favorite movies are and what he keeps in the blue box on the windowsill of his kitchen, but that would be too easy.
And that’s exactly why I haven’t left yet. I like the challenge of finding out everything I can by sneaking into his house while he has a cop in his bed. I cringe as the vision of them lying closely together pops into my head. It shouldn’t be Daniel under those sheets with Liam, but I’ll be patient and let him realize that on his own. I’m not going to force the decision on him. He gets enough of that from Daniel as it is. He’s capable of making up his own mind when no one tries to intervene, and he’ll experienceso much more freedom whenever he’s with me that he’ll keep seeking it out.
I drop the note into the jalapeño pot and tap my fingers on my hip as I slowly approach the back door. When I don’t see any kind of movement in the kitchen or in the connecting living room, I pull open the door and my heart pounds in my ears as it opens easily.
He did leave it open. My heart flutters—something that has only ever happened when I ended someone’s life. He felt the danger behind him and invited it in. Or did he figure that anyone who could be hiding outside would be better company than what was inside?
The door stays open behind me as I take a peek inside the blue box perfectly centered on the windowsill. A small wind chill sweeps in behind me as I lift the top. Index cards are stuffed into the small space, pressing tightly together, with recipes written on them in different colored inks. Strawberry cheesecake, grannie’s famous fruit salad, tortilla soup, and many others.
The writing is all the same, with curves at the top and bottom of the start of each letter. It’s legible and pleasing to the eye. Nothing like the note I left him. Setting the box back where I got it, I crane my neck and stare at the dark room behind me. A night light on one of the walls guides me further into the room, and on the right side of the medium-sized flat screen is a shelf built into the wall with stacks of DVDs.
My lips curl up at the corners as I sort through the large selection. He has movies from the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands mostly. Much like me, he doesn’t really care for the newer shit. My skin warms as I close my eyes, imagining us together on the couch behind me. He’s curled into my front as I’m kissing his shoulder, pointing out my favorite scene in a movie we’re watching together.
A cough from close by has me retracting my hand, and I come back to reality, immediately wishing I was back where I was before when I hear Daniel mumble something. His words are unintelligible and are followed by snoring. He’s sleeping. I should go, but my feet won’t stop moving in the wrong direction.
I follow the obnoxious sounds down the dark hall and pause in front of a partly open door. I push on it gently and two figures lay in the bed in front of me. There’s a night light in here too. They’re all over the house. I appreciate them at this moment because it’s easier to make out my carino’s bare back. The white comforter lies low on his hips, giving me a peek of his black boxer briefs. A scar rests on his shoulder blade, and I realize I’m way too close when my fingers are inches from touching it.
Daniel tosses and turns, eyes staying closed as he pulls the covers fully over his head. Liam is mostly uncovered from the asshole’s careless action, so I pull at the sheet underneath and tug it up to his neck. The wiggle of his nose leaves me smiling wide, and throwing caution to the wind, I bend down to press a light kiss there. His eyes flutter but he doesn’t move, his breathing as even as before.
Relief has my shoulders relaxing and I quickly back out of the room, snatching a black watch from the dresser on my way out. That was a close one. I risked too much tonight, and I’m making another idiotic decision by leaving with the heavy item weighing down my pocket. I don’t collect items from others until after I end their pathetic lives. I have a feeling Daniel will be on that list in good time, and his stuff going missing from Liam’s house could be a reason it happens sooner. I want this man to show his true colors to me right away. To give me more than a glimpse of how much of a piece of shit he can be. To give me a reason to cause him more pain than anyone else.
Everyone has secrets, and this man’s energy isn’t sitting right with me, screaming that he’s a person who has far more than a few skeletons in his closet.
Eight
Liam
I wake up to the blinds missing too. Now, in no way was that me, and Daniel keeps denying having any part in it and I don’t want to push too hard. He was already suggesting I take a day off work and ride along with him for the day instead. Last time I did that, Jared kept eyeing me in the rear-view mirror and asking me random questions about my work in a mocking tone.
Daniel doesn’t really approve of what I write either, but he doesn’t comment on it much. If anything, he’d rather pretend it isn’t what it is and just say “your work.”
“You sure you’ll be okay alone today?” Daniel enters the kitchen again, lifting his coffee cup to his mouth.
“I’m sure, Dan. I’m fine, I promise.” Tilting the corners of my lips, I rest against the counter, wearing my best nonchalant expression.
“Okay.” Walking closer, he pecks my lips and tugs on the center of my shirt. “I’ll see you later, then. Want to go out somewhere for dinner tonight?”
“What’s the occasion?”
“Does there have to be one? Can’t I take my fiancé out on a date somewhere?”
“Of course you can. I was just wondering, and going out sounds great.”
“Good. I’ll be home no later than seven. Plenty of time for you to figure out where you’d like to go.” His lips press to mine again, and this kiss is rougher, but just as quick as the last one.
“Have a good day.”
