Page 3 of Biker Boo
Crawls up my spine like cold sweat.
Getting up, I twist the deadbolt even though I already locked it twice.
Still not enough.
So, I check the back door.Double-check the windows are locked.Pour myself another flat Coke from the 2-liter.Pretend I’m fine.
But every time I glance at the tree line, it’s like something’s waiting.
And that something?
Feels like it’s waiting for me.
The air feels thicker than it should.Like I’m breathing fog through a straw.Kentucky humidity, I tell myself.Folks say it never used to be this hot in October in Kentucky, but I’ve never known it any other way.Too bad, I already took the window air conditioner out for the season.
Back at the couch, I mute the TV.The scream that was building in the film cuts off mid-wail, replaced by the low hum of silence pressing against my ears.The kind that don’t feel empty, just waiting.And out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow move across the floor.
That’s when I know.
I’m not alone.
Something’s outside the window.It’s not just a hunch.It ain’t nerves.And it’s sure as hell not the sugar crash from the four mini Snickers I stress-ate while the babysitter in the movie got chopped up on screen.
Somebody’s out there.
Watching.
I sit frozen, trying to breathe slow, trying not to let it show I know.Like if I don’t flinch, I’ll disappear into the couch.But I am aware of him.
There’s no mistaking it.That low burn under my skin?That whisper of a shiver that doesn’t belong to the cold?
Someone’s eyes are crawling over me, licking across my skin from the outside in, like he’s memorizing the curve of my body through the window.Like I’m some twisted Halloween treat behind glass.
My thighs press together before I can stop them.
God help me, I’mthrilled.
Chapter 2
Becki
Maybe I should lock myself in the bathroom and call the club.
Fuck, I don’t know if Legend would answer my call.
Instead, I creep toward the window.I don’t turn on the porch light.I want to see without being seen.Not that it matters.I get the feeling whoever’s out there already knows exactly where I am.
I pull the curtain back a hair and squint out at the tree line.
For a moment, it’s just shadows.Dancing branches.Dry leaves rolling down the gravel.A paper plate blowing past the old truck in the yard.
Then… movement.
My heart lurches into my throat.
Something shifts just past the fence line.A figure.Tall.Broad.Standing so still he could be mistaken for one of the gnarled trees if I hadn’tfelthim first.
He doesn’t step forward.Doesn’t wave.Doesn’t shout.
