Page 8 of Devoted
Oh shit.The thing is getting closer, and it steps onto the branch I’m on. Its eyes are growing bigger as it gains on me. The black-and-gray stripes come into view when it’s only a few feet away from me. The very angry raccoon hisses its displeasure at finding me in its tree.
You know what? I fucking deserve this. This punishment for my stalking is justified. I’m going to get rabies from a feral animal for acting like a feral animal.
The raccoon approaches with tiny little steps, and without realizing it, I mimic its cadence by moving backward onto the thinner part of the branch. A quiet sound of a crack turns into a cacophony of breaking wood.
In an instant, I’m plummeting ten feet into the filthy, muddy area near Vivian’s bedroom window. I can’t control the loud groan that escapes me when I hit the ground and all the air is knocked out of my lungs.
“What the fuck was that?!” I hear Vivian shout way too close to my liking, and I scramble to breathe and lift myself from the mud. She can’t catch me. There is no reasonable explanation for why I’m here.
She can’t find out.
CHAPTER FIVE
VIVIAN
The answer is always bacon.
“That sounded too loud to be Nosferatu.” Setting down the pizza rolls, I rush over to the front door. The huge thud and the very human male groan couldn’t have come from my new furry little buddy.
“Wait—Em, bring me a knife!” I shout, bending down to get my slippers off the hall tree.
“What in the hell are you gonna do with a knife and house slippers, Vivian?” Emma asks as I hear her open and slam the kitchen drawer.
“I’m going to chop up some food for the raccoon.” I turn around and roll my eyes at my roommate as she approaches. “I’m going to stab somebody if I have to, and I’m going to be comfortable while I do it. There’s probably a creep peeping into apartment windows, Em.”
“Oh, fuck no. They came to the wrong house.” Emma grips the knob and swings open the door.Damn, she’s amazing whenshe’s angry. All of her six-foot frame is filled with fury as she descends the steps in front of our townhouse.
Before I exit, I notice my lack of weapon since Emma kept the knife for herself. Instead, I end up grabbing a bat that one of my brothers must have left here during their last visit. After shutting the door, I make my way off the porch and down the steps.
It’s dark and late. Anyone who’s out making all that noise probably isn’t doing it for good reasons. I take out my phone from my pocket and turn the flashlight on to the brightest setting. And just in case, I have 9-1-1 ready to call if this escalates.
Finally catching up to Em, we round the corner together to find a muddy mess by my bedroom window. It looks like two pigs were wrestling and splashing mud all over the place. There are even dragged fingerprints on my window frame. We each look around to see what—or who—could have caused it.
Hearing scattering above us, we both whip our heads toward the tree, only to find Nosferatu staring at us with his illuminated eyes. Could it really have been that little guy making all this noise and mess?No, I think. Taking a more careful look, I can see there is absolutely no mud on him. Maybe it was Nosferatu that scared off our would-be intruder.
“Should we be thanking your raccoon?” Emma asks, coming to the same conclusion as I did.
“Maybe. But whoever must have run into him probably isn’t feeling the same way.” I laugh before blowing a kiss to our furry savior. “Let’s get back inside, and we’ll keep an eye out tonight. I might ask one of the guys to sleep over, if you’re cool with it?” I ask, still feeling unsettled. Even if we didn’t find anyone, we did find evidence that someone was here at one point.
“Sure, I’ll start getting the couch bed ready for them,” Emma comments as she steps through the side yard, careful of the mud.
The huge suit jacket engulfing my body brings me comfort from this creepy situation as I wrap it tightly around myself. Knight’s scent invades my nostrils, and I internally curse him for smelling so damn good. My eyes scan the ground one more time, just in case we missed anything.
Not finding any more clues, I’m about to follow Emma when I notice something poking out by the tree. It looks like a ripped piece of clothing. Picking it up with a stick, I see it must have been a bluish color at one point. Maybe it’s just a scrap that’s been thrown out and moved around the apartment complex, but it wouldn’t make sense for it to be tossed around in the mud like this.
It could belong to whoever was out here tonight. There’s a chance I’ll be able to clean it up enough to see a label, brand, or something that might help us figure out what the hell was going on here.
Fisting the fabric in my hand, I take it back inside with me. Emma is busy getting linens and extra pillows out of the hall closet, so I take the scrap into my bathroom to look over later. First, I need to see which of the guys might want to keep us company tonight.
DELGADO GROUP TEXT
Viv
Hey guys, we think some weirdo was outside our house tonight. Any of you free for a sleepover?
We got pizza rolls.
Thomas
