Page 28 of Mara
Gianna sighed and sniffled for a few minutes before whispering under her breath so low I barely heard it. “Thank you. I love you.”
I froze. The words caught me off guard and completely derailed my thought process. Impulsively, I chucked my phone at a tree. Watching it shatter onto the ground.
I am not ready for this shit. I am not ready to put those cogs into motion. There are too many uncertainties—and one very unpredictable player.
Mara was in the shower when I arrived back at her place. That much was evident from the steam billowing out of her main bathroom window. The cops weren’t here yet. It didn’t take long to pick the shitty lock again, but Mara had shoved a chair against the knob, locking me out.
I growled, pacing the area and finally realizing my time was up. I balanced myself on my bike and jumped up onto the ledge of the second-floor window. It wasn’t that high up, and as long as I got my ass inside before the cops saw me, I would be fine.
The steam made me sweat the instant it hit my face. Mara was staring at the shower wall, not so much cleaning as just letting the water cascade down her body. That little chase got her more spooked than I realized.
I wanted to join her inside the shower, but I could see flashing lights on the wall coming in through the window. Mara didn’t even have her eyes open, but if I didn’t get downstairs to disable that fucking system that made the lights flicker, then she would definitely notice.
That stupid animal nearly tripped me on the stairs, and I swear he mocked me for locking him in that cage. “Next time I’ll make you a shish kabob for Fluffy, you asshole.”
Running off like a little bitch, the rodent ignored me when I got to the bottom floor. The cops were walking up to the door, and I had to sprint to yank the cords out of the system. I wasn’t sure I even succeeded until a knock sounded and the lights stayed on in a solid stream. Looking down to give myself a once-over, I cracked my neck and opened the door.
“Hello, officer. What brings you out this way?”
“Uh, sorry for interrupting you, son…and your uh..Halloween prepping?”
I wiped my hand across my face and saw the colors on my hand. Fuck me, I never took off my face paint. I needed to get this off before Mara caught me.
Note to self, do not show up at your victim’s house in the disguise you used to torment her.
“We got a call about a possible break-in and…” He looked down at his other hand, where ink was smeared on his palm. “Staw-King?”
I almost felt bad for Mara that this moron would have been her protection if that big bad stranger had existed. She would have died nine times over before he was even able to get his fat ass off her doorstep. No wonder it took so long to get here. Did this man even know how to drive a car?
“Nope,” I said, leaning lazily on the doorframe. “No stalkings here, big guy. And the break-in is my fault. See, I forgot my key and I scared my poor girlfriend.”
The tubster looked behind me with uncertainty on his powder donut-covered face.
“Oh, I see. Well, if you don’t mind for me to cor-ob-er-ate that fine story with your lady friend, I will be out of your hair in two shakes.”
I felt my blood go cold, my anger rising to the surface. A slow slide show of all the ways to kill this fucker for bothering me played a loop in my mind.
A shrill scream startled me, and I looked up expecting to see Mara out of the shower and shrieking at us. But no. Mara was still upstairs, and it was the cop shrieking like a girl in my damn face. I cringed back at his volume. Surely Mara had to have heard that.
“What the unholy hell is that? Oh God, it is rabid.”
I frowned at the man, unsure what trip his donut had just given him..
Did he lace it with some kind of drug?
Was he trying to trick me?
What was he even…
I looked down, following the path of the cop’s eyesight. In between my feet was that fucking weasel. Cheese was tilting his head at the cop, and it almost looked like he was smiling.
Guess this fucker can stay after all.
“Oh, that’s my…uh…rat dog thing. Sorry, he is rabid. Don’t get too close. Come here, rat dog. Don’t accidentally bite the nice policeman.”
The fluffball made some kind of noise that made the cop scream again and back up off the porch, nearly tripping over himself to get away.
I called after him. “Wait, officer, don’t you want to see?—”
