Page 73 of Watch Me Burn
Her body tenses beneath me. “Fuck! But you—” She cuts herself off and takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Okay, I’m going to refrain from tearing you a new asshole until I know all the facts. Continue.”
I know how hard that is for her, so I hug her tighter to let her know I appreciate her restraint. She squeezes me back.
“Okay, I really did think I was being paranoid at first. But then I started seeing a flickering in the woods, like the moonlight shining on metal. I convinced myself it was just my imagination.” I tilt my face up to look at her. “Until one night. I woke up and found a man standing in the backyard, looking up at me. So, I grabbed my shotgun and went outside to confront him.”
“You what? Jesus fucking Christ, Luna, you could have been murdered.”
“I know, I know.” I sigh, the sound heavy with everything I don’t know how to explain. “Anyway, when I stepped outside, he was standing in front of the porch. He was wearing this silver wolf mask.”
Maren’s eyes widen. “A wolf mask? Are you shitting me right now?”
“No.” I shake my head before she can get another word out. “I know what you’re going to say. Don’t. Anyway, he was just standing there. I had the gun pointed right at him, and he didn’t even flinch.”
“Who does that?”
“I know, right?”
“So what happened?”
“I asked him what he wanted.”
“And? What did he say?”
“Me.”
“That’s creepy as fuck.”
“I was fucking terrified, Mar. Like shaking-can’t-breathe terrified. But the weird thing is, at the same time I wasn’t. I know that makes no sense.” Pulling away, I sit up, twisting my hands together in my lap. “I thought I might piss myself, but there was also this... pull. Like something inside me was being dragged toward him. A magnet I couldn’t fight.”
“Okay… And then what happened?”
“He strode up the porch steps, so I shot him.”
Maren sputters and releases me, sitting forward and looking at me like I’ve sprouted a second head.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Behind her horrified expression, I detect a hint of amused pride. “So, why didn’t I have to come help you bury a dead body?”
The way she asks is so sincere, I actually laugh because I know she’d do it in a heartbeat.
“I missed.”
“You always hit your targets.”
“He moved so fast. One second he was standing there. Next he had the shotgun. Ripped it right out of my hands. The shot went wide, barely clearing his shoulder. He burned his hand on the barrel.”
She sits back. “Shit, Lu.” I give her a weak shrug. Emotions cycle through her face—shock, concern, disbelief. “So, what happened after he took the gun away from you?”
Heat floods my cheeks, and her eyes narrow to slits. “Hey. We don’t do embarrassed. Not with each other.”
She’s right, so I just let it all spill out, starting with all the times I felt watched. Seeing him at the edge of the yard, stripping in front of the window when I was drunk, and finally, what I let him do to me after confronting him on the porch.
Maren sits up straighter. “Hold up. You let a masked stranger—”
“I know how it sounds.”
“—finger-bang you on your front porch after he stalked you? And you didn’t tell me?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds even worse.” I bury my face in my hands. “But the way he touched me, God, Maren, I’ve never felt anything like it.”
