I felt the danger crowding me. The Monday after seeing Lindstrom and Flick in the city, I found him watching me from across the courtyard as I got to work. He was making note of my habits. Calculating his next move. Waiting for his opportunity. I had no proof, and yet I knew exactly what he was doing. I sensed it as if I could read his thoughts. I didn’t have to see him to know he was near. His twisted energy cloaked me in its filth. A cloying, oppressive heaviness on my being. Only someone who was really fucking psychopathic had that kind of energy.
“Hey.” Brad smoothed a hand down my messy hair, and kissed me on the forehead. My eyelids flutter closed, blocking everything else out so I could savour the moment. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
You don’t want to know. “Work.”
“What’s going on at work?”
I pursed my lips and blew out a breath, as I started making some breakfast. “I think I need a change of pace. I’m getting bored of cataloguing.” First time I’d really thought of it, but yeah, it was true. I was bored. I guess I wasn’t happy being holed up anymore.
“What are you thinking of doing?”
“Maybe assisting with research. You know, compiling resources for literature reviews, stuff like that.” Where was this shit coming from?
“Well …” He looked me in the eye. “… I think you could do anything you put your mind to.”
I fucking love this man. So hard.
I was ruining things with Brad because I was letting a vague threat mess with my head. I smacked the cereal packet back onto the pantry shelf, and slapped the door shut. I needed to shed the scared mouse act, and attack this thing head on. That was how I’d always dealt with bullies of the living kind. Now that I had a safe place to catch my breath, something more to fight for, and someone who would fight for me, I needed to toughen up and block the bad shit out. This was what bullies did. They made you insecure until your self-esteem was so shrivelled that you didn’t want to leave the house, and couldn’t interact with anyone in a healthy way. I knew that. I’d lived that. I didn’t want to succumb to anyone else’s bullying tactics anymore.
Granny helped get me through the dramas growing up. Now, I had this solid, generous, incredible man, and a ghost on my side. I should have the strength to conquer anything.
Brad
I loved the smell of paint. A coat of paint made everything better. At least that’s what I was banking on. For the last two weeks, something had been missing. Ever since we checked out that house in the city, the light in Veronica’s eyes had dimmed. Something happened to her while we were there, right in front of my eyes, and I couldn’t see inside her to know what it was. I felt like I was reliving the dramas with Tish after our parents’ deaths, and it was stirring up an ugly gnawing inside my gut.
I’d been hovering over her like a bad smell. Insisting that we run together, cook together, watch TV. She snuggled with me on the couch, but when it was time to sleep, she said goodnight with a chaste kiss on the lips, and retreated to her room. I even coerced her into coming rock climbing with me, now that I was all healed. On the surface she seemed fine. She smiled and laughed, but there was trouble brewing in her eyes, snuffing out the spark. Her snappy mouth had gone quiet. She was curled up like a pill bug hiding in its armour. I needed to coax her out.
After breakfast this morning, Veronica helped me clear out my bedroom furniture. My mattress was on the floor in the lounge room where I’d be spending the night … maybe two nights. I might like the smell of paint, but I’d rather not choke on the fumes all night, and it was too cold to sleep with the windows open.
“Are you seriously sure about this colour?”
I crouched over the open tin, inspecting the deep, blue-grey shade Veronica had chosen for my room. It was nice, but it was a big change from the off-white walls that had served a few generations, and bolder than anything I would’ve chosen.
“Positive.”
The word was said with such conviction I had to tilt my head back to see her face. Her gaze penetrated mine, sending a silent message, but my brain cells switched off at the sight of her watching me. She was so fucking gorgeous. All those wild curls were tamed in a braid that hung low at her back. Old, ripped jeans hugged those legs all the way to her slender ankles, and the ACDC T-shirt had reappeared.
Whatever was bothering her, it hadn’t dampened the desire that ignited the air between us. It wasn’t just a physical pull, although my cock made its wishes known whenever she was near. My heart wanted in on the action just as badly. Everything I felt, I saw echoed in her soulful brown eyes. Her craving coated the air, mingling with mine to paint the air in lustful colours. I wanted to say, “fuck the painting,” but I needed to know that when this happened, it was because she really wanted it. Not because she was escaping from something.
“It’s going to look so serene when it’s done. You’ll find it hard to get out of bed.”
Her cheek caved
