by Adam Kunz
“Okay, so if the window is locked, how did the person get in?” I ask myself.
Suddenly, a noise sounds from the closet. If hearts could explode from fear, I’m pretty sure mine would. I’m so scared that I can’t even muster a scream.
It’s odd, but my fear causes me to be intensely focused. All I see is the closet door in front of me. The rest of the room is one big blur. Another shuffling sound emanates from the closet and I jump back, waiting for someone to rush out at me.
“Screw this shit,” I mutter, cautiously retracing my steps back to the bedroom door, but never taking my eyes off the closet.
As I reach the door, I look at the knife in my hand and feel empowered, like I can take on anything. A false sense of empowerment, I’m sure, but I’m getting tired of this. If no one is going to believe me anyway, I might as well face it head-on.
“Just so you know, I’ve got a huge fucking knife, and I’m not afraid to use it,” I call out at the closet as I approach it.
Clasping my hand around the door’s handle, I count to ten in my mind, take in a deep breath, and fling it open. I swing the knife around wildly into the dark of the closet, just in case someone is standing there. When I don’t connect with anything, I reach for the chain attached to the closet light and pull it, casting the whole space in a soft, golden glow. On the floor, I see a few boxes that have fallen off the shelf, their contents strewn everywhere.
“So that explains the noises,” I try to convince myself. My heart slows and a sense of calm comes over me as I realize this was a false alarm. Kneeling down, I begin to collect my belongings and stuff them back into the boxes. Putting them back on the shelves, I click off the light and close the closet door.
Then someone takes hold of the hand that has the knife in it. Another hand wraps over my mouth, stifling my panicked squeals. I find myself cradled within strong arms and I can’t move.
“Easy with the knife,” I hear a familiar male voice say in my ear. It sounds like Parker, but I can’t see his face. I drop the knife to the floor and the person spins me around to face them.
“Damn, you’re hot when you’re scared,” Parker comments with a grin.
“I can’t fucking believe you! I could’ve stabbed the shit out of you, you know that?” I yell, and release all the pent-up fear on him by slapping him numerous times on the chest.
“Scratch that, you’re much hotter when you’re angry,” he jokes. “Come on, hit me again. I kind of liked that.”
“Parker, this is serious, okay? It’s not a fucking joke. Someone’s after me, and the last thing I needed was you scaring the ever-living shit out of me by hiding in my room! How did you even get in here anyway? The window’s locked.”
“Well, the window may be locked, but the front door was wide open.”
“The front door was open? That was the first thing I locked when I got home,” I say, confused.
“Are you sure you locked it?” he asks, worry registering on his face as he approaches me.
“Positive.”
When he sees the fear reflected on my face, he says, “Damn, I’m so sorry, Dani. I shouldn’t have just snuck in. Especially with what you’ve been going through. It was a dick move.” He raises my chin with his hand, making me look at him.
“Someone’s after me, Parker, and I’m scared shitless. This person was in my room last night and took a picture of me sleeping. And now, they’ve unlocked my front door somehow.”
“Wait—the person who’s been sending you these texts sent you a picture of you sleeping?”
I nod with misty eyes.
“Have you told your dad?” he asks, placing his hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, but the shitty part is that all the texts are gone—every single one of them. Without any hard evidence, he won’t believe me. Hell, I just lied to him about a slew of things. To say that he doesn’t trust me right now would be a huge understatement.”
As the first tear runs down my cheek, it’s brushed away by Parker’s thumb. Then the floodgates open and I completely lose it. Parker’s arms wrap around me and he begins rocking side to side. I hear him say, “I’m right here. Nothing’s going to happen to you,” while my head rests against his firm chest. My tears begin to soak the area of his T-shirt supporting my head. I shift back to look up at him.
“You okay?”
“I feel a little better, I guess,” I reply, snuggling back up against him. I wasn’t lying. Being in Parker’s arms is making me feel better. For the first time I don’t feel alone in this.
“Good.”
I hear his worry for me in the tone of his voice. He’s holding me like I may disappear if he lets go. This is Parker truly caring for me, that I know for sure. He may have his asshole side too, but who doesn’t?
“After the day I’ve had, I’m glad you’re the one here with me,” I say softly.
All of the animosity I’ve been holding in fades while Parker continues to hold me in his arms. I know that once he’s gone again, I’ll probably go back to being irked with him, but for now, this seems right.
Parker runs his fingers through my hair, which relaxes me and reminds me how much I used to love when he did that. His gentle caress moves to my left cheek as the back of his hand grazes my skin. He then lifts my chin so I’m looking directly into his eyes.
“Me too,” he replies before placing a soft kiss on my lips. It’s a quick kiss and not one of passion or love, but more like one of comfort. A kiss that’s sole purpose is to make me feel safe. Or is it an invitation for more?
I lick my lips, feeling every crease while contemplating kissing him again. He smirks, probably realizing what I’m mulling over, because he’s most likely considering the same thing. Wrapping my hand around the back of his head, I ease his face down to mine until we’re practically nose-to-nose. I smell the cinnamon gum on his breath as he lets out a small laugh.
His lips tease mine, but pull away before they connect. His arms drape around my waist and he tugs me closer to him, close enough that a Catholic schoolteacher would blush. The tension between our bodies is palpable, so much so that I can feel it even through our clothes.
I’m not sure if I’m just being overly emotional right now, or if my deep-rooted feelings for Parker are coming to the surface, but I’m all kinds of flustered—just like the first night we ever spent together.
Parker places a kiss on my forehead, teasing me some more. His lips trail down the side of my neck and he leaves a kiss there too. The heat from his mouth sends chills spiraling all over my body, and I let out the tiniest moan of satisfaction. I roughly massage the back of his neck with my hand, allowing him to feel every little thing he’s doing to me. He trails his lips along my collarbone, one small kiss after another, ending at the other side. I pull his head back and smile once the sensation becomes too much.
He groans in protest, wanting to return to what he was doing. Instead, I plant my mouth on his. I feel completely entangled with him. His arms squeeze me tighter and he scoops me up, so I wrap my legs around his waist. I feel every one of his muscles constrict under his clothes as he walks me over to the bed.
I begin to feel so hot, overheating, but I don’t care. I’ve waited for this moment to happen again for years, though I never admitted it to myself.
Parker lays me down on the bed, hovering over me in a push-up position and straddling my chest with his arms.
“I’ve missed you more than you know,” he whispers in my ear.
Those words resonate deeply within me, and I just clutch my arms around his well-defined back, pulling him closer, our faces mere inches apart.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear those words from you,” I whisper back.
As he leans in to kiss me, I hear the worst sound I could ever hear at this very moment. The front door opens and closes.
“Dani, I’m home,” my dad calls out.
“Shit. He’ll kill you if he finds you in here with me,” I say to Parker, whose eyes are
the size of golf balls.
“He’s got a gun, huh?” Parker asks semi-jokingly, but I hear the trepidation in his voice.
“Yep. A revolver, remember?”
“Shit,” is all he gets out as he pushes himself off the bed.
I hear my dad coming up the stairs.
“Hurry—in the closet,” I tell Parker when I see him heading for the window. “He’ll see you if you go out that way now.”
Parker listens and rushes over to the closet, quietly shutting the door behind him. He opens it really quickly and gives me a peck on the mouth, just before closing it again. I lean against it with a goofy smile plastered on my face, forgetting for a moment that my father is just outside the room.
His knock is stiff and booming.
“Come in,” I say, sitting in the chair next to my desk, pretending to do homework.
“Just coming to check on you,” he says as he opens the door.
“As you can see, I’m fine,” I reply, in a tone that lets him know I’m still irritated with him.
He just stands there, not saying anything. I can feel him staring at me while I scan over some random pieces of paper that are scattered across my desk.
I turn to look at him and say, “Is there something else you wanted?”
He releases a grumble and runs his hand through his hair. “I guess not,” he replies and begins to close the door. “Oh, wait. There is something I wanted to tell you.”
“Yeah?”
“Janice’s story is going to air tonight on the local news. They’re conducting a full investigation and a complete sweep of the woods where she was last seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make an announcement about it at school tomorrow.”
“Do you still think I had something to do with this?”
“I don’t know, Dani. I want to believe you, but I’m finding that hard right now,” he replies with a sad expression.
“I see.”
“I’ve had a long day. We’ll talk later about this, okay?”
“Sure, looking forward to it,” I grumble.
“Good night, Dani.”
“‘Night.”
When he closes the bedroom door, I see the closet begin to open. Parker pokes out his head and asks if he can come out. I give him the signal to wait until I hear my dad’s footsteps clear the stairs, then I wave him out.
“That was close,” he laughs, giving me another peck on the lips. I can tell he wants to pick up where we left off when he begins kissing my neck again, but I stop him and pull his face in front of mine.
“Hey, I have a weird request,” I say, looking him in the eyes.
“What’s up?” he asks, a thoughtful expression now on his face.
“Can you stay here until I fall asleep? I’d feel a lot safer with you in the room.”
“Sure,” he replies and goes in for another kiss.
I let him, but pull back right after. “Not like that, though. Believe me, there’s nothing more I’d rather do than kiss you right now, but I feel weird with my dad just downstairs.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’d love to be next to you while you sleep,” he says, taking my hand and leading me to the bed.
At this point, I don’t even care that I have homework to do. My focus is on Parker’s strong arms encompassing me. I’ve always loved lying beside him. It’s like our bodies were meant to rest right next to each other.
My happiness begins to chip away when I remember someone has me in their sights. Will Parker be safe around me? Am I putting him in danger?
Questions fill my mind, and I grip tighter onto Parker’s arms, trying to ease my worry and feel more secure. I only hope this isn’t a false sense of security.
Chapter Fifteen
I gasp, pulling in a heavy breath as I shoot up in bed. The nightmare I was just having replays in my head on fast forward. Flashes of images fill my mind, and my temples begin to ache while trying to make sense of the visual fragments.
Wiping away the beads of sweat running down my forehead, I attempt to focus on my surroundings. The room is dark and I can’t even see two feet in front of my face. When my eyes finally adjust, I start to see the faint outlines of the furniture around my room. A hand rests on my hip and I realize that Parker’s still lying there. When the sound of his light snoring flows through my ears, I smile while looking down at his face. It’s framed by the dim light from the lamppost outside shining through the open sliver in the curtains.
He shifts, but doesn’t wake up. It occurs to me that I’ve never seen him asleep before. We’ve never really gotten to this point, and the last time I woke up, thinking he’d still be there, he wasn’t. Maybe he’s changed. I know I have.
I think back to the night we first made love, reliving every emotion and feeling. There are no words for how Parker made me feel. He treated me like a princess. I was his sole focus the whole time, even though it was his graduation we were celebrating. I remember being in mid-conversation with one of my friends when he grabbed my hand and snuck me away from the party to the forest behind his house. He led me to this small clearing with a tent set up in the center of it. A bottle of his parent’s finest champagne was nestled in a bucket of ice next to a roaring fire. It was uber romantic, like our own little private getaway. That’s why I was more than eager to renounce my virginity crown. It felt like the perfect time. I thought he had gone to such lengths to show me that what we had was the real thing. Maybe he just did it because he knew he was leaving soon, and wanted to make a lasting impression. Instead, it made waking up alone the next morning that much more harsh.
But right now as I lay next to him, it reminds me of how Parker can make me feel. I must mean something to him if he came back to me after almost three years...right?
I study his facial features as I run my hand across them. He looks so peaceful, not to mention gorgeous. That’s real talent there, retaining your gorgeousness even while you sleep. He really is the total package for me. Except for the annoying habit he has of acting like a stereotypical jerk sometimes, but I’m starting to believe that might actually be a reason I’m so drawn to him.
Resting my cheek on his chest, I cuddle up close to him and wrap my legs around one of his. His fingers begin to trace circles on my back before finding a place to rest on my shoulder.
“Good morning,” he says quietly after kissing the top of my head.
“Technically, it’s still evening. Oh crap, you better get going,” I respond, realizing that it probably wasn’t such a great thing that he fell asleep. My father could’ve come in at any moment, gun in hand.
He answers me with a kiss. “I’ll leave soon, promise. But first,” he begins and plants his lips on mine again, kissing me senseless. I become lightheaded, giving in to what we both really want.
He pulls back, me still reeling from the effects of his lips, and grins. “Now, I can go.”
“You’re such a tease. You know that, right?”
“Takes one to know one,” he replies. “I really better get going.”
“Yeah, probably for the best. Since your odds of having a run-in with a certain revolver is ever increasing the longer you’re here.”
He laughs. “Well, there’s always that.”
Rolling off the bed, he strolls over to the window. He has this way of doing things that infatuates me. Phoebe and I used to call it his “Parker swagger.” I used to think everything he did was sexy—and I guess I still do.
He slides the window open and looks over at me with a smirk on his face. He steps through, but then stops once he’s outside and perched on the lattice fence. “Come here,” he says, poking his head back through the window to look at me.
“What?” I whisper into the quiet room, but instead of a direct answer, he just motions to me, waving me over with a nod of his head.
Standing in front of him, I lean down to be on his level. He steals a kiss without saying another word before heading downward. “One for the road,” he calls up to me while he continu
es to descend.
“That was a cheap shot, Mr. Reed,” I whisper down to him. He smirks again.
The light from Janice’s room catches my eye. When I look over, I see Hattie peering through the curtains at me. Did she see my kiss with Parker? The heavily judgmental look on her face makes me think she did. I wave, letting her know that I see her, but she doesn’t return it. She proceeds to close the curtain, and then turns off the light a few moments later.
I shut and lock the window before rushing back to my bed to lie down on the spot where Parker was. It feels so warm, and his cologne clings to the sheets and pillow. I breathe in, feeling like he’s still there with me. His scent brings me a sense of comfort and security that I was starting to lose the moment he left.
Hearing the message notification chime from my phone echo throughout the room, I lift my head to look over at it on the desk. The little blue LED light is flashing rapidly. Dread sets in as I alight from the bed to check the message. My first instinct is to just ignore it and it will go away, but who am I kidding? This unknown person has snuck into my room while I’m sleeping. I don’t think he or she is going away anytime soon.
Picking up the phone, I unlock the screen and click on my messages icon. I smile when it’s a text from Parker:
Wish I could’ve stayed the night.
I hold the phone close to my heart, reliving the momentous kissing that happened between us a few hours ago. I become a little hot and bothered when I take the make-out session a little further in my head than it actually went.
My focus is drawn back to the phone when another message comes through. Thinking it’s a continuation from Parker’s text, I eagerly press on the messages icon again. This one’s not from Parker, though:
What would your father think?
At first, I’m confused by the message—that is, until the picture comes through. It’s one of Parker kissing me through the window.