Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
KIARA
“Are you sure you don’t want to call the police, Kiara?” my best friend, Yolanda, asks at lunch the next day. It’s Wednesday, the one day of the week we have to see each other, so we always meet up for dinner. Her voice is laced with concern as she cuts into her blue rare steak. I scrunch up my face as the red juice drips out of the barely cooked meat and onto the plate.
“I should call the cops on you for eating raw meat,” I say in disgust. Why anything less than well-done is even an option is beyond me.
Yolanda chuckles and takes a bite. “It’s better than choking down that hockey puck.” She shoots a pointed look at my steak, which I’ll admit is slightly overcooked.
I snort. “At least I can sleep peacefully at night knowing I won’t get parasites.”
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, the gold beads in her goddess locs tinkling from the movement. “It’s not raw; stop being so dramatic. I’m serious, Kee. You need to call the police. And you need to tell your grandmother what happened.”
Yeah, I’m definitely not telling Grandma about last night. Of course, she has a right to know that her home was broken into, but I don’t want her to worry. She’s the only family I have left, and I don’t want to lose her to stress.
After the two men left last night, I’d checked the house to make sure all traces of them were nowhere to be found. The sight of me must have made them flustered or something, because nothing appeared to be taken. There were some things lying askew, but everything was still there.
Except Grandma’s phone, which was still in the blue-eyed man’s pocket.
Damn . I’d forgotten until now. She rarely uses her phone, so she probably hasn’t even noticed it’s missing.
I still don’t know how they even got in to begin with. No windows were broken, the door frames were still intact… It’s scary to know that someone can easily enter a home so silently. As soon as I leave the restaurant, I’m going to the store to buy a security system.
Taking a bite of my steak, I nod, but Yolanda knows me well enough to know that there’s something else. She quirks an eyebrow and waits for me to continue.
I haven’t told her about what the intruder and I had done together, because she would surely have me committed. She’s my best friend in the world, and I confide in her about every single aspect of my life, but she doesn’t know about my…
Deviance is the only word I can use to describe what’s wrong with me. I should have fought that man last night, but instead, I was more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life. A part of me wants him to come back, to claim me as his and take everything from me.
He said he would be back, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Was I terrified? Absolutely.
But I was so turned on at the thought of being robbed, and then he started touching me and I completely lost control of myself.
It was wrong and perverted, but it was such a rush.
“Well?” she pushes.
“What?” I ask distractedly, chugging down my iced tea to keep from shaking. Sadly, it’s not a hard tea, which is what I really wanted, but my wallet is missing, so I don’t have any ID on me. It’s possible the intruders took it last night, but they didn’t even go into my room. I might have left it at the store yesterday when I bought that bottle of wine.
“I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me, and by the way you’re guzzling down that drink, I’d say I’m right.”
I slam the glass down and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Nothing else happened,” I assure her, albeit a bit harshly.
“Did he hurt you?” she asks quietly, voice laced with concern. “Because if he did, then I’m calling the police myself.”
“No, no, nothing like that, Yo,” I quickly reassure her. “He didn’t touch me.”
The lie rolls off my tongue so smoothly, I start to believe it myself. Last night feels like such a fever dream, and if it weren’t for the bruises and bite marks on my neck, I would second guess if it actually happened or not. Thank God my hair is long and thick enough to cover them, because then I’d have to make up a lie for how I got them.
I sigh and scoop some mashed potatoes onto my fork. “Let’s just forget about it, okay?”
Yolanda searches my face. I can tell she still has so much she wants to say, but she decides to drop it.
For now, anyway.
***
After dinner, I walk down the street to the store. I’m glad I chose to walk to the restaurant instead of driving, since I don’t have my license. Yolanda paid for my food and gave me money to buy a security system with no problem, but she’s done so much for me. I don’t want to feel like I keep owing her.
When I finally reach the store ten minutes later, I follow the signs hanging from the ceiling to the electronics department all the way in the back. A short, graying man with bifocals greets me warmly with a smile as I approach the counter.
“Hello there! What can I help you with today, miss?”
I smile—he has the same energy as Grandpa. “Hi. I’m looking for a security system for my grandmother’s house.”
He nods and immediately motions for me to follow him. We weave through the aisles of various electronics and accessories until we reach the section. I’m instantly overwhelmed by all the different kits available. I give him a very brief description of what happened last night, and that I want Grandma to be safe when I’m not home. He goes on showing me the best security systems on the market and explains the differences between them. I’m clueless when it comes to this stuff, so it sounds like he’s speaking a completely different language.
After deciding on the one I want to buy, I take the kit with me to the front to check out. On the way, I stop by the grocery department to pick up a few more things for Grandma. A chocolate pie in the freezer section is calling my name, but since I don’t have any money, I put it back and force myself to walk away.
Even if I did have money, spending eight dollars for something that’ll be gone in a few days is silly. I try not to frown as I go to the self-checkout.
My skin prickles like I’m being watched, but when I look around the crowded store, I don’t see anyone looking at me.
Stop being so paranoid, Kiara.
Before I leave the store, I stop by guest services and ask about my license, but the employee doesn’t find it in the lost and found. I thank them before turning to leave.
The walk back home is short, so I slow my pace so I can clear my head.
I can’t get him off my mind. He’d invaded my world so thoroughly that I can still feel him on me, still smell the smoke and woodsy scent that clung to his clothes and the coppery taste of his blood in my mouth. The grip of his fingers as he held me against him, the scrape of his teeth on my heated flesh, and the hardness of his cock sending ribbons of pleasure through my core as we ground against each other are imprinted in my memory.
I shake my head, clearing away all thoughts of him. As thrilling—and low-key terrifying—as last night was, I need to forget about it. I hope he and his friend don’t decide to come back to finish what they started, if only so the blue-eyed man doesn’t realize how much his actions turned me on.
By the time I walk through the front door, I’m exhausted.
“Kiara?” Grandma calls out from the kitchen. She sounds a little alarmed. “Kiara, is that you?”
I rush into the kitchen to find her standing at the sink. Her hands are in the soapy water, but she’s staring at me as I walk in.
“What’s wrong, Grandma?” I put everything down on the kitchen table and go to her side.
She looks at me for a moment and squints her honey-brown eyes, as if trying to process that I’m really here, before saying, “I’ve been feeling uneasy. I thought I heard Lester, but I didn’t feel him. And I couldn’t find my phone to call you.”
Unease settles in the pit of my stomach. “Do you need to lie down?” I ask, putting my hand on her arm and guiding her away from the sink.
She nods and wipes her hands on a dishtowel. “I want to go to sleep.”
I help her up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once she’s settled into bed, she falls asleep almost immediately. I close the blinds and shut the door on my way out. An eerie feeling creeps its way into me, and something is pulling me toward my room.
When I walk inside, I’m shocked by what I see.
There, resting on my perfectly made bed, is Grandma’s phone.
And my wallet.
“No,” I whisper, backing up until I bump into the doorframe. “This can’t be happening.”
I thought I’d lost my wallet, but here it is.
Sitting on my pillow. On my bed, that I know for a fact I didn’t make when I woke up this morning.
How the hell did he get back in here? Is he still here?
After checking under the bed and in the closet, I run back to Grandma’s room and start shaking her awake. After what feels like an eternity, she finally opens her eyes and looks at me, alarmed.
“Was someone in the house?” I ask her, not apologizing for waking her up so soon.
“What?” she asks drowsily, trying to sit up. I push on her shoulder to keep her in place.
“Grandma—listen to me. Was anyone in the house while I was gone?”
That must be why she was so startled when I came home. She must have heard him .
Eyes wide, she shakes her head. “No, no one was here. What’s wrong, Kiara?”
I pull the comforter back over her frail frame and turn back to the door. “It’s nothing, Grandma. Just go back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.”
I leave her room again and shut the door behind me. In my haste to get back downstairs, I trip over the rug at the front door and fall to my knees.
“Shit,” I hiss, wiping droplets of blood off my left knee. I look at the runner with malice, glaring at where it’s folded over at the corner.
Was that like that when I came in?
No. Surely, I would have noticed it before… right?
A chill inches down my spine, and the hair on the back of my neck prickles. For the second time today, I feel like I’m being watched.
“This is ridiculous,” I mumble. He’s not in the house anymore.
He’s not .
My hope that Grandma and I are the only ones here doesn’t stop me from looking around as I walk into the kitchen to get the security system. I want to set it up before she wakes up, but when I start reading the directions, I can’t seem to focus. All I can think about is that someone is down here with me.
I drop the instruction manual on the table and look at the closet across from the kitchen. The door is ajar. Did Grandma leave it like that?
Oh my God, Kiara, get a fucking grip.
I take several deep breaths to try to calm myself down, but I can’t relax. I grab a knife out of the drawer and slowly make my way to the closet. This is the moment I realize I should probably get a gun, because this knife won’t do shit against his gun.
Closer and closer, I inch toward the closet, until my hand is resting on the doorknob. I swallow before flinging the door open.