I watch as my Blood Rose wilts right in front of me. I’m frozen in my spot trying to figure out how to tell this woman that everything I did was to protect her. To make sure she got to continue breathing without telling her everything. Loretta is standing there in nothing but my shirt with her hands on her hips, trying to light me on fire with her eyes.
“That night ruined everything for me. I’d just gotten a full ride to my dream school and was finally going to get out of this shithole town that looks down not just on me but my mother, who was the crazy lady!” She shouts at me.
I let out a long breath as I rub my hands over my face. “Everything that happened after that night was to ensure that you were safe.”
Her eyes go wide, and her breathing becomes shallow. She grasps the front of the shirt, her breathing too quick and shallow for her to stay standing. I surge to my feet, rushing to her and trying to catch her before she hits the floor. I catch her just as her knees buckle, sweeping her up into my arms bridal style. She fights my hold, her breathing still very unsteady. Loretta stops fighting me and, to my utter shock, sobs start to rock her body.
I drop a kiss onto her head. “No one’s tears have ever affected me the way yours always have.”
“You keep saying stuff like that,” she talks through sobs. “As if you’d known me a long time when we only just met. None of this has ever made any sense to me.”
“I know my Blood Rose. I just need you to trust and believe that everything that has happened since that night is to make sure you're safe,” I murmur as I make my way toward her room.
When I step through the door, I take in the fact that not much has changed since the night I was here over five years ago. Loretta’s specific scent wraps around me, pulling the need to protect her screaming forward. Crossing the room, I lay a barely conscious Loretta on the bed, readying to leave. When she reaches for me, it stops me in my tracks.
“Don’t leave. I’m so tired of being alone all the time,” she mumbles.
“You’ve never been alone,” I whisper as I slide into her bed. “Not since that night.”
Loretta snuggles into my side, placing her head in the hollow of my neck, throwing her arm across my torso and leg over my hips. Her sleep mumbled words rip what is left of my heart to shreds.
“Always the Shadow Man to keep watch over me. I started believing I was losing my mind, seeing things. Now I know it was you!”
“You’ll never be alone again,” I whisper into the night, pulling her tighter to my chest.
Loretta drifts off into a deep, fitful sleep while I cannot shut my brain down enough to actually sleep. I can’t stop going over the actions of all the people in Loretta’s life that led to the night I first laid eyes on her, or my actions that continue to cause her harm every day.
The moment I drift off, my phone rings from somewhere in the living room. I glance down at Loretta, praying that she doesn’t wake up. Slowly I slide out from under her, holding my breath that she doesn’t wake. When the space is empty, she wraps her arm around the pillow, pulling it to her chest. I stand just watching her, like on that fateful night years ago. She must feel it in her sleep because her eyes squint open just a touch, looking right at me.
“Haunting the night once again, my Shadow Man?” she sighs with a soft smile on her lips.
Squatting down, I brush her hair back from her face. “No, my sweet Blood Rose, it is you that has been haunting the Shadow Man.”
I kiss her temple before standing and leaving her room. As I get to the living room, my phone starts ringing again from my discarded pants. I don’t bother digging out the phone before I pull on my pants and shoes. My phone starts up again as I slide my shoes on, and I finally check my phone to see who is calling. Looking around for my shirt before remembering that Loretta is wearing it, I then answer the call.
“Bryce, you'd best have a great reason for calling me,” I say.
“One might want to check their caller ID before answering the phone,” Giaco sneers.
“Giaco, isn’t it a little past your bedtime?” I grumble, longing to go back and lie with Loretta while also knowing that I need to go take care of things on the farm.
His chuckle is not filled with mirth but something purely evil. “It seems like you might need to get laid. It might loosen you up.”
“If that’s what I need to liven me up, what is your excuse?” I snap back as I make my way to the door.
Stepping through it, I look around to check for anything that might be out of place. Not finding anything, I pull the door closed, making sure that both locks are locked. As I turn to go to my SUV, the feeling of being watched crawls up my spine. I look around for something or someone.
“Fucking hell, Vito, are you even fucking listening to a thing I’ve said?” Giaco cuts through my single-minded focus.
“I’m being watched,” I tell him.
“Are you shocked? Why do you sound like this isn’t normal for men in our line of work?” he wonders absentmindedly.
“Not when I’m where I am right now. There shouldn’t be anyone watching this place that isn’t one of ours,” I tell him, still trying to find the person or persons watching me. The task is being made very difficult by the fact that it’s Halloween and there are decorations that look like people everywhere.
“Oh, little brother has a secret he’s keeping,” Giaco prods, sounding interested now.
“Not touching that statement ever,” I growl, climbing into my vehicle and starting it. “Now tell me why you’re calling me at this hour when I’ve got stuff to do.”
