Pathos - A Duskwood Fanfiction

Chapter 22 - sexual content warning

Oh, thank FUCK.

The knocking on the door had scared the absolute shit out of her, but it was also the only sound that could have put a stop to the whirling thoughts of confusion and anxiety that were raging through her head, and so with her heart seeming to bounce around in her chest like a ping pong ball, she wrenched open the door.

She stared dumbly at the person on the other side, staring at them in wild confusion as her brain seemed to short circuit.

"H...how -" she began to stammer in bewilderment, looking past the person in front of her who was now staring at her with an expression of concern, trying to sight any sign of the man that she had fully expected to see when she had flung open the door.

"Are you alright?"

Ignoring this question completely, she took a step outside of the doorway and looked searchingly down the motel walkway towards room #6, only to find that it was silent and deserted. Unable to prevent the frustrated sigh that fell from her lips, she simply stood there, staring down towards Jake's door silently as, unconsciously, her hands came together at her waist and a thumb snuck under the cuff of her sleeve on the other arm to rub at the still tingling skin of her wrist.

"Is something wrong?"

"I..." She faltered here, shook her head slightly and frowned, reluctantly turning back to her unexpected visitor. "No," she said, and then stared at the person in front of her in consternaton, confusion and frustration at Jake's seemingly mixed messages making her tone unintentionally sharp and irritated. "How did you know that I was here?"

"I didn't," Phil said with a crooked smile, concern still evident upon his features as he did so. He lifted his gaze from hers to cast down the direction that she had been looking in before returning to her once more. "Was that guy bothering you?"

She blinked at him uncomprehendingly. "What?"

Phil frowned slightly at this, then indicated down the walkway with a tilt of his head. "That guy. Wearing all black. Walked you to your door." He paused here for a moment, dark eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned her face carefully. "Do you need me to throw hands? 'Cause I'll throw hands," he said lightly, an edge of casual amusement in his voice that overlay an undeniable undercurrent of something that was close to approaching a threat.

She stared at him for a beat without responding, her brain still seeming to struggle with trying to process Jake's strange behaviour and now also the slightly creepy appearance of Phil out of absolutely nowhere.

"No," she finally managed, and then frowned at him again. "If you didn't know that I was here, then why-"

Phil interjected quickly here, offering a disarming smile before responding. "I was going for a walk and happened to be going by the motel, so I thought I would check it out and see."

He paused after he said this to raise his hands up to his head and rake his fingers through his long dark hair quickly, pulling it back into a low ponytail and securing it with a thin black band that he had liberated from his wrist. It was then that she saw that he had an undercut, the ombre from his fade creating a pleasing contrast to the sleek dark lengths that were now gathered at the nape of his neck.

"And, luckily for me, that guess paid off," he finished, winking at her as he did so. He was in the simple white shirt and black jeans from earlier, but this time also wearing a leather bomber jacket to combat the cold. Stylishly unzipped, of course.

She looked at him for a moment before lifting her eyes over his shoulder and looking pointedly towards the empty highway that ran directly in front of the motel. "You often walk on highways? In the dark?"