The Stars In Your Eyes ✩ Tim Shepard

He's Back pt.2

The street lamp Tim Shepard leaned against, flickered off and on. But by the time it did, the gang leader had already vanished into the summer night.

I shivered. I knew he was staring directly at me. There was no question about it. Tim had set this up, but why? To scare me? Maybe.

Whales cleared his throat, standing up as he grabbed his leather vest. I looked up at him, blinking. He gave me a soft but uneasy smile.

"I'll see you around..." He paused, glancing out the window, "Connie."

Before I could get a word out, he left. I watched him walk away, the bell above the door chiming as he exited. Whales disappeared into the darkness and I slumped back in the booth, closing my eyes.

This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be back. Not when my life was just starting to show promise. Not when I had a month left to go until I could leave him and Tulsa behind.

Like a magnet, I was being dragged back into Tim Shepard's life. This, I knew for certain.

"Connie?" Mira's voice startled me and I jumped up, looking around frantically. "Whoa, easy. What's got you shaken up?" The girl asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head, glancing at the door. Mira followed my gaze. "Oh, was that your boyfriend? Kinda scary ain't he?"

I couldn't help but let out a half smile. "No, he's just..." I trailed off. "A friend."

Mira nodded, taking her hand off my shoulder. "C'mon, I think it's time you got home."

I looked up at the clock on the wall. Both hands sat firmly above the twelve. I nodded to myself, taking a last look out the bay window. The City outside was dark, the only lights coming from that of the street lamps that occasionally blinked out.

The place where Tim Shepard once stood was empty, the light shining brighter than it had been before. I gulped. The moment was something straight from a horror film and I knew it was only bound to get worse.

I sighed, collecting myself as the graveyard shift clocked in while Mira and I clocked out. We separated at the back door, my coworker going in the direction of the east while I went west.

I straitened out my waitress uniform, taking a deep breath before I started to walk, my arms crossed over my chest and my eyes glued on the pavement.

Before I crossed paths with Tim Shepard, walking alone at night never scared me. But now it did. Now, when darkness fell, my fear of being jumped or harassed rose. My fear of running into Tim Shepard again scared the living daylights out of me.

At midnight, it seemed like everyone in Tulsa disappeared. The regular city noise and lights faded, instead being replaced by eerie silence and flickering lamp posts.

During the morning hours, the only people alive were the drunken middle-aged men who stumbled out of bars and the chicks dressed in skimpy clothing who hung around street corners. And the stray dogs who barked over food scraps in alleyways.

Ever since I started working at Angelo's, I started realizing things I had never noticed before- how poorly people were treated, and how truly terrifying the streets were at night. It just made me realize how blind I was to it all.

You should never walk alone at night.

Tim's first words to me echoed in the back of my mind, making me shutter even though it was the middle of July. He had a point and a very strong one at that.

I ducked around the corner, stepping out of the way of a drunk and giggling couple who tripped out of the doorway of a local bar. Although they hardly seemed to notice me, I had that feeling I was being watched again.

Glancing over my shoulder, I eyed the streets. The drunken couple blundered around the corner, slipping from my view. However, their laughter still met my ears as did the distant barking of dogs and the low rumble of far-off music.

As I stood, surveying the landscape, the streetlight above me suddenly blinked out. I gasped, hurrying off in the direction I was going. A light breeze picked up, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when someone suddenly grabbed me, yanking me into a dark alley.

I screamed which only made him cuff a hand over my mouth as he held me to his chest, his arm around me to keep me in place. Beer and cigarettes along with the smell of cheap English leather infected my nostrils.

Suddenly, I couldn't breathe, as my chest fastly rose and fell. It was that night all over again; paralyzed by fear, hyperventilating as he kept his hand over my mouth until I finally calmed down enough for him to turn me around.

My bangs fell in front of my eyes, clouding my vision of the man before he slowly brushed them aside, tucking my dark hair behind my ear.

"Tim." I breathed, my shoulders rising and falling with every breath I took.

He ran his hand over my cheek, a slight smirk dancing on his lips. "Miss me, my little soc?"

I pulled away from him, staggering back. "You-," I started to say, but the words got caught in my throat.

Tim smirked, striding toward me. I stepped back until my back hit the alley wall with a soft thump. Tim pressed his palms onto the brick on either side of me, making it nearly impossible to escape. I was trapped. Of course.

I watched him carefully as he looked me over from head to foot. His sapphire gaze trailed from my eyes to my lips, to the teardrop necklace I still wore, and down to my cleavage. He licked his smirking lips as he twirled a strand of hair around his finger.

He leaned in, making sure his body was close to mine. His face was mere centimeters away from mine, our lips so close that they brushed together as he spoke. "I what?" Tim whispered, his breath fanning across my face as he kept his gaze locked on my lips. The finger he had used to twirl my hair trailed down my neck and he began to fiddle with the charm between his thumb and forefinger.

"You're back..." I choked.

The corners of his lips pulled into a devilish smile. "And more dangerous than ever." His lips grazed mine as he spoke.

I shivered, holding down the memories of his lips on mine. My legs shook as I tried to appear confident, however, I knew I came off just as scared as the day I met him.

Tim smirked reading my thoughts. "What's wrong, pretty girl? Cat got your tongue?"