Red Light: A Dark Stalker Romance (Book One) (Dangerous Games Series)

Chapter Four - Flick

She had invited me for dinner. Today couldn't be going any better. She was so beautiful and responsive. Talking with her was so easy and being around her left my skin humming with excitement. I never wanted to leave. I hadn't felt this way since...well...since Betty. But that didn't mean anything. And Betty had turned out to not be the one. So this feeling wasn't always right. I just needed to keep my head until I really saw her. But oh did Alanna seem perfect.

I just wanted to pin her to the wall and capture those pouty black lips with my own. But I wouldn't. Not yet. I needed to do this right. Make sure everyone knows those days are behind me. I'd woo Alanna nice and slow. And I'd leave no room for doubt in anyone's mind that I've passed all that. I needed to fix my reputation, and this was my first real chance since ten years old to do so.

If only I hadn't crawled through her window that night. If only Betty hadn't left that damn talking teddy bear on the ground. Or if only her mom hadn't gotten up to run to the bathroom at that exact moment. If only...but they did, and I did. I still don't know what was so wrong with it. Sure, I broke in, but I was just watching her sleep. I wasn't touching her or anything. Just watching.

Of course what once was innocent had evolved as I grew older. The town's reaction caused everyone to treat me like a freak. And that changed my relationship with the sleeping form of a woman forever. Betty had looked so peaceful and innocent. So vulnerable. That vulnerability called to me. It made me yearn to drink in the honest form that was a body at rest. As I got older the desires grew sexual in nature. I knew I was a freak. So I kept it to myself, never acted on it. But still everyone continues to expect me to do it again.

Sometimes you just couldn't get out from under something. But here, walking up the stairs in front of me, was a perfect, unblemished opportunity. As long as Patty and everyone else kept their traps shut that is. But given that both Petey and Patty had let her spend time with me without so much as a warning, meant that I was likely in the clear on that front. They were the two most involved members of the town, well, them and Doc. But they were the ones that spread communication between everyone. Whether by request, Petey, or by personality, Patty, they both kept the town informed and up to date on everyone's general well-being.

Of course after Ralphie gets here and sees the new Carver is young and hot, Patty will have the hot gossip in everyone's ear by noon tomorrow. If anyone's going to say something, that's when it'll happen. Someone will catch her while she's out and tell her I watch girls in their sleep. Then she'll freak out and keep me at arms length from then on out. Unless I convinced her to like me first. I just had to win her over tonight.

We reach her grandmother's room, well, her room now I guess, and both stand on opposite sides of the bed. She looks at the board, then at me. "Should we take it to the dining room you think?" She asks, chewing on her lip. "Don't like having me in your room?" I ask slyly and cock an eyebrow at her. Her eyes narrow playfully and she huffs before getting on the bed and sitting back against the pillows. She invites me up to the other side of the bed with a flourish of her hand.

I smile evilly and hop up next to her, forcing her to scootch over and give me some room or have me sit on her. She screeches and scrambles over before I land and crack my knuckles, waggling my eyebrows at her. "Are you ready?" I say in a spooky voice. She smiles and hits me playfully on the shoulder. I place my hands on the little triangle thing and wait for her to do the same. She just stares at me with an analyzing gaze. "What?" I ask.

"You're just not what I would have thought Mr. Flick Jamey Bissette." She says. "I'm gonna take that as a compliment." I smile wide at her. "Now put your hands on the triangle." I say. "Planchette." She giggles and lays her fingers lightly on the planchette. We're sitting so close together that our arms brush up against each other while we rest our fingers on the little wooden object. She blushes the softest light pink I'd ever seen and keeps her eyes on the board. "What should we ask?" I whisper.