It was pitch black inside the room. Bo reached back to take my hand and pull me inside, but before I’d taken even one step, Bo stopped me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Shh,” he whispered.
I listened, but didn’t hear anything alarming. I don’t know what kinds of ambient noises he was used to hearing around his house, but nothing sounded out of the ordinary to me.
With a note of seriousness in his tone that made chills race down my arms, Bo said, “Stay here. Don’t say a word and don’t make a sound.”
He shifted back past me and through the door, taking the steps two at a time. Still, I listened. Still, I heard nothing.
Bo disappeared from view. Contrary to what he might’ve thought, I was not going to stay in a dark, unfamiliar hole under his house when he was nowhere to be found.
I crept to the top of the steps and poked my head up to look around. In the moonlight, I saw Bo standing a few feet away, facing a man. They were just staring at each other, neither making a sound, neither moving a muscle.
Finally, the other man shifted, taking one slow step toward Bo.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
“Don’t know where you heard that. I don’t even know you.”
“But you knew John Gibbs,” the man said.
Gibbs? Gibbs? Where had I heard that name?
The thought was interrupted when I heard a low growling. At first, I thought maybe Bo had a dog I didn’t know about. I whipped my head around, half expecting a vicious Doberman to be right beside me. But there wasn’t. As it grew louder, I realized that it was coming from Bo.
“That’s what I thought,” the man sneered. “I’m just here to tell you: you come after my friends, you come after me. And if you come after me,” he said, taking another step toward Bo. “Well, let’s just say you already lost your biggest advantage, because now I know who you are. Now, I’ll be coming after you.”
A light breeze chose that very moment to blow through the back yard, ruffling my hair. I caught myself before I reached up to push my bangs out of my eyes. I didn’t want to move and risk exposure.
It didn’t matter, though. Both Bo and the other man turned toward me and I quickly ducked out of sight. I don’t know how they’d known I was there. I hadn’t made a sound or moved an inch.
“See, it just takes one visit to learn all about somebody’s weaknesses. You’d be wise not to forget that I know where to find you,” the man said warningly. “And your friends.”
“You shouldn’t make threats you have no hope of living to carry out,” Bo said evenly.
“Be careful, boy. You have no idea who you’re messing with.”
“I don’t care who you are,” Bo growled. “And I’m only gonna tell you this one time. Don’t ever come near here again.”
“I won’t have to. Everyone leaves eventually.”
I felt the whip of a gust of wind just before a loud crack split the night air. It sounded like a clap of thunder. I started to peek up and look around again, but just before Bo came into sight, I felt a sharp blow to the top of my head and the world went blissfully black.
********
Once again, I awoke to the scent of Bo in my nostrils. The tangy element—whatever delectable spice he smelled of—seemed stronger than usual and, despite the strange circumstances, it still made my insides melt.
I inhaled deeply, relishing the aroma. I tried to open my eyelids, but they were stubbornly ignoring my commands.
“Bo,” I called hoarsely.
My tongue felt sticky with something sweetly salty. I licked my tingling lips. Even the delicious residue made my mouth water.
“I’m here,” he said.
The sound of his voice was like a purr, rasping along my nerve ends like the brush of velvet against my skin.
“Be still.” The “s” made an odd hissing sound and I thought Bo’s voice sounded scratchy, like his throat was dry.
I remembered that I’d been looking for Bo when something had hit me in the head. As if on cue, my skull throbbed painfully. I reached up to touch my scalp, not sure what to expect, but a hand grabbed mine to still it before it got very far.
“Don’t try to move,” Bo advised in a low voice.
“Bo,” I groaned, a sound born both of pain and of need.
I ached, but not from a truly physical pain. It was with a strange yearning that I couldn’t describe, like I wanted to take Bo into my body, drink him in like a fine wine. It seemed that my blood was on fire, crying out for him and him alone.
I felt his hand sweep my forehead and I thought I detected a slight tremor in his touch. I wondered vaguely if he felt it too, that desperate need.
His movement caused the air to stir around my face. I felt an unusual wetness all over my skin, on my ears and my neck. I tried to open my eyes again and this time I succeeded, but I still couldn’t see anything. We were in the dark. I couldn’t even see where Bo was in relation to me; I could only feel that he was near.
“Where are we?”
“In the basement,” Bo ground out, it seemed through gritted teeth.
“What happened?”
“A tree fell across the yard, across the steps and hit you.”
“Am I alright?” A silly question, I know, since I was alive and talking, but somehow, I thought the answer might not be that simple.
“You’ll be fine,” he answered gruffly.
“Why are we in the dark?”
“The, uh, the tree knocked out the lights down here.”
“So, who was that guy?”
“I don’t know. I think he had me confused with someone else.” Bo’s tone was withdrawn and abrupt.
“Oh,” I said, feeling absurdly suspicious, but if he didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t press. “Maybe we should go upstairs. I feel wet. I think I might be bleeding.”
Other than an aching head, I didn’t feel like I’d been wounded, fatally or otherwise. Surely if I was hurt badly, I’d know it. I probably needed to check anyway. That was the smart thing to do.
“Here,” he said, sliding an arm beneath my shoulders. “You shouldn’t walk. I’ll have to carry you.”