Bound

Chapter 7 - Her Meeting

Skylar

My mind must be playing tricks on me, but I swear I just saw burlos companion from the diner two days ago out in the shadows by my house. Just a silhouette, but when I saw it, burlo intensified came to mind. No one else that big would fit what I think I saw unless it was a bear. But they are few and far between in these parts.

After standing there for what felt like hours but was probably only seconds, glaring at the spot outside, I finally move, deciding it must have been in my mind. Literally, nothing has moved, and if there were anything there, it would have moved by now.

It must be my mind playing tricks on me, like all the times I feel like someone is watching me. Sure, I tell myself unconvincingly before quickly heading back inside with my unfinished pasta, locking up behind me. I close the curtains to the sunroom for extra measure, spooked that someone might actually be out there.

I was lying in bed after tossing my uneaten pasta in a container and deciding I needed sleep. It doesn't come, however, as my mind keeps wandering to a man with off-white shoulder-length hair. I'm not surprised I imagined burlos diner companion standing in the shadows. He has been on my mind nonstop since seeing the back of his form.

In my dreams, he has green eyes. Green eyes that I drown in and look at me with such an intensity it feels like I can't breathe. And his big hands. Those hands have unraveled me so many times in so many different ways in my fantasies over the last two nights that it's not even funny. When I wake up in the morning, I am literally wet. I wonder how many wet women are out there dreaming about this guy. He is leaving a trail of snails in his wake. It's sick, but damn if I didn't crave him.

The following day, I woke up wet, but alas, not due to burlos companion pleasurably invading my dreams. No. I wake up in a cold sweat with the remnants of my usual nightmare lingering in my mind. I can't say I'm all too surprised, especially after what happened last night. Being spooked probably triggered this one specifically.

The frequency is starting to worry me, but I have had these phases before, I remind myself. Shrugging it off, I get my morning routine on the go, and soon enough, I'm heading out on my bicycle to my shop. Not before I check out the spot where I thought I saw burlos companion last night. There is nothing there. No footprints or anything. I am relieved that it is my imagination playing tricks on me.

As I cycle through town, I see some people from the diner I didn't recognize the other day wandering around. They look like tourists checking all the shops out. If I'm lucky, I smile to myself, I may get some additional sales out of this lot.

Rene is an early bird and has been opening the shop since she started working for me. Pulling up, I place my bicycle on the side. I step toward the door and stop dead in my tracks. My heart rate instantly speeds up like I have just run a marathon.

He is in my shop. They're in my shop. Fuck fuck fuck. Burlo and his companion from the diner are standing in my shop at this moment. His companion is facing away from me, speaking to Rene.

Looking down, I curse, thinking I should have put on a nicer pair of jeans, not these oldish ones that have a paint stain on the bottom. I'm wearing my old Vans. My hair, shit, it's all over the place. I quickly tie my hair up in a loose bun on top of my head. I must look like an idiot. Thank the pope. They are so engrossed in their conversation with Rene that they don't notice me hovering outside my own store. What a nut job. I mentally shake myself, taking a deep breath before opening the door.

Ting, the little doorbell rings. Internally I groan, remembering why I got this thing. Sometimes I would be so engrossed in a book I wouldn't notice someone had come into the shop. Installing this doorbell thing was a remedy for that situation. A decision I was currently regretting. My face is beetroot red. I can feel it. Even my ears feel hot.