Things That Go Hump In The Night (79 page)

Riker gave me a reassuring smile. “I wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t want you to know. It’s just tough to talk about, and a bit complicated.”

I had a feeling there were more details to the story, but I decided not to pry further. “Let’s talk about something more pleasant.”

“Yes, let’s. Tell me all about yourself, princess.”

For the first time, instead of annoying me, his little term of endearment made me smile.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A Date

The
theater was cold, and mostly empty. I’d never been to this one before, but Riker had promised that it was worth going to; apparently, even though it was small, it was a special place to him.

“They’re the last cinema in this area to still have 35mm film projectors.” Tucking my hand into the crook of his arm, he led me towards the concessions. “I love the way they look. There’s nothing like the cigarette burns in the corner to make me nostalgic.”

“Cigarette burns?” I’d never heard the term before.

“Marks, on the upper right side of the frame. They let the projectionist know where a reel of film starts and stops.” My face must’ve been clueless, because he explained further. “The movie is film strips, right? Like in a roll of camera, but even bigger. So it ships to the theater in several smaller pieces, and the projectionist has to put them together. They even had to switch over manually between reels, before modern projectors were invented. The cigarette burn is a mark at the beginning and end of a reel. You can only see them for half a second, but they’re there every 20 minutes or so.”

“I’d never noticed,” I said, knowing that from now on, I’d be watching the screen for one. “You know a lot about this.”

“I’m a bit of a film buff.”

We’d reached the front of the concessions line. Riker asked me what I wanted, then ordered it for me; I tried to pay, but he was insistent. Between the tickets and the concessions, he was treating me quite a bit—and I was the one to ask him out.

“You’re going to make me have to give up my modern woman card,” I grumbled, even as I smiled at him to show it was a joke.

“It’s a mammal thing. The male of the species has to court the female, after all.” He handed me my small popcorn and drink, and we headed off to our theater.

So far, this date had been shockingly normal, especially when held up against my other experiences with Riker. This was no drunken make-out in the storage room of a bar, no one-night stand that ended awkwardly, and it definitely wasn’t a quick hookup on top of a professor’s desk. This was a
real
date, and somehow it was more nerve-wracking than any amount of casual sex could be.

Eyeing the careful way Riker opened doors for me and escorted me with my hand on his arm, I couldn’t help noticing he seemed at least a little nervous, too.
Good,
I thought, satisfied.
I’ll tame the bad boy yet.

We sat together near the back of the empty screening room.

“Remind me again what movie we’re watching?”

Riker chuckled. “You’re really not a classics fan, huh?
Bringing Up Baby
. It’s a classic Katherine Hepburn film.”

“I thought we were going to see some slapstick comedy,” I said.

“That wouldn’t be romantic.”

The tone in his voice made me melt into my chair just a little. More than a little, really. I tried to concentrate on the trailers instead; they quickly melted into the opening credits, by which point Riker had his hand on my knee. It stayed there all through the intro of the main character, a somewhat goofy paleontologist. The movie really picked up speed when the leading lady was introduced.

“You know,” he said, a moment after Katherine Hepburn waltzed onscreen, “you remind me of her.”

I tilted my head, trying to imagine my face next to hers. She had such classic, delicate features; next to Katherine, I was an oaf. “You’re only saying that because of the hair. I look nothing like her.”

His fingers curled around the inside of my leg, gently pulsing against my skin. “I think it’s the attitude as much as anything. She’s almost as fiery as you.”

“You think I’m fiery?” Warm sparks ignited inside me.

“When you want to be, you are.” His hand, which had been resting there through the whole intro, traveled up to my thigh. “I hope you’re not too into the movie, because I wasn’t planning on watching it too closely.”

We turned towards each other, the magnetism between us undeniable. I felt like a high schooler as we kissed, sneaking our passions in the dark. His lips were salty from the popcorn, his stubble rough against my lips. My thighs fell open to the touch of his hand as he slid it further and further up, caressing me beneath my skirt.

“What are you doing?” I whispered to him, afraid someone would notice.

“What do you
think
I’m doing?” His eyes seemed to glitter in the dark. I gasped when his fingertips pushed aside the edge of my panties, pressing up against my skin. Our lips met in a rough kiss, the theater and the movie falling to the background at the touch of his lips to mine.

Riker’s fingers curled up towards my clit as he pushed up the arm between our chairs and slid in next to me. With a curious hand, I reached over and pressed my palm against his crotch, feeling his erection through layers of fabric.

“No,” he said, pulling my hand away. “I want to feel you come. Just you.”

I whimpered at the desire in his voice. “Then do it. Make me come.”

He growled, that strange feral look in his eyes. Riker’s hands were insistent on me, his fingers dipping inside my entrance. I moaned, the sound soft but unmistakable in the near-empty theater. He silenced me with the palm of his other hand, pressing my head up against the back of the chair.

Moaning against his skin, I let my eyes fall shut and gave in to his fingers. They pressed against my clit and dived inside my wetness at the same time, curling up inside me. Riker’s breath was hot against my neck as he buried his face against me; it was clear he got off on touching my pussy, which turned me on even further.

“That’s it baby,” he said, pushing deeper inside me, “take what you need.”

I twisted in my seat, writhing against him as his fingers picked up rhythm, working and twisting on and inside me. The anticipation was unbearable; for a moment it was all I could do not to cry out or bite down on his hands.

A moment later, he coaxed me just right, and relief came as I orgasmed against his hand. He groaned as my pussy clenched down on his fingers. I rode him through my orgasm, all-too-aware that my skirt had hiked up to my thighs and if anyone looked closely they’d see me on display.

“Good girl,” Riker murmured as I relaxed into my seat. He took his hand off my mouth and rearranged my skirt so no one could see that his hand was still touching me, caressing me as I came down from that high. “I couldn’t resist you. Your face right now…” He kissed my cheek.

I chuckled and squirmed against his hand. “How can you even see my face? It’s pitch black in here.”

It might’ve been my imagination, but Riker seemed to stiffen uncomfortably at my words. He pulled his hand away and adjusted back into his own seat, leaving me cold.

“I have good eyes.”

There was something strange about him beneath all the chemistry and attraction we shared. My question seemed to have shut him down, and for the rest of the movie his eyes barely drifted from the screen.

I
came back to the dorms practically floating on air.

After the movie, Riker and I strolled down the main thoroughfare in Belmont, the cool night air whispering around us. He lent me his jacket to cover my cold shoulders, and our hands shyly brushed up against each other.

“So, how did you like the movie?” His voice was coy; his eyes made it clear he wasn’t
just
talking about the movie.

“There was a movie?” I answered, smiling at him. “It was good. You have good taste.”

“Thank you.”

We paused on the sidewalk to kiss, his lips gentle and delicate on mine. He pulled back before the PDA became too much, and wrapped his arm around my waist.

“This wasn’t bad for a first date. To be honest, I don’t date much,” he confessed.

“Why is that?” I couldn’t help my curiosity, especially when it came to him.

“I guess I just hadn’t met the right girl yet.”

I had to admit that his words—cheesy though they were—made my heart melt. I snuck glances at him the whole drive home, wondering if I’d see a sign of those yellow eyes again, but he looked normal. Everything seemed normal. He even stepped out of the car and walked over to my side to open the passenger side door.

“Next time,” he said, as he escorted me to the dorms, “let’s have dinner. That way we’ll be able to have a real conversation.”

“I’d like that,” I said, kissing him goodnight.

I couldn’t help it—there was a wide, soft smile plastered across my face as I opened the door to my room and almost glided inside. Riker had more than lived up to my expectations;
finally,
I was getting the dates that I’d wanted when I first activated my online dating profile. In fact, I didn’t see any reason to keep the profile open any more—a few pixels on a screen couldn’t compare to the real, live thing right in front of me.

“Thank god you’re okay.” Nora rose from the couch, her face pale as she rushed towards me and threw her arms around me. “I was worried sick when you didn’t answer your phone,” she murmured into my shoulder.

Confused, I laughed a little. “I was on my date, remember? I turned my phone off at the movie. The little dancing popcorns told me to.”

Stepping back, Nora looked at me with grave eyes. She hadn’t even broken a smile at my stupid joke, a sure sign something was up.

“When I found out what happened, I was so worried about you. I wasn’t sure if maybe he’d done… something.”

“Nora, what are you talking about?”

She led me over to the couch, and we sat down side by side. “It’s about Danny Killum, that guy that was stalking you.”

“He didn’t come here, did he?” A chill went through me at the thought. “Riker said he was going to take care of him, but I guess he didn’t get around to it.”

“That’s the thing, Mara. I think he did. The word spread today—Danny has gone missing. When his roommate came home, the room was torn to pieces and there was even a dent in the wall. They think something happened to him. Something
bad.
”

I swallowed. “Was there blood?”

She shook her head. “No. But his bed had been ripped apart. Mara, what if Riker did it? And what if… what if he
killed
Danny?”

“Nora.” My voice came out harsher than I’d intended. “Don’t let your imagination run away from you. We have no proof that anything happened to Danny, or that Riker even had something to do with him disappearing. The guy is an asshole. I’m sure he’s made lots of enemies.”

“Still,” Nora said, her brow furrowed in concern, “I want you to be careful around him. You said it yourself when you met him, he’s a bad boy. There’s no telling if that means leather jackets and tattoos or something worse. He could be
violent,
Mara. He picked Danny up off his feet and choked him right in front of you. We have no idea what he might do when nobody is around.”

I played off her concerns as paranoia and resolved that I would speak to Riker about Danny the next time I saw him, but deep inside I was worried. Was the bad boy persona I saw just a front, or was there something sinister lurking in Riker’s past?

And did it have something to do with the way his eyes glowed yellow whenever he was upset?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sting like a Bee

I
deliberated the whole next day about what I should do.

On the one hand, if I confronted Riker, how could I know if he told me the truth? If he
had
hurt Danny, then he sure put on quite an act in front of me.
I’d like to think I could tell if he was a murderer,
I thought to myself, but it wasn’t like I’d met many murderers to find out if I had a radar for them. I snorted at the thought; wondering if the guy I liked was a psychopath was enough to make me feel crazy.

“You look like you need a margarita,” Nora said, taking her head out of her study books long enough to notice me pacing back and forth in the living room.

“It’s not even two o’clock,” I pointed out to her, but I couldn’t stop a longing sigh at the thought of one.

“Girls’ night waits for no man. Come on, we can make them virgin.”

I snorted. “If only it were that easy for us.” My drama-free days as a young girl seemed nostalgic next to my current worries.

“C’mon, you don’t mean that. Sluts have more fun.” She winked at me to show she was joking; my blonde bombshell roommate was nothing if not a sex-positive kind of girl. Some of her infectious free spiritedness had rubbed off on me in the past few years, but I still couldn’t help the uptight part of me from wondering if starting a relationship with a one-night stand was where I’d gone all wrong.
Maybe if you hadn’t slept with him,
the snide little prude in me whispered,
you wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Internally, I flipped her off. Being angry at my own subconscious was a sure sign I was losing it. I took the frozen lime slushy from Nora gratefully, and we sat down on the couch to talk it out, as we had many times over the years.

“I just don’t know if I should confront him about it or not. I mean, what if we’re wrong and he had nothing to do with it? For all we know Danny tore his own bed to pieces. Or… something.”

“And what are the chances of that? He promised you he would ‘take care of it,’ Mara. If that doesn’t make him a suspect, I don’t know what does.”

I sipped at the frozen drink in my hands, going slowly to avoid a brain freeze. Part of me wished it had tequila in it, but the rest was glad nothing could cloud my judgment.

“Every time I see him, the reasonable part of me floats away,” I admitted, hating that it was true. “Rational thought just stops existing. He looks at me, and…” I trailed off, blushing.

“You’re not the first girl to fall for a handsome face and rock hard abs. There are worse things in the world to admit it. And of
course
your judgment would be clouded. You care for him.”

I swallowed heavily, but hearing Nora say it aloud confirmed that it was true. “I do care about him. I’m not in love with him, but I feel like I could be. One day. And that scares me.”

Nora seemed to weigh my options in her head for a moment. My roommate had a bubbly, outgoing, and flirty personality, but she was also one of the wisest young women I knew. I trusted her judgment, especially when mine had left me.

“From where I’m sitting, I think you have to confront him. He has to understand that after threatening to do something to the guy, he’s going to look red-handed when Danny disappears mysteriously. And besides, wouldn’t you rather find out now? Before you fall in love with him.”

She had a point. Even though it made my stomach queasy just thinking about confronting Riker, it would be a mistake not to if later, it turned out our suspicions were right.

“I just hate that I’m going to have to see him again in class.” Sighing, I chewed on my lower lip in thought. “Why do boys always have to be so complicated?”

“This,” Nora said, punctuating her thoughts with a wave of her hand, “is why I only tousle with guys who live miles and an ocean away from me. There’s no drama when you know you’re leaving them behind.” She squeezed my shoulder sympathetically. “It’s not your fault this one followed you home.”

I laughed a little at the thought of Riker as a stray cat shadowing me to my doorstep. “Everything would’ve been a lot easier if that one-night stand had stayed as just one night.”

It
was only an hour later that I wound up in the same hallway in front of the same office door I’d stood in front of just a couple of days ago with similar intentions. This time, though, I wasn’t hoping to cut things off with Riker; I just wanted some reassurance that he wasn’t the kind of monster who attacked a college student in revenge.

I was just about to knock on the door when I heard voices inside the office. Freezing, I stood there with my hand up in a fist, unsure what to do.

“If you would just do what you’re—” The voice drifted in and out of my hearing range, but it was definitely a masculine voice, and whoever he was, he sounded angry. I didn’t think it was Riker, though.

Seconds later I heard Riker’s voice, confirming that he already had a visitor.

“I’m not going to do whatever you want. You’re going to have to live with the fact that my life is here now.”

I heard that loud and clear; whatever was going on, it was none of my business, so I slid a few feet away from the door and stood there guiltily. For a moment I considered turning around and going back home, but I knew that if I chickened out now I would never work up the courage to ask Riker about Danny’s disappearance.

From this distance I could no longer make out words, but I could still hear the two voices rising and falling in disagreement. I fidgeted with my phone and tried to pretend like I wasn’t curious enough to want to eavesdrop on them.

Thankfully for me, the argument seemed to lose steam, and minutes later the door opened. I expected Riker to come out, but instead it was the other guy, the one who must’ve been in there with him.

His back was to me, so I took a moment to study him. He was tall, his shoulders broad and square, his skin a medium brown that suggested mixed heritage. As he turned, I glanced at his face, but I didn’t recognize him from class or anywhere else.

Closing the door, he turned and looked straight at me. “Sorry if you were waiting out here for long.”

“It’s no trouble.” I smiled tightly, all too aware of the fact that I’d overheard part of his argument with Riker. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just go in now.”

I stepped past him, reaching out to take the doorknob, but before I could slip inside the office, he pulled me back with a hand on my shoulder.

“Wait a minute.” Leaning forward, he stared straight at me, his brown eyes intimidating in their intensity. He took a deep breath, and for a moment I could swear he was
sniffing
me. “How do you know Riker?”

“He’s my teacher’s assistant.” I frowned at his rudeness. “How do
you
know him?”

“We’re brothers.”

The word—‘brothers’—threw me for a loop. They didn’t
look
related, though I knew better than to say something like that. “Well, it’s nice to meet you…” I trailed off, realizing he hadn’t said his name.

“Jonathan. And I don’t think you and my brother are
just
colleagues. Am I right?”

Stepping back, I kept silent, but I knew the expression on my face would give me away. I’d never been any good at poker. “How is this your business?”

“Because.” He stepped towards me, forcing me to crane my head up to look at his eyes—which, strangely enough, seemed to be swirling with flecks of yellow. “You shouldn’t get too attached to Riker. He won’t be here for very much longer. He’s coming home. And if you get in the way of that, you’ll regret it. I guarantee it. Understand?”

I didn’t like being threatened by so many men in one week. “No, I don’t understand. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll speak to Riker.”

I tried to slip past him, but Jonathan’s hand snaked out to hold me back. His grasp wasn’t tight, but when I tried to pull my arm away it was like handcuffs around me.

“You don’t want to mess with my family. Trust me on that one.”

With those words, he let me go and walked away. I stared after him, confused and afraid. From this angle I could see the strip of skin between his collar and his hairline.

There was a tattoo there, black and unmistakable. I’d seen it once before: on Riker’s hip bone. That prowling panther was an exact clone to the one he had tattooed on his skin.

Before
I could even fully process what I’d just been told—and what I’d seen—Riker stepped out of the office and into the hallway. He looked surprised to see me there; in the distance, I could still hear Jonathan’s footsteps fading away.

“Mara.” He smiled, but I didn’t return the expression. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“I was waiting for you out here,” I said, knowing that I was stating the obvious, but needing to gather my thoughts for a moment. “I met your… brother.”

An odd expression flowed across Riker’s face; it was one I didn’t recognize, but he seemed unhappy. “Jonathan isn’t my brother. Did he say that?” He shook his head, like he was shaking something irritating off. “Come on in, we can talk in the office.”

“Weren’t you going to go talk to him?” I motioned behind me, to where Jonathan had disappeared. “I assume that’s why you came out here.”

“Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t matter.”

I followed him into the stuffy office, my cheeks heating at the memory of what we’d done the last time I was in there.
Remember what you’re here for, Mara,
I reminded myself; it wouldn’t do to come all this way and not confront him about Danny. Glancing around, I noticed the blank space on the wall where a framed picture had hung.

“So.” Riker stepped close to me, his hand warm against my cheek as he pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “What is it that you came here for? Because I can clear the desk off.”

Shaking my head, I backed up a step to put some much needed space between us. He let his hand fall from my cheek, the air between us charged with tension waiting to be released.

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

His eyes searched my face. “What did Jonathan say to you?” He sounded angry. “What is it that he said?”

“He said you’re brothers. He said you’re going to leave, that you’re coming home. He—” I thought about the tattoo; it seemed silly now to bring it up. “Actually, that’s not what I came here to talk to you about. I wanted to know if you had anything to do with what happened to Danny.”

“What happened to Danny?” Riker turned away, growing more and more distant from me by the second. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s all over campus.” I couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t heard; it seemed suspicious. “He disappeared in the middle of the night. When his roommate came home, his whole room had been destroyed. And there’s no sign of him. No one knows where he is.”

Something flashed in Riker’s eyes. “And you think I had something to do with it.”

Raising my chin, I refused to back down from his anger. “I know it upsets you, but look at the circumstances. You
threatened
him. You almost assaulted him that day in class. And you wouldn’t tell me what you were going to do to get him to leave me alone. How do I know that wasn’t it?”

He didn’t respond, which was all the answer I needed.

“I tried to have a normal life,” Riker said, seemingly out of nowhere. “No matter what I do, I lose everything and everyone.” His voice sounded bewildered and small; I almost reached out and comforted him before I remembered how angry I was supposed to be.

“What are you talking about?” I could feel the tears burning in my eyes; I couldn’t believe it had come to this. “What the fuck is going on, Riker? What is all this? Why does that guy say you’re family if you’re not? And what—what does the tattoo mean?”

“Tattoo?” Backing away, he shook his head over and over again. “What tattoo?”

“Of the panther.” I could hear the hysteria in my voice as it gained volume, but I couldn’t hold my emotions in check. “You have matching tattoos. Who the hell has matching tattoos except gang members? Why don’t you own the apartment you live in? Who the hell are you?”

“Mara, I—” Suddenly he surged towards me, taking my arms in his hands and gazing deep into my eyes. “I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried. But more than that, it would put your life at risk.”

Stupidly, angrily, I started to cry. I tried to hold it in, but even though the sobs didn’t escape my lips, a few hot tears rolled down my cheeks. “We’re over. I don’t ever want to see you again. Don’t call me.”

And I pulled myself away from him, turned from his amber yellow eyes, and walked away. I didn’t stop walking until I was home and I saw Nora’s face, and that was when all the withheld sobs and waiting tears caught up; I fell into her arms and cried until I couldn’t even hear my own voice anymore.

It was over. It was all over.