CHAPTER 2
“Claire? Are you alright?” I asked my best friend as she ran into my small apartment, her body shaking with fear.
“Someone is… someone else was murdered in her sleep Celeste! And she lived three doors away from me. The serial killer came to my building!”
“Oh my goodness,” I exclaimed in shock. “Come and sit, you must be feeling terrible.”
“I stopped talking to her because she made passes at my crush. Am I a terrible person? Will she hunt me in the afterlife?”
“Hopefully not, you both didn't end up with Jared and he's an asshole anyway,” I said as I fixed her a cup of hot coffee.
With one sip, her nerves began calming down but she dropped the cup and began crying.
I gathered her in my arms as she let it out.
“I don't know why this is happening,” she cried, “our town, Nevada, is usually calm, and nothing of this sort has happened in decades. What's going on?”
“The police are looking into it and soon, if it's not solved and the culprit captured, they might have to bring in the FBI. Let's just try to stay safe and stop walking around at night. No more parties or going home with strangers. I love you and all your quirks, but I'm scared, Claire, I can't lose you.”
“You don't get it, Celeste. She's everything you just described. Taylor never goes out, she works from home and barely has anyone checking up on her. I think her parents are divorced, or her mom is dead. I never got to find out, but I've seen her father visit a few times. This serial killer isn't going for people who are well known in our town; he's picking up quiet people, and that's why I ran down here. You're exactly like that, so I'm the one who should be scared.”
I separated from her and moved back, holding myself back from revealing the huge secret I was keeping.
I definitely couldn't tell her I wasn't scared of anything or anyone because there was someone in the shadows watching after me, making me feel good and protecting me.
“We'll be fine, okay? I'll ask for a salary increase in the meantime, It's been long overdue. We can work for the next three months and move out to the city. California is the safest place right now.”
Her countenance brightened at that.
“I can't wait, the beaches are calling me, and I love our river down here, but I need to shake my ass on a yacht!”
I laughed at her excitement; she's always been the light to my darkness, right from high school.
I was bullied from kindergarten all the way until her family moved over here to open a restaurant and she walked in on Tiana harassing me over what I can't even remember now. She stood up for me and took me away from her.
It's the typical story but mine was different. Claire didn't treat me like a charity case or make me feel like she was doing me a favour because she was saving me. She didn't force me to glow up to fit her aesthetics, and I didn't have to even speak that much; she did for us both.
And when her parents moved out, she decided to go to college here; we'd become inseparable that way, even going as far as working in the same field together.
I wrote code for the security company we worked for and wore the uniform. She was gearing up to join the police.
Sometimes I feel she's still here because of me.
I hoped our plan would work, so I could make her chase her dreams instead of holding space for me.
“Have you had dinner? I made pizza.”
“Ooh! I always want your homemade pizza, bring it on!”
“You're lucky I love feeding you,” I chuckled as I brought it out.
As she dug in, she looked around the house like she was noticing something for the first time.
“Celeste Maria Thompson!” She exclaimed, eyes wide and shocking me, “Did you finally learn how to masturbate?! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you!!”
I was mortified.
“What? How?”
“I have a nose and that spot on your bed is a telltale sign. Did I interrupt you? Now I feel bad,” she mused, still smiling wildly while I sat there with a slice of pizza in my hand, wondering how to dig myself out of this hole.
I should have changed the sheets, I usually do every time Rowan was done fingering and sucking my pussy. My orgasms were always intense, and since he made me squirt, he's been obsessed with that.
But I wasn't expecting anyone and when she knocked, he wasn't even done with me.
But I couldn't tell her that.
“I just wanted to know what all the fuss is about, there's no big deal in it,” I replied, looking anywhere but her eyes.
“Don't you worry best friend, you're going to start craving a real dick soon!”
She had no idea how true that was.
I was past the point of craving it, I was begging for it every night but I didn't see it happening anytime soon.
I should have stopped this whole ghost business and found myself someone to do it with and get my hymen out of the way but I was quite confident no human would be able to make me feel this way. Even the thought of him made me wet and I had someone in the room with me.
It was embarrassing how much I wanted Rowan.
“Let's not get too ahead of ourselves,” I told Claire, hoping she'd drop the topic.
“Sure sure, whatever you say,” she waved me off, getting up to drop the pan and get water. “But you must let me know when you find someone. I need to vet him and make sure he's not the serial killer, alright?”
“You think you can just ask him that?”
“No, but social media can shock you, trust me.”
“Maybe when we move out from here. I've seen everyone in this community and it's either they're not doing it for me or they've bullied me before. I'm not buying that crap of him being harsh to me because he loves me.”
“Makes zero sense. Well, now I have more reasons to move to California. We can finally get that stick out of your arse and put it in your pussy.”
“Claire!”
I don't even know why I'm still shocked at her brazen way of speaking. It's one of the things I love about her.
“Stop yelling, you might attract ghosts.”
My heartbeat increased at that, I was way past the point of attracting them and I wasn't screaming.
We turned the visit into a mini sleepover party, I pulled out all my snacks and set up a movie.
She slept off before me and I situated her properly on my new sheets before getting ready for bed.
I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom when I felt his presence.
“Rowan not now,” I whispered even though my body was melting into his invisible form, “my friend is in the room and these walls are thin!”
“Then you better not scream,” he whispered as he nudged my legs apart, his face digging into my ass as he latched onto my pussy.