Devil Inside (6 page)

             
As she was leaving she saw a duffel bag lying near the door that led to the small garage attached to the house.  Normally, she wouldn’t go through Levi’s, or anyone else’s, things.  But the glint of metal caught her attention.  She briefly considered ignoring it, but curiosity got the best of her.  She squatted over the bag and opened it a little further.  In addition to what looked like workout gear she could see the handle of a knife poking out of the side.  Harley raised her eye brows.  She didn’t pull the knife out but she could tell it was a large one. 
Um, so I hope that is just a hunting knife.
  She figured the most reasonable explanation would be some sort of hunting knife and she refused to let her mind jump to the least logical conclusions—
serial killer, ninja assassin
?  Instead, she left the bag as she found it and quietly left the house feeling even more conflicted than she had been already.  If this was a movie, this would be the point that the main character would begin to get suspicious and imagine all the wrong things.  Harley shook her head.  There was always a logical explanation for things like this. 
It’s just a hunting knife.

              The next several weeks didn’t seem real.   Harley worked, hung out with her friends and met up with Levi several times a week.  He continued to be a mystery.  He was quiet and would often watch her when she wasn’t looking.  She didn’t mind because she did the same thing to him.  Neither shared too much personal information or asked too many personal questions.  It was better that way—not getting too familiar.  She didn’t ask him about the knife, but did find out that the consultation work he did was in security, which offered a logical explanation for the knife as well as his wary, guarded attitude.  Harley was relieved to know that she wasn’t sleeping with a serial killer.

             
Three weeks after meeting Levi, Harley was seeing him out.  It was not long before dawn and it was the first time that he had come to her house.  Jamie was out of town again, but Levi had insisted that he needed to leave—that he had a meeting he had to be ready for in the morning.  They stood on the porch saying their goodbyes.

             
“I should be leaving Lexington soon.”

             
Harley laughed, “You’ve said that for two weeks now.”

             
“I know,” he said with a half smile.  “I really do need to get moving.  The project that I was working on has been done for over a week.”

             
Harley ignored the weight growing in her stomach.  She swallowed and found her mouth dry.  “OK.”

             
“For some reason, though, I’m finding it hard to go.”  His voice was playful, but held a slight gravel that hinted that he wasn’t happy about feeling compelled to stay.

             
Harley scowled at him, “Well, if you need to go you should go.  You don’t have to stay on my account.”

             
He gave her a small smile.  “I didn’t mean it that way.  I’m not blaming you.  I just—I don’t know.  I feel like I need to do something still and I haven’t figured out what it is yet.”  After a brief pause he looked at her, “I’m glad I’ve gotten to pass the time with you while I’m here.  But if I haven’t figured out why I’m still here soon—I’ll need to go ahead and go.”

             
Harley had realized that he didn’t make eye contact without a reason.  He would look at her, but unless it was during sex, or one of the rare times he was saying something really important, he usually looked at her mouth or past her.  He made eye contact with her now.  A small bit of sadness lurked behind the toughness in his eyes.  He looked away, staring out into the night as if he was searching for something.

             
He let go of a breath he had been holding.  “I meant what I said when we first met.  I’m really not someone you should get involved with.  I’m never in one place for very long.”

             
Harley rolled her eyes, “Haven’t you learned yet?  I do what I want.  Even if I regret it in the long run,” she laughed.

             
Harley ignored the warning; she didn’t feel the need to interrogate him.  She didn’t feel the need to seek explanations.  He was being honest with her.  If he had to go, he had to go and she could tell he was bothered by it.  Their relationship may be based primarily on sex, but he was considerate and nice.  He didn’t speak for her and he didn’t get mad if she talked to other guys.  He asked her light, conversational questions about her day.  He asked her opinions on food and movies.  Harley felt that he appreciated her and respected her for who she was.  They were simple considerations—but not always common in guys—especially the tough acting ones.  She just always felt comfortable and appreciated around Levi.  She tried very hard to not let their dynamic make an impression on her, but she was fighting a losing battle.  She knew it would be hard when he left.

             
Finally, Levi turned away from the railing and kissed her forehead.  She watched him walk to his bike and roar away.  She wearily rubbed her face and turned to go inside.  As she did so, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.  It was off to the side near the small copse of trees to the right of their driveway.  She peered into the darkness trying to discern what it was that she had seen.  It seemed like the darkness itself had moved—or as if someone wearing all black had been hiding in the trees.  After she didn’t see anything else she convinced herself that it must have been an animal.  This late at night—or early in the morning—it was easy to let the shadows play tricks with your imagination.  But, just in case she made sure that all of the doors and windows were locked before dragging herself upstairs and plopping into bed.

             
Several hours later she woke up for good when Jamie came banging into her room.

             
“Good afternoon!” she sang and jumped into the bed with Harley.

             
“Ugh, what are you doing,” she groaned.

             
“Get up!  We are going shopping today, remember?”

             
“Again, I say—ugh!”

             
“Hey, we have been planning this all week.  You knew that when you decided to stay up and party all night.  Now get up.”  She began poking at Harley through the blankets.

             
“Ok, Ok,” Harley squealed.  She hated being tickled and Jamie knew it.  She began working her way from the blankets.  When she was able to extricate her head she was greeted with a smiling Jamie.  “Get out of my face, psycho!” She laughed.  She couldn’t actually be mad at Jamie, even though a dull ache pounded in her head insisting she hadn’t had enough sleep.  “When did you get back home anyway?”

             
Jamie bounced out of the bed, “About an hour ago.  I’m going to make lunch while you shower.”

             
“What if I hadn’t been alone in here?” Harley asked laughing but half serious.

             
“Then I would have finally gotten to officially meet Mr. Hottie.  I’m going to call him that too, by the way.”

             
Harley shook her head.  “How are Mom and Dad,” she asked, changing the subject.

             
“They’re good,” Jamie answered.  “They were mad you didn’t come to visit with me.”

             
Harley frowned.  She would have liked to see Jamie’s parents but she hadn’t been able to join her friend this time.  “I know.  I miss them too.  I couldn’t get off work yesterday though.”

             
“I know.  I just told them that you were shacking up with a guy you met at a bar instead of coming to visit.”

             
Harley’s mouth fell open in exaggerated shock.

             
Jamie laughed.  “I’m kidding!”

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Harley asked climbing out of bed and tripping on the sheet as she went.

              “Nothing, can’t I just be in a good mood?”

             
“Sure, but you are just in an extra good mood.”  It only took a second for Harley to figure it out.  “Shifty finally called, didn’t he?” she laughed.

             
“…YES!” Jamie conceded.  “But that’s not the only reason I’m in a good mood.  I’m also excited to be hanging out with my best friend.  We’ve barely seen each other for like a month.”

             
“I know,” Harley smiled.  Now that she was awake she Jamie’s excitement was beginning to wear off on her. 

Harley turned the water on as hot as she could stand it and climbed into the shower.  She let the water pound against her sore muscles.  She hadn’t felt bad about not going to the gym in a while since she and Levi were giving each other such a workout.  It didn’t seem fair that he was both gorgeous and really good in bed.

              “Harley!” Jamie called poking her head into the bathroom.

             
“What?!”

             
“Do you want ham or turkey?”

             
“Um…turkey sounds good.”

             
Harley listened to Jamie bounce her way down the stairs.  She hoped this guy didn’t mess with her friend too badly.  The fact that it had taken him a month to call wasn’t a good sign.  Jamie didn’t seem to care about that though.  Harley would just try to bite her tongue and be there for her if and when she needed it.  Jamie had always been there for her.  They had been friends for a long time and Jamie was the only one who knew the whole story about her parents.  And she was often the voice of reason that Harley needed.  If Harley trusted anyone it was Jamie and if Jamie needed her she would be there for her.

------------------------

              That evening Harley and Jamie were unloading their bags after a long day of shopping; they had managed to fill the trunk of Jamie’s small car up.

             
“How did you not see a fallen sign in the driveway?” Harley laughed.  She was giving Jamie a hard time for driving over the fallen No Parking sign.  It had been laying at the edge of their driveway for days now.  It looked as if someone had hit it with their car because it wasn’t torn out of the ground; it was broken off.

             
“It’s dark!  It blended in!”

             
“I can’t believe you didn’t get a flat tire,” Harley responded, shaking her head.  She began pulling shopping bags out of the trunk.

“If this is what happens when we don’t hang out often, we need to make sure we hang out more,” Harley laughed.  “We need to spread this out.  I think I gave my back account whiplash today.”

              “I know.  It’s just been so long since I’ve bought new clothes.”

             
“Me—," Harley broke off when movement caught her eye.  In the same copse of trees as the night before Harley could make out the silhouette of someone standing against the tree.  Immediately, every hair stood on end.  There was nothing NOT creepy about the guy, and she was sure it was a guy.  He was dressed in dark clothes and he had a hood pulled low over his face.  The street lights didn’t shine bright enough to clear the shadows away from his face to reveal much detail at all.

             
“Huh?” Jamie began but broke off as she followed Harley’s line of sight.  She didn’t say anything for a few seconds.  Finally, she whispered, “What—who, is that?”

             
“I don’t know,” Harley answered in a hushed voice.  “Do you have everything?”

             
“What?”

             
“All of you bags?  Do you have all of your bags?”

             
“Yes, why?”  Neither of them had taken their eyes off the man just inside the trees.  So far he hadn’t made a move.  Neither had they.  Instinct told Harley to stay still, just as she would if confronted by a wild animal.  Apparently, Jamie was getting the same message because she hadn’t moved either.

             
“Just start walking towards the house.  I’ll follow you and keep an eye on him.”  She finally risked looking around.  It was late and no one seemed to be out.  There were a few lights on in some windows, but a lot of college kids lived in the area.  People tended to ignore loud noises, even shouting, so Harley wasn’t confident if he attacked that anyone would come to their rescue or even call the cops.

             
When Harley shut the trunk Jamie began walking towards their townhouse.  The door was maybe fifty feet from the car, but once they got to the door, they still had to unlock it and get inside.  They slowly made their way towards the door still keeping an eye on the man in the trees.  Movement directly in front of the women revealed the mistake that they had made.  While they had been watching the man in the trees, they had not been watching what was in front of them.  Another man stepped from the shadows of their porch, blocking the stairs that led to their front door.

             
Both Harley and Jamie froze.  The situation had shifted from creepy, to undeniably dangerous. The man in front of them was young but he was sweaty and had heavy bags under his eyes.  His eyes themselves were impossibly dark and seemed to shine even in the low light from the street lamp revealing an unnatural quality to the man’s gaze.  The man was clearly hungry and clearly intended to make a meal out of the two women in front of him one way or another.  Harley recognized the eager smirk that pulled his mouth into a grimace and his eyes burned with feverish excitement.  Harley took a moment to be surprised by drug addicts in the suburbs.  While it wasn’t unheard of, it was still surprising.  You were more likely to encounter drunken college students passed out on your porch than potentially violent addicts.