Instinctually Ii huddled closer to him in line, staring out into the dark parking lot. The moon was just a small sliver tonight, illuminating barely any glow. It made the night that much darker and scarier. Chatter of excitement traveled down the shopping center sidewalk, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was out there. Spying. Waiting. For me.
Either fatigue was starting to set in, or this was me being a complete paranoid schitzo. Or maybe I was having a caffeine crash. Right about now, I was wishing for a steamy cup of coffee. Snuggling deeper into my hoodie, I shivered. The temperature had dropped tremendously. Chase came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, engulfing me with his warmth. If my teeth hadn’t been chattering, I might have protested, but truthful his body offered a blissful heat. He was like a furnace.
“Thanks,” I muttered, leaning the back of my head against his chest. I felt him stiffen, and I knew that eerie feeling was more than just my being paranoid. “Something is watching us,” I said softly, burrowing myself deeper in his arms.
They tightened around me. “Or someone,” he proclaimed, his eyes scanning farther than my human, well mostly human eyes could see.
I was almost afraid to ask what he saw. “You think it’s a hunter?”
“That or you have a secret admirer.” The heat from his breath tickled my neck.
I jabbed him in the gut, unsuccessfully causing him pain. “I’m serious. You’re so impossible sometimes,” I proclaimed exasperated. Turning in his arms, I looked up at him just as he shook his messy dark hair.
“It’s almost midnight Angel Eyes. This, is my time to shine.”
Only Chase could pull off the whole I-just-got-out-of-bed look and still appear stunning. I hated him. Or so I keep telling myself. “Oh great. That makes me feel loads better. Not only is there someone stalking us, but also you could possibly go on a demon rampage.”
His eyes bore into mine. “I’m fine. Don’t get yourself in a tizzy.” The look on his face was starting to make me self-conscious. I felt like I was an experiment on display that he was studying.
“What? Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?” I whipped the back of my sleeve across my mouth.
His eyes held mine for a moment longer, and then shook his head. “Nothing. I think whatever is out there has me on edge.”
“You don’t think they’ll try anything, do you?” I couldn’t imagine an ambush with all these people about, but what did I know.
“I doubt it. They wouldn’t risk hurting anyone.” He wasn’t exactly overly convincing.
Luckily, the line started to move. It was finally midnight. I lost all thoughts of hunters as the excitement for Black Ops II, almost at my fingertips, bubbled inside me.
By the time we made it to the register, Chase was clutching his jaw in impatience and annoyance, while I was close to squealing like a little kid on Christmas morning. The people around us gave us a wide berth, wary of Chase, but I was sort of getting used to being secluded.
We approached the counter, and I gave the guy behind it our receipts. Ethan, his shirt had stitched in the right corner, smiled brightly at me. “Wow, we don’t get many girls during a release. Is this for your boyfriend?” he asked.
How cliché. What I really wanted to say was, cut the chitchat and give me the game newb. But instead I said, “No, it’s for me.”
Ethan grinned. “Impressive.”
“You should see my KD ratio,” I bragged.
“We should play together sometime.” He scribbled something on the back of my receipt before handing it back to me.
It was his gamertag. Really? Was I seriously getting hit on by the guy at the video game store? I shoved the little slip of paper in the back of my pocket. “Sure,” I replied, being friendly.
Chase scowled beside me, drawing Ethan’s eyes to him.
“I take it your boyfriend doesn’t play,” Ethan commented at the menacing figure hovering over me.
“He is not my boyfriend,” I declared smartly.
“Yes, I am,” Chase countered, giving him a demon glare. Poor Ethan cowered, fumbling my two copies of the games in his hand. “Let’s go,” Chase growled. Someone was definitely on edge.
I snatched the games from the counter and sent Ethan an apologetic smile. The second we were out of the store I gave into the urge and did a happy dance, right there on the sidewalk.
Chase was staring at me with a lopsided grin. “I think that is the biggest smile I have ever seen on your face.”
I hugged the games to my chest. “I just died and went to heaven. Hurry, we need to get home. Now!”
“No arguments there.” His eyes did a sweep of the parking lot perimeter.
“Are they still out there?” I asked, remembering we weren’t alone.