“Hey,” I said unimaginatively, wishing that my brain worked better when he was around. It went on hiatus and left my senses in control, which meant my vocabulary was roughly that of a toddler.
“How was the game?” He straightened and took my duffel from my shoulder.
“We won,” I replied, having no interest in talking about the game.
“It was the cheering,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “I’m sure that’s exactly what it was.”
“Do you have to go straight home?”
“No. Why?”
“Just curious,” he said, enigmatically. “Can I drive?”
“Sure.” I handed the keys to him and he unlocked the passenger side and held the door open for me.
Once I was inside, he closed the door and rounded in front of the hood. My eyes followed him as he walked. I loved to watch him move. It was like watching water ballet or space acrobatics. It seemed as though gravity didn’t affect him like it did most people, like he was as light as the air through which he moved.
After pitching my duffel behind the seat, Bo climbed in and started the car, speeding away in the direction of his house.
Several minutes later, as I suspected, he pulled into his driveway and cut the engine. When he helped me out, he kept my hand tightly wrapped in his. Rather than leading me to the back door of the house, he surprised me by walking around the side to a set of concrete steps. He descended first, me following close behind.
At the bottom of the steps was an old red door with a small window at the top. I could only assume that it was the exterior entrance to a basement or cellar.
There was a padlock on the door that Bo unlocked using a small key on his keychain. When he pushed the door open, I expected to smell a gust of that musty odor that all basements seem to have, but I didn’t. It just got a whiff of Bo’s tangy scent.
It was pitch black inside the room. Bo reached back to take my hand and pull me inside, but before I’d taken even one step, Bo stopped me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Shh,” he whispered.
I listened, but didn’t hear anything alarming. I don’t know what kinds of ambient noises he was used to hearing around his house, but nothing sounded out of the ordinary to me.
With a note of seriousness in his tone that made chills race down my arms, Bo said, “Stay here. Don’t say a word and don’t make a sound.”
He shifted back past me and through the door, taking the steps two at a time. Still, I listened. Still, I heard nothing.
Bo disappeared from view. Contrary to what he might’ve thought, I was not going to stay in a dark, unfamiliar hole under his house when he was nowhere to be found.
I crept to the top of the steps and poked my head up to look around. In the moonlight, I saw Bo standing a few feet away, facing a man. They were just staring at each other, neither making a sound, neither moving a muscle.
Finally, the other man shifted, taking one slow step toward Bo.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
“Don’t know where you heard that. I don’t even know you.”
“But you knew John Gibbs,” the man said.
Gibbs? Gibbs? Where had I heard that name?
The thought was interrupted when I heard a low growling. At first, I thought maybe Bo had a dog I didn’t know about. I whipped my head around, half expecting a vicious Doberman to be right beside me. But there wasn’t. As it grew louder, I realized that it was coming from Bo.
“That’s what I thought,” the man sneered. “I’m just here to tell you: you come after my friends, you come after me. And if you come after me,” he said, taking another step toward Bo. “Well, let’s just say you already lost your biggest advantage, because now I know who you are. Now, I’ll be coming after you.”
A light breeze chose that very moment to blow through the back yard, ruffling my hair. I caught myself before I reached up to push my bangs out of my eyes. I didn’t want to move and risk exposure.
It didn’t matter, though. Both Bo and the other man turned toward me and I quickly ducked out of sight. I don’t know how they’d known I was there. I hadn’t made a sound or moved an inch.
“See, it just takes one visit to learn all about somebody’s weaknesses. You’d be wise not to forget that I know where to find you,” the man said warningly. “And your friends.”
“You shouldn’t make threats you have no hope of living to carry out,” Bo said evenly.
“Be careful, boy. You have no idea who you’re messing with.”
“I don’t care who you are,” Bo growled. “And I’m only gonna tell you this one time. Don’t ever come near here again.”
“I won’t have to. Everyone leaves eventually.”
I felt the whip of a gust of wind just before a loud crack split the night air. It sounded like a clap of thunder. I started to peek up and look around again, but just before Bo came into sight, I felt a sharp blow to the top of my head and the world went blissfully black.
********
Once again, I awoke to the scent of Bo in my nostrils. The tangy element—whatever delectable spice he smelled of—seemed stronger than usual and, despite the strange circumstances, it still made my insides melt.
I inhaled deeply, relishing the aroma. I tried to open my eyelids, but they were stubbornly ignoring my commands.
“Bo,” I called hoarsely.
My tongue felt sticky with something sweetly salty. I licked my tingling lips. Even the delicious residue made my mouth water.
“I’m here,” he said.
The sound of his voice was like a purr, rasping along my nerve ends like the brush of velvet against my skin.
“Be still.” The “s” made an odd hissing sound and I thought Bo’s voice sounded scratchy, like his throat was dry.
I remembered that I’d been looking for Bo when something had hit me in the head. As if on cue, my skull throbbed painfully. I reached up to touch my scalp, not sure what to expect, but a hand grabbed mine to still it before it got very far.