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I dropped my boots on to the rug and sat my fuzzy socks on the bed. I got back up and made walked over to the dresser my phone had been on. I opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a pair of black leggings and closed the drawer again. I slipped my shorts off and put the leggings on before heading back to the bed. I put the shorts down on the bed and picked up the socks. I put the socks on and slid my feet into the boots. It took me a good five minutes just to do up the laces on those things, but they looked nice on my feet and calves, so I thought it was worth it.
I got a zip up hoodie out of the coffin closet that was black and had cat ears on top of the hood. I put it on and zipped it up. It fit me snugly, and I immediately liked it; this was the first time I'd worn it, and I wondered who had picked it out, Jules or Damien. I stuffed the phone in the right front pocket of the hoodie before picking the shorts up off of the bed and heading out the door. I dropped the shorts off in the hamper in the closet in the bathroom before going back down the stairs.
Tyson was waiting for me in the dining room. He'd put his black combat boots and a black zip up hoodie similar to my own on, only I was betting his didn't come with animal ears up top. When I got up next to him, he handed me a long, heavy duty, black flash light that weighed way more than it looked like it should. It had Maglite written in small, white letters around the rim of the light. Tyson held a matching one in his hand. There was a smaller purple one that looked to be about half the size of the one he'd handed me sticking out of one of his hoodie pockets. What did we need an extra light for?
"You ready?" Ty grunted.
Now wasn't that a good question?
Was I ready? Was I?
No, I absolutely did not think I was ready to go on a little nighttime journey through the forest to look for a cat that wasn't mine and might not even want to be looked for. He was probably chasing mice and other little rodents, and torturing them for the fun of it, and I was going to come along and ruin his time. There was probably nothing scary out there at all, and I likely didn't need to worry about the three of us (yes, I was counting Binx in with Ty and myself) being eaten alive by some scary uber monster who had been fucking around with me and trying to get into my dreams.
Nope, none of that was going to happen.
We'd be perfectly fine.
I clutched my heavy-duty flashlight to my chest and held on to it for dear life. If it came down to it, the thing would always make a good weapon for braining someone else with.
"Ariel," Tyson said as he looked back at me over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"
I was, but only because it had been my suggestion and I was worried about the damn cat. I tried to tell myself that I wasn't afraid of the dark as I followed behind Tyson out the front door.
I also called myself a big, fat, stupid liar.
Chapter Eight
In the time I’d been living with Dash, I had never actually seen his backyard. It had simply never occurred to me to follow the stone path around the side of the house to check out what lay behind the cottage. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really looked out the windows in the kitchen that faced the backyard, either. I had never pulled the light gray curtains aside to peak out the sliding glass door that faced the backyard head on. I had always assumed there were trees, trees and more trees back there.
I now knew I had been wrong in my assumption.
There was a flower garden back there, an iron bench with bright orange pillows covering the seat, a fancy round table with two matching chairs. Further back in the yard, away from the flowers and the pretty table, there was a massive fire pit in the ground that was surrounded by red bricks. Orange, wooden Adirondack chairs formed a loose circle around the fire pit. It looked like a well-used space, and I wondered why no one had used it since I'd moved in. Binx was nowhere to be seen in the back yard, which is where we looked after doing a quick scan of the almost non-existent front yard and checking under my Rover, which was the only vehicle parked out front.
I followed behind Ty as he walked the tree line in the backyard. I had my phone in my left hand, and the heavy flashlight in my right hand. The flashlight wasn't on yet because I didn't need it. We'd left all of the lights on the main level of the cottage on, and they illuminated the backyard in a soft glow.
Tyson kept calling out Binx's name loudly and making weird kissy noises as we searched. I didn't call out, and I made no such ridiculous noises. Instead, I walked behind him in silence as I scanned the ground and the tree line, looking for any movement, and caught sight of none. We made it to the very edge of the backyard where we lost sight of the light from the kitchen and darkness crept in around the edges of the grass. Tyson stopped walking, and I was so focused on scanning the ground that I almost walked right into his back when he stopped. I raised the hand holding the phone and pressed it into the small of his back, stopping myself from crashing into him. I peeked around his side and peered into the dark woods.
"Where's the moon tonight?" I murmured quietly.
I really wanted to burrow into Ty's back and wrap my arms around his middle, clinging to him like a baby monkey clings to its momma. To make sure I didn't do just that, I pushed off of him with a gentle shove and stepped to the side. I moved up beside him as I stuck the phone back into my hoodie pocket. It really was doing me no good in my hand, even if I did feel better simply holding on to it.
Tyson switched his hold on the flashlight from his right hand to his left. Blindly, he reached out with his right hand and took hold of my left one. My entire body warmed with just the one touch.
"The new moon just started," he told me quietly. "There's not much to it yet." He lifted our joined hands and pointed towards the darkness in front of us. "Do you see that trail out there?" He asked in that quiet voice.
He lowered our hands, and I looked out into the dark where he'd been pointing. Honestly, the dark was so dark, the trees so thick, that I didn't see much of anything besides black.
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," I muttered uneasily. "Maybe you were right from the beginning, and Binx is just out here for a little stroll through the dark, and he'll be back after he takes a poop in a bush or whatever it is that cats do when they go outside."
I shrugged, and it was wasted on Tyson, because he couldn't see the movement in the dark. Not when his eyes were busy scanning what lay ahead.
Tyson chuckled. "Since when did you become a wimp?" He asked me.
Since always, I almost said, but didn't. It might have even been true, but I was working really hard to change it.
"I'm not a wuss," I said hotly.
"Oh yeah?" he shot back. "Then why don't you head on down the trail first."
