“Hey, stranger.”
My entire body stiffened as a shadow suddenly cast over the cubicle. Sure enough, as I looked up, I was met with a pair of striking amber eyes and a smirk stretched from ear to ear.
“I’m really not in the mood, Blackburn,” I said, straightening back up.
This sexy crazy individual rounded the side of the desk and plopped down in the vacant seat beside me. He poked his head around the cubicle wall to observe my computer screen and chuckled. “Doing a little light reading, I see.”
“Please. Leave,” I gritted, noting the absence of his camera.
“Thinking of developing a new hobby?” He still couldn’t take his eyes off the ridiculous illustration from the website.
Embarrassment reddened my cheeks, forcing me to close the browser. “What do you want?”
“Well, to quote Freddy Mercury, ‘I want it all,’” he laughed. “But for now, I’ll settle for some answers.”
“I don’t know anything, especially the reason why you’re stalking me!” I sneered.
“Stalking?”
“Yes, that’s what you call it when you repeatedly harass someone and follow them around!”
“I beg your pardon?”
I looked him over, seeing he was dressed in his long militia coat. “What? You decide to leave your hoodie at home?”
His brows furrowed confusedly.
“Don’t even deny it.”
“Okay, I won’t…as soon as you clarify what the hell you’re talking about,” he countered.
“Last night. You’re really gonna stand there and tell me you weren’t the hooded psycho who nearly ran me off the road?”
“Yes, I am—going to tell you that, because I wasn’t.”
“Can’t say I’m particularly swayed.”
“Trust me, if I was there, you’d know. It’d be a real shame to rob you of the sight to all this awesomeness,” he laughed halfheartedly, making an invisible circle around his face with his pointer finger.
“Personally, I think the ski mask better suits you.”
A couple students nearby turned in their seats, eying me weirdly.
Neither the stares nor remark seemed to faze the magician though as he leaned in closer, forcing me to scoot as far over in my desk chair as I could without falling off onto the floor. His head tilted down as his eyes bored into mine, causing shadows to forebodingly cascade beneath his sharp cheekbones. With his teasing grin, the look was somehow menacing…in a frighteningly sexy way. And that thought churned my stomach. Sure, he was what society would call ‘odd,’ but Reese wasn’t scary by any means. There was still something about him. An enigmatic quality that made him mysterious. And in Mystic Harbor, where everyone knew everything about everyone, the odds of finding someone like Reese was about as good as stumbling upon a unicorn grazing on your front lawn.
“You know what I am,” he said lowly.
“Yeah, psychotic.”
His eyes narrowed, seeming to scrutinize every microexpression on my face, before traveling back over to the computer monitor. A mystified look fell over his own features. “Hold on. You…you really don’t know, do you?”
“That you’re crazier than a bag full of cats? It’s not that hard to miss,” I shot back.
That weird, studying expression of his didn’t fade. “Feeling a bit different lately?”
My heart rate ticked up to a whole other level. How could he possibly know that?
I apparently didn’t have much of a poker face, because his eyes expanded as he read my expression. “You’ve gotta be joking.”
“Get away from me,” I growled.
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll scream,” I countered.
Of all things, he laughed. “Well, good luck with that. I can assure you, you’ll just look crazy.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because as far as they’re concerned, Princess,” he said, gesturing to the rest of the room, “you’re just arguing with yourself.”
“You’re bat-shit.”
“No, I’m invisible,” he countered. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I’m only invisible to normal humans, when I wish to be. And mute.”
I snatched my book bag off the floor and started throwing my things inside. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you, and quite frankly, I don’t care. My advice, up your dosage and leave me alone. And investing in a straitjacket wouldn’t hurt you, either.”
“You don’t believe me?” He grabbed a highlighter off the desk I hadn’t gotten to yet and suddenly flung it behind him, smacking some hipster guy in the back of the head across the way.