Page 6 of The Dark Stranger
Still…
Staying home meant thinking.
And thinking meant remembering Izzy’s face the last time she saw him — guilt in his eyes, but not enough to stop what he’d already set in motion.
She typed back before she could change her mind.
Yeah. I’ll come.
Because Rebecca had always gone when people called
Even when she knew better.
The night Rebecca decided not to feel anything… was the night everything caught up to her.
She stood in front of her bedroom mirror longer than she meant to.
The black dress hugged every curve like it was stitched onto her skin—open back, thin shimmer along the shoulders, the kind of dress that screamed confidence even when the woman wearing it was running on emotional fumes. Her curls fell wild tonight. Not polished. Not perfect.
Just real.
Like her.
Her phone buzzed on the dresser.
Cassie:We’re outside.
Marie:Don’t make us come drag you out.
Becca smirked, grabbing her clutch.
“Tonight,” she muttered to her reflection, “we don’t think.”
The lie tasted familiar.
Cold night air hit her the second she stepped outside her small country home. The quiet woods wrapped around her—no sirens, no city noise like back in New York. Just wind.
Stillness.
For a split second…
She felt it.
That strange crawling awareness.
Like eyes.
Watching.
Her gaze drifted toward the dark tree line beyond her driveway, but nothing was there. Just shadows playing tricks.
“Get it together,” she whispered, locking the door.
Club Chaos was already alive when they pulled into the parking lot.
Bass thumped through the walls while neon lights sliced through the darkness. Cassie and Marie were mid-conversation when Becca stepped out of the car, heels clicking against pavement.
Both women paused.
