Member-only story
The Seduction
Prose
When I went to the door, it was James who opened it.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, eyes scattering to the darkness behind me as if he were trying to see if there were specters out there in the night.
“I — I had to come,” I said. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Were you seen?”
“I — I don’t think so,” I said.
He ushered me in, grabbing me by the arm and tugging me forward until I nearly stumbled over the threshold.
Then I saw Abigail, her braid spilling over her shoulder, dressed in comfy clothes for the night. I brightened when I saw her even though her eyes shuttered as soon as James turned his attention back to us.
“He can’t just come over whenever he wants,” James said.
“He’s my friend,” Abigail said, taking me by the arm and casting me protectively behind her.
“Bullshit,” James spat, and it was then that I realized there was something dark inside him. His eyes flashed towards mine with dislike clear in their depths.
But Abigail took me to the living room where she sat me down across from her vinyl collection and its lone player. She ran a smoothing hand over my head.
