Alla Kar - Stroke Of Fear

I cross my arms over my chest. “So you can try and fight him again? I think not.”

Jake rolls his eyes but Tanner places a hand on my back. “Go inside, darlin’. Let us have a talk.”

My mouth drops open, but Tanner gives me a pleading look. I mumble underneath my breath and open the door.

“Fuck,” Cassie says, holding her head. “Warn a girl before you walk into a room.” She backs away and rubs her knuckles against the spot.

“So you were spying on us?”

“Do you see anything else to do around here?”

I laugh and we both turn to press our ears against the door. “Can you hear anything?” she whispers.

“Nada.”

She growls and looks out the peep hole. “The bastards moved away from the door,” she grumbles.

Running toward the window, I look out. “Shit. They’re over there by the boy’s cabin. Assholes.”

Cassie walks to her bed and flops down. “So, how are the swimming lessons going?”

I gawk at her. “How do you know about that?”

She tosses her chestnut hair from her shoulder. “Come on. You have a bathing suit on, Aub. It’s pretty obvious. You don’t swim, so why would you have that on?”

“To suntan.”

“You’re already tan, and I know you. You’re trying to learn again. I’m glad. It’s time.”

I nod and reach over to give her a hug. “Where’s Eric?”

She shrugs. “Not my boyfriend, remember.”

I lift an eyebrow at her.

She groans. “Playing X-Box in the game room.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Tanner

“Kick it like this.”

Kelley, the cutest ten-year-old in the world, furrows her brow and tries to mimic my kick. She nearly falls on her butt in the process, but gets the ball to me.

I smile and give her a thumbs up. “Okay, now like this.”

She pushes her small glasses up her nose, and bats her huge blue eyes. This kid is going to be a heartbreaker when she gets old enough. “Like this, Mr. Tanner?”

“What did we talk about?”

She smiles, but red rushes toward her cheeks. “Tanner, not Mr. Tanner.” I give her a wink and kick the ball back to her. She’s on my team for the soccer games. She’s terrible, but the cutest damn thing you’ll ever lay your eyes on.

I’m waiting for her to kick it back to me when I see her gaze over my shoulder. Turning, I see a man standing at the edge of the woods away from the cabins.

He’s not moving. Just staring. What. The. Fuck. “Hey, Kelley, we’ll practice some more tomorrow. You want to go ahead and go back to your cabin? It’s almost supper time.”

She nods her head vigorously. “Bye, Mr. Tanner .” I scowl but watch as she skips away.

The man is still standing there when I turn my head. A white hat covers his face, but I can tell his hair is darker. He’s in some kind of old clothes, ratty and dirty.

Cupping my hand around my mouth, I call out, “You lost?”

Nothing.

“You lost?” I repeat.

Slowly, he moves his head back and forth. It’s Jason-ish. I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought an axe out from behind him and started chasing me down.

A car horn blows and I turn to see Aubrey waving at me. “Going to town to get some ice cream. Want something?”

I shake my head. “No, go ahead. I’ll see you when you get back.”

She and Cassie drive away. I’m glad. I don’t want them anywhere near the axe murderer over there. When I turn back around, he’s gone.

Shit. Swallowing the nervous lump in my throat, I start toward the woods. Come on, don’t be a pussy, Tanner. The trees are thick, and I have to break some braches nearly off to get through. How in the hell did his big ass get through here?

It seems like I’ve been pushing through the shrubs forever, before the trees start to come less and less. When I push through the last tangle of limbs, I come into a clearing. It’s almost bare, except for a campfire, a pile of leaves and some drawings in the dirt. Someone is definitely camping here. Why so close to a camp full of kids?

The leaves and twigs are pushed together into a bed. A bed. My throat is fucking dry, but I swallow the lump. Digging my phone out of my jeans, I dial 911. Someone is spying on the camp. And it’s fuckin’ creepy as hell.

“Can you describe what the man looks like?”

An officer with a potbelly and pants too small for his waist glares over his glasses at me.

“I told you. He was tall, bigger and had a white cap on. He didn’t come too close. He basically fled as soon as I turned around.”

“Um-hmm,” he mumbles, scribbling on his tablet. “You say you saw his camp through there, right?”

“Yes.”

“These are popular woods around here. Someone could definitely be camping out there and be harmless.”

Anger is rising, but I try to force it back down. “Doesn’t Camp Awesome own this property?”

“Yes, they do.”

“Then they would need permission to be there? He doesn’t. Obviously, Mrs. Jones doesn’t know anything about it.”

At least Mrs. Jones is worried. She’s talking to another officer off to the side. One hand is wrapped around her waist and the other covering her mouth.

“Right. Well, we had some guys go check it out, but they didn’t find anyone. Or any clues. Our hands are tied.”

I’ll tie his hands all right. “Look, so you’re sayin’ you can’t do anything? Because we have a camp full of children. What would happen if someone was killed? Or a bunch of them? How would you feel then?”

Snatching his glasses form his wide nose, he looks down at me through beady eyes. “Listen, kid. We can only do so much. We’re not super heroes.”

“Obviously. Thanks for nothing.”

I stalk off before he can say anything else. You’ve got to be fuckin’ kiddin’ me. There is a strange guy creeping around a camp full of kids and the police aren’t going to do shit. What the hell else is new?

Eric is standing out on the porch of our cabin when I walk up. “What’s up with the police? What happened?”

“Some guy is creeping around. I called the cops. He has a camp set up in the woods close by.”

“What the…let me guess? They can’t do anything about it?”

“Hit the nail on the head.”

“Fucker. Want to play some X-Box?”

Wow, one track mind.

Eric and I spend the rest of the afternoon in the game room hogging the TV from most of the kids. When Cassie and Aubrey get back it’s already dark. Aubrey’s cheeks are bright red, and I see a Victoria’s Secret bag in her hand. I want to reach over and pull everything out, but I don’t.

“Some kid told us the police were here earlier,” Cassie says, sitting down in Eric’s lap. “Why?”

“Guy was creeping around the camp. He set up camp in the woods close by,” I say. I pat Aubrey’s leg, and she gives me a fake smile.

“Did they find him?” she whispers.

I shake my head. “No, they barely looked.”

She has every right to be nervous. She had a guy stalk her for weeks before trying to kill her. Now some guy is creeping around. I’d be freaked out, too.

“Why don’t we go back to our cabin and watch a movie?” Cassie pulls out some DVDs. “I bought some.”

Eric sticks his hand in the bag and pulls out a few. “These are all chick flicks.”

“Well, hello, I’m a girl. Haven’t you noticed?”

He waggles his eyebrows. “I’ve noticed.”

Aubrey’s quiet on the way to the cabin. She’s looking around, no doubt searching for any sign of a creeping man.

“You don’t think it could be him, do you?”