Chapter Two

It wasn’t supposed to be a million degrees at one in the morning. Okay, the thermometer in my car read eighty-seven, but it felt like a million.

When I walked into my apartment, I made the usual beeline to the air conditioner, turned it on, and stood under a vent. The air, while cool, didn’t offset the heat radiating from me or the stuffiness of the room. The breeze outside had done more.

I left the air running as I stepped out on to the balcony. It was pretty small, with room only for a couple of chairs and a table between them. I enjoyed reading out here in cooler weather, especially in the fall.

The air flow was much better. Still warm, but far less stifling.

I looked to the sky, focused on a star and wished hard for either a polar vortex to arrive, or for Elsa to get pissed off and unleash the cold.

Neither happened.

Back inside as I sped through my bedtime routine, I thought about bumping the A/C to full blast and worrying about the bill when it came. Could I justify it as an emergency expense?

Luckily, common sense kicked in before I did something I’d regret. I turned it off and brought one of my electric fans outside. It was worth a shot to get a better night’s sleep.

I positioned the table so the fan sent air over me. I moved the chairs so I could sit on one and use the other to stretch out my legs. The slight reclining action allowed me to lean back. It reminded me of an airplane seat, but with more leg room. I set my phone on the table with the alarm set for the usual six a.m. before I pulled my T-shirt over my head and kicked off my flip-flops.

It took a few minutes to find a comfortable position and once settled I vowed not to move until I had to.

My second floor perch afforded me a decent view. With little light around, the stars were in full view. Air conditioner hums filled the air with a nice white noise. Up the hill was another building, which was mostly dark except for a window that had flashes of light that had to be from a TV.

This was the most comfortable I’d been at home in days. The fan plus the natural breeze cooled me better than I’d expected. I closed my eyes, hoping to drift off. Unfortunately, my mind didn’t want to sleep yet as it continued to process the research I’d done earlier.

I opened my eyes and looked at the sky, hoping it would quiet my mind. I always enjoyed sleeping under the stars. When my family would go on camping trips, I’d make sure we had the perfect sky view so I could count constellations before bedtime. As my eyes wandered, I found the Big and Little Dippers as well as Draco.

Up the hill, someone stood on their balcony. While their second floor overlooked my balcony, there was so little light I doubted they saw me. It looked like a guy, based on the proportions of their body with the broad shoulders and chest. He wasn’t much more than an outline with his lower half blocked by the chunky railing.

He stood, looking out, surveying his surroundings like a sentry. His head stayed still, so I imagined his eyes moving side to side. His hands locked onto his hips. The outline of his arms looked muscular from my vantage point. If nothing else, my imagination built him up to be one very hot man.

He moved his left arm, and for a moment I thought he was adjusting himself. When the familiar back and forth motion started, I recognized exactly what he was doing.

Unbelievable.

Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I didn’t think so. Doing something like this in a locker room shower was one thing, but out here where you had no idea who might see seemed dangerous.

And crazy.

And hot as hell.

Why weren’t these balconies more see through?

Was he in shorts for modesty? Or stark naked?

I reached inside the waistband of my shorts at the same time Shadow Man—the name certainly fit—threw his head back.

Within a minute, he twitched.

And then did it again.

I got bold.

I stood and moved to the railing, taking a similar stance to Shadow Man. He stopped.

Did I surprise him?

He caught on quickly though that I was doing the same as him.

His entire body jerked three times in rapid succession. It pushed me over the edge too. 

I focused on him the entire time.

He stilled for only a moment before he turned and went inside. I glimpsed his bare butt before he slipped into the darkness of his living room.

Wow.

I grabbed my shirt from the concrete floor, and cleaned up as much as I could.

Settling back into my chairs, the breeze felt even better. I’d blown the heat right out of me. Sleep came quickly as I made plans to sleep out here again tomorrow.

Next Friday you'll meet Ethan's best friend Troy as the two have lunch and discuss Ethan's Shadow Man.

Fun fact: Ethan's apartment is modeled on the one I moved into when I was a senior at the University of Alabama. While I lived on the first floor, I've got Ethan on the second so the whole balcony thing would work better. While this scene never happened, I can report that my air conditoning worked well and was quite energy efficent during those humid, stuffy summers.