A Mysterious Man novel Chapter 2

From the dim sunlight I was able to find a light switch on the wall. Flipping it on, I looked up to see a good-sized chandelier dangling from the ceiling. Most of the lights on it were lit. The others, not so much.

Edgar stopped screeching, and it was blessedly silent. After a few moments I began to find it creepy and almost wished that he would start again. Of course, that meant he would never yowl again. My cat hated me enough to regularly plot my murder - I could see it in his eyes when I looked at him. I began to explore the creepy house further, turning on lights as I went, or at least, the ones that actually worked.

Eventually I made my way up to the second floor. My phone had already chimed several times, alerting me of texts that were probably all from my mom. I hadn't bothered to look yet. I wandered into what must have been the master bedroom. After looking at what would be my room, I went back downstairs and set Edgar's carrier down in the room that looked most like a living room. The "house" was more like a wooden mansion. Who was my aunt that allowed her to live this way?

From what I remembered of Aunt Claire, she was a simple artist. She had shown me pictures of her work, and I had thought she was really talented, but from what I knew, galleries weren't exactly lining up to hire her.

I bent down until my face was level with Edgar's through the mesh door of his carrier. He was glaring at me, like normal. I swear, that glare would kill me one day. The government could probably take Edgar from me and use him as a weapon of mass destruction, his glare was that potent. My mother assured me that it would happen one day. My sisters agreed. My dad didn't really have an opinion on the matter.

"I'm going to leave you here while I go get our stuff from the car." Great. I was talking to my cat. Hopefully my mother would never find out.

My response from Edgar was another glare.

I argued my point. "You don't know the area, and I don't feel comfortable letting you out where I can't keep an eye on you." Surely I was going insane. What normal person talked to their cat? Especially a cat that didn't exactly like them?

Again, my response was a glare.

"Whatever," I said to him as I walked away to get my bags. I had shoved what I had that could fit in my car and taken it with me. It consisted of my laptop, my kindle, most of my clothing, and some various mementos that I couldn't bear to leave behind. I had also brought some towels, kitchen and bathroom items, and of course, Edgar.

Although, it was doubtful that bringing Edgar was the best choice. I should have left him at home so that he could torture my mom.

I walked out…

and ran into a man.

As I started to fall to the floor, I looked at the reason why I was falling in the first place. He was tall, well over six-feet, with well defined muscles that were easily visible. His dark, almost black eyes were trained on me as I toppled backward.

All in all, he was a very handsome man. A very handsome, very naked man.

He let me fall to the floor. He didn't reach a hand out and try to catch me or anything - which was quite rude. And, as I was getting up off the floor, he didn't offer a hand to help me up, either. When I was standing I stared at the man, politely keeping my eyes in the appropriate spots, even though they tried to wander… a lot. I was opening my mouth to ask him who the hell he thought he was that he could be naked in my house, but of course Edgar chose that moment to start screeching again. Damn cat.