Free Anything For Him by Lily Harlem, Natalie Dae Page A

oak, I pressed against it and peered around the side. I had the perfect view of his window and the bushes beneath. I could only hope the neighbours around here weren’t the kind to telephone the police to report a loiterer. I really didn’t need that. I eyed the area and realised no one would give much of a shit about me being out here squashed against a tree. Each house appeared to be the same as the one Liuz lived in, all with multiple bell buttons beside the front doors. I suspected students and single people occupied the premises.
    I wasted about half an hour scoping the street, noting alleys between houses I could duck down if I needed to make myself scarce. Many had chest-high refuse bins backed up to the walls, and that suited me just fine. I could crouch beside them and be totally out of sight. I nodded, pleased that my surroundings were in line with any eventuality that might crop up, and swung my rucksack off my shoulder in order to pull out an apple. Eating would waste another ten minutes or so – that’s if I could stomach it. My heart rate had picked up as thoughts of Liuz leaving his home weaved through my mind.
    I could do this. I did this kind of thing all the time. I just happened to be intent on following someone who might recognise me and wonder what the hell I was doing following him. Breaking the rules.
    My sunglasses pinched the bridge of my nose. Reluctant to take them off but unable to stand the irritation, I stuck them in my jacket pocket. I bit into the green apple. Juice squirted out and hit me in the eye. I stifled a squeal and bunched my eyes shut, rubbing the sting away with my knuckles. I should have kept the bloody glasses on. I chewed and swallowed, my appetite for eating suddenly gone, and opened my eyes to look around for a nearby rubbish bin. To my right, a dog waste bin hung lopsided from a lamppost, but the good citizen in me wouldn’t allow for dumping my apple in there. I hunkered down and opened my bag, rummaging about for one of the spare sandwich bags I’d packed. Putting the apple inside and securing my rucksack, I stood upright and swung it onto my back before looking over at Liuz’s window.
    He was staring out. Right at me.
    Shit! No sunglasses!
    I jumped. Surely he couldn’t see me here behind the tree. Only part of one eye was showing, a sliver of the side of my face. Nerves dancing in my belly, I eased right out of sight, put my glasses back on, and inhaled deeply. It was OK. He hadn’t seen me, I was sure of it. And if he had, it wouldn’t look like me anyway. I’d purposely dressed unladylike. I could be one of many students who undoubtedly lived in these parts, a wacky one who thought nothing of standing behind trees with their day’s meals in their rucksack.
    With that thought in mind, I inched my face to the side again. Liuz wasn’t at the window, and I sighed out my relief. Then sprang back in alarm as he breezed past me down the street, head bent low, hands in black jacket pockets. The jacket hem covered his ass, but I still imagined the swell of it beneath, how it would look, snugly encased in dark denim. Preoccupied with gawping at him, I lost concentration and my foot slipped off the curb behind me, stuck fast between the curb and a car tyre. My ankle twisted. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself screeching from the sharp pain and turned to watch him walking away. He strode at a pretty fast clip, and I needed to get my foot free fast if I were to keep up with him before he went out of sight.
    Steeling myself for more pain, I wiggled my foot loose and tested how my weight felt on my ankle. It wasn’t too bad, so I lightly limped after him, keeping a good distance so that if he looked back I could slink out of sight down an alley. He reached the end of the road; then glanced left and right before crossing over the intersection ahead. I pursued, adrenaline swirling through me at the thought of finally finding out something different about him.
    We