Читать книгу Keeping Guard - Christy Barritt - Страница 8

The cold rain felt like daggers penetrating Kylie Summers’s skin. She tried to escape its torrent, but the drops kept chasing her, even as she retreated under the awning of the brick-fronted restaurant.

She pounded on the glass door again, desperate to get out of the storm. “Hello?”

The red neon sign above read The Revolutionary Grill. Yes, this was the place where her brother had instructed her to come to hide out. So where was Nate Richardson, her brother’s best friend and the restaurant’s owner? She shielded her eyes from the overhead streetlight and peered through the door. Inside, the place looked dead. Lights out, chairs on tables, staff gone.

It was almost midnight. She sighed and kicked the door. What now? She knew no one else in the historic town. She’d dropped her cell phone in a puddle of water two rest stops ago and she had exactly twenty-six dollars in her wallet.

A chill that had nothing to do with the weather crawled up her arms, an all too familiar feeling. She swung around, her wet hair slapping her in the face. She backed up against the rough brick wall that flanked the door. Her gaze frantically searched the black nighttime landscape. Lightning streaked across the sky over the river beyond the parking lot. Thunder boomed. A lone pier stretched like a decrepit arm into the night. Lights from houses across the water stared at her.

Kylie pushed herself harder against the wall, wishing she could sink into it. Her gaze continued to dart across the landscape. What if the man who’d given her nightmares for the past six months was out there? The darkness and rain might cloak him, make him disappear. He could have followed her.

He always followed her.

Fear clenched her spine. Her breathing became rapid, un even. She couldn’t have another panic attack. Not now. Not here.

She had to find another entrance to this building. She had to figure out a way to find Nate. That, or she’d spend the night soaking wet in her car.

Nate had been expecting her to arrive three hours ago, a reasonable time for stores and businesses to still be open. But the treacherous weather had put her behind schedule, and he must have closed up shop and headed home for the night. She couldn’t blame him.

March rain pelted her as she darted from the front of the building. Her foot sank into a deep puddle, splashing icy water up her pant leg. Her shivers intensified. An alleyway lurked between the restaurant and gift shop next door. If she could cut through, maybe she’d find a back entrance to the grill.

Her throat went dry at the thought. Still, she had no choice.

Besides, the man couldn’t have followed her here. She would have noticed.

Right?

She stepped onto the cobblestone street, dodging past trash cans, old buckets and a ladder.

She looked behind her. No one. Her heart continued to race.

Maybe all of this had been a bad idea. She should have stayed in Kentucky.

But she’d been hunted there and felt like a deer in the middle of an open field. No, her old life had to be put on hold. She couldn’t continue living as she’d been for the past few months. Yet even here in Virginia she couldn’t shake the feeling of unseen eyes watching her every move.

Pictures of the man flashed through her head in sync with the lightning around her. Pictures of his shadowed face, his hooded profile.

Her heart rate quickened. She tried to push the thoughts aside.

The end of the alleyway neared. She picked up her pace. Sheets of rain plastered her hair to her face.

She rounded the corner and spotted a black door with an alcove. She ducked into the space and pounded her fist against the door. Please be there, Nate! The thought of going through that alley again caused fear to slither up her spine.

She waited. The only sound she heard was that of the rain hitting the ground like bullets. Occasionally, thunder shook the air.

Nothing.

She knocked again. Why wasn’t he answering?

She needed a Plan B. Only she didn’t have one. She barely had a Plan A.

She clenched her eyes closed. How could one person control her life like this? Why did she let him have this power?

She waited in silence, hoping—praying—Nate would hear her.

He didn’t. No one did. Not even God lately, it seemed.

She’d have to run back to her car, her only shelter. She could do that. She had to. Once protected behind locked doors, she’d figure out a plan. She took a tentative step into the rain.

A figure appeared around the corner from the alley. A hood concealed his face. A hood. It couldn’t be…

He had found her.

The man who’d haunted her nightmares for months had finally caught her. Alone.

Nate Richardson spotted the woman at his back door. His relief instantly turned to a mix of worry and irritation. He’d been expecting her three hours ago and she hadn’t bothered to call or answer her cell phone. About thirty minutes ago, he’d called her brother, and now Bruce sounded ready to drive out to Virginia himself.

“Kylie.” Nate stepped forward, keeping his hood over his forehead so his face would at least stay semidry.

The woman’s eyes widened and she shrank back. “Stay away from me.”

The rain poured onto his face, washing into his eyes. Nate stepped forward, trying to get out of the downpour. He needed to get her inside, to call her brother.

“I mean it! Stay back!” Her hands shot out in front of her.

“What are you—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Kylie darted across the parking lot.

Bruce had said his sister needed help. He didn’t tell him that the woman was a mental case. What exactly had he gotten himself into by promising Bruce this woman could stay here and help him at his restaurant?

Nate watched her retreat for a moment while contemplating his next move. Chasing her might further freak her out. But allowing her to run across the pothole-filled parking lot in this weather could cause her to twist an ankle or worse.

What would Bruce want him to do?

He sighed and began a steady jog to catch her. Rain sloshed in his face. He let his sweatshirt hood drop behind him. Rain soaked his clothing now, so the covering did him no good.

Nate saw Kylie glance back at him and then speed up. Her long hair appeared plastered to her blue blouse and her heels looked impossible to run in.

Then what Nate had feared would happen happened. Her body lurched forward and she sprawled on the asphalt.

He was only a few steps away from helping her. He quickened his pace.

Kylie turned toward him, panic clearly written in her wide eyes and oval-shaped mouth. “No! Stay away!” She tried to army-crawl forward, away from him.

The woman was a fighter. He’d give her credit for that. He just didn’t know what she was fighting against.

“Kylie, stop freaking out. I just want to help.”

“Stay away from me.”

“Kylie, it’s me—”

As soon as the words left his mouth, something hard came down across his head. His world began to spin and then went black.