Her Dark Knight (Dark Hearts Mafia #2)

2. Scarlett

CHAPTER 2

Isigh and close the door behind me to the bookstore that I love more than anything on this planet. My mother ran it before me and my grandmother before her. It’s always passed down to the oldest woman in our family.

My mother passed away two years ago and I came home to Wildwood, Colorado to take over our family’s legacy. It’s been hard work because she didn’t tell me that the store was doing badly. So when I took over, I was shocked but I also knew that there was no damn way that I was going to let my mother’s legacy fail. It took long hours and a lot of work but it’s finally starting to turn around and I’ve been pleased with that progress. I feel like I’m doing justice to my mother’s legacy.

But I still work late some nights and this is one of those nights. It’s already dark outside and the streets are quiet in Wildwood. The rush of people shopping in this small town is already fading from the day and I smile at it.

I love this time of day. Wildwood is the safest place that I know. Considerably safer than the city I was living in. New York City was a nice place to visit but living there was another story. I was always nervous when I was out late at night on the streets. I didn’t like taking the subways and I totally didn’t like to walk around amongst the crowds.

But I don’t have the same complaints about Wildwood. It’s quiet and safe. Even when I walk home at night, there is nothing that makes me feel nervous.

The air is cool and comfortable but earlier in the day it was sticky and I hear thunder rolling over the mountains above us. The street lights are on and I make sure that the door is locked before stepping out of the doorway.

I hear a shuffle in the alley next to me and freeze, a chill skittering on my skin. I shiver and stare at the darkness, searching, my eyes narrowed.

“Hello?”

Nobody answers. But I swear there’s somebody there watching me. I turn around and try to push the edgy feeling washing over me away.

“It’s nothing,” I mutter to myself, “There’s nobody there. It’s all in your imagination.” Storms make me nervous so it’s probably just the storm playing on my ingrained fears.

I walk away but as I take the first couple of steps, I hear another scuffing noise and my heart skips, my fingers tensing on the strap of my shoulder bag. I suck in a shallow breath, trying to pretend I didn’t just hear what I thought I heard.

“You’re fine. Just walk, dammit!” Whispering to myself, I keep moving and pick up my steps until I’m power-walking through the night streets, hoping to reach my house in the middle of town before whatever it is catches up with me.

Just as I reach another alleyway, a hand reaches out and pulls me back into the darkness. Screaming, I punch and kick, smiling when I hear a voice grunt from the dark.

I turn and run for the doorway but I stumble and drop to my knees which gives the dark figure time to catch me. Jamming my elbow back into the figure, I hear him grunt. Then he growls and a fist slams into the side of my head. My ears ring and I can’t hear a damn thing but that ringing and my own heartbeat.

Grunting, I grab the side of my head and wince when it throbs with pain. Pushing back, I slam my own fist into the figure’s side and when his grip loosens, I rip out of his hands and fall out of the alley, getting my feet under me and running, falling, running again. His feet thud behind me and right when I think he’s about to get me again, another figure darts in between me and I hear a thud and then more grunts and thuds behind me.

And then like a damn idiot, I stop and lean against the wall, breath puffing out, eyes searching the deep as night darkness.

After one more grunt, one of the figures lifts up and away from the ground.

My eyes widen as I watch it grow and grow until it towers over me. I cower backwards and glance back and forth, looking for somewhere to hide. A hand reaches out and catches me before I can move. A snap of electricity whips up my arm and I gasp, stilling, my heart pounding.

“Hello, Red.”

I whip my head around and stare up into the dark, narrowing in on his huge figure.

“Who are you?”

He chuckles. “Doesn’t matter. Just a friend.”

I snort. “I don’t have any friends that look like you or would be out here this late at night.”

“You’re out here late at night,” he points out gruffly.

“I’m leaving work.”

“Maybe I am too.”

“Are you?”

“Nope.” He doesn’t even bother lying. “I’m following you.”

“Oh,” I answer weakly, wondering if I just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

He grins and I see the quick flash of his smile as he fades backwards so that I can’t see him clearly. He’s big. I mean, really big. Broad shoulders that block out the light and taller than me by quite a bit. I’m five foot two and I think he’s at least six foot tall.

I glance around us and sigh. “Where did the other guy go?”

He growls and glares around. “Dammit! I lost him.” He starts to turn and take off but shakes his head, grunting and shoving his hand through his hair.

“I have no idea which direction he went.”

Nodding, I look around nervously. “I guess I should get on my way home.”

“I’ll walk you.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” But my eyes search the night, feeling that little chill skittering across my nerves again.

“I’ll walk you home, Red.”

“Not necessary.” My belly clenches when he moves closer and touches my arm.

“I don’t care if it’s necessary or not. I’m still walking you home, Red. It’s too dangerous out after dark. It’s silly that you work so late that you’re walking home at this time of the night. Don’t you know that’s when the rats come out?”

I choke on a laugh. “Aren’t you out right now?”

“Just because you are.”

A tiny niggle of unease licks at my nerves. “Why does it sound like you have been following me home?

“Because I have.”

I stop and pull away from his arm, rubbing my own. He didn’t hurt me. His touch was gentle but firm. But it still felt like I was being branded by him.

“Who are you? Why are you following me?”

He moves closer to me and smirks, the flash of his white teeth and the street lights finally bringing him into focus. His dark hair sparkles with little speckles of silver but his dark eyes are surprisingly youthful and bright. His jaw is lean and covered with scruff. His skin is olive-toned and when he touches me again, I glance down and see the way his dark hand looks on my pale skin. My breath puffs out, shallow and fast.

“Does it matter what my name is?”

“Yes,” I whisper, still fixed on the way his hand looks on my arm. Confused at the heat burning under my skin and all the way to my belly.

He leans closer and his nose runs along my cheekbone. “It doesn’t matter who I am. All that matters is you. And that’s why I’m following you. I can’t stand to see you heading home all alone late at night. You don’t take good care of yourself, Red.”

I jerk and glare up at him, noting a car coming around the corner, its headlights outlining us on the sidewalk. “I take my safety very seriously.”

“Humph!” His dark eyes dart to the side, his brow scrunching up and then I see his eyes widen and he growls, “Get down!”

But before I can do a damn thing, his big body hits me and I fall to the ground, cringing when I realize I’m gonna get hurt. His big body covers me and he grunts as he turns so that he hits the ground on his back and I land on his broad chest, my fingers sinking into his shirt and feeling all those rows of muscles that hide under his clothes.

A pop, pop, pop rings out and then tires squeal as he sits up with a gun in his hand and swears under his breath.

“Dammit!” He slams his fist into the ground and growls.

I gasp for breath and sit up slowly, running my hands over my body and wincing when I run into a few scrapes and bruises.

But that’s not what I’m concerned about. “Who the hell are you?”

“Benito.”

My breath freezes in my throat. I only know one Benito and that one is a mob boss by the name of Bonetti.

I almost wish the guy in the alley had gotten me because I think I really did find the bigger danger right here. And he’s still looking at me like he’s not gonna let me get away.