Chapter 7
Lovelyn
Sprinting like my life depended on it, I fled down Shore with its waterside restaurants and moored boats and dove into the first archway. It took me behind the pretty brick buildings and to car parks and narrow alleys. Perfect for hiding, but also where Kane had snatched me yesterday.
Anger and upset gave me the boost I needed to get away. This time, I was fully aware of my surroundings. He wouldn’t catch me again.
Knowing he would have to park somewhere off the busy street before he could pursue me, I made the decision to double back on his route, assuming he wouldn’t do the same.
At the exit where Timber Bush Lane joined the main road, I paused to check the coast was clear, planning to dart through the traffic to the other side where I could get back to my parking spot unseen.
His black car should be far ahead by now. But a different scene met my gaze. Kane’s vehicle was still in the road, abandoned and blocking the way.
And obviously empty.
My heart lurched. I spun around, taking a breath when he wasn’t directly behind me. But still, he’d jumped out to chase me. He couldn’t be far.
I had absolutely no justification for the feral little smile that tried to form on my lips.
With a hand up to pause the slow-moving traffic, I weaved between the cars and slipped into another maze of roads and lanes.
Leith was a mixture of old buildings and new, the streets firmly in the higgledy-piggledy design that had grown organically from when the port had been established a thousand years ago.
Made for smugglers, not women in boots trying not to die.
Down Maritime Street, I dodged puddles and almost tripped on a cobble, catching myself to push on into lanes that went through housing estates, graffiti boards and fallen leaves lining my path.
There were people all around. Getting into cars, going into their homes. No one paid me any mind.
All the while, I felt someone pursuing me. My senses brightened and came alive for the grasp of fingers. The snatch of a hand.
Under the archway of a large block of flats, I finally paused, clinging to a brick wall with my chest heaving with a need for oxygen. No oversized gangster followed.
Where was he? I hadn’t had that much of a head start.
Perhaps I’d been wrong about Kane’s car being empty. Would he really chase me? He knew about Dixie’s tablet, but then again, he’d known that at the warehouse. He could’ve just taken it from me then. I had no way of stopping him.
Yet he’d threatened to hunt me if I ran.
A delicious thrill ran down my spine, and the heat from my escape turned into something else. Anticipation of being caught.
He’d been stealing glances at me earlier. Or taking them without concern. I didn’t like him, but attraction burned in me as if he’d caught me on fire.
A heavy footstep rang out, echoing in the enclosed space.
I whipped around.
At the far end of the apartment building, under a matching archway to mine, a tall figure strolled. Dark clothes, close-cropped hair, cold fire in his eyes.
Unhurriedly, Kane advanced on me.
I was a deer in the headlights, caught on the predatory way he advanced. Slow and steady, as if there was no way I could evade him. Not for long.
His arrogance was breathtaking.
I allowed myself to enjoy the sight, strange as it was. He’d pursued me. I hadn’t been wrong. At last, my brain reset and unlocked my muscles. I staggered out of the cover of the arch. Then I turned and bolted.
This time, there was no disguising the hunter at my back. The sound of his steps ricocheted off the close buildings, faster than mine and only speeding up. My heart beat so hard I thought it might burst, and I put my all into my flight, diving into one side road then the next.
Fifty metres between us reduced to forty. Thirty.
The problem was, I’d never felt so alive. Which was so messed up. I should’ve been concerned for the state of my brain.
Spotting my car beside the damp pavement had never felt so good. I already had my keys in my hand, and the lights flashed when I hit the unlock button.
For a dizzying second, I let myself imagine what it would be like if Kane grabbed me. This time, with me fully aware of whose clutches I’d fallen into.
He was twenty metres away and closing.
Fright gave me speed, and I popped the door and fell inside. Locked it a second before he hit the frame.
Kane wrenched at the handle. When it didn’t give, I expected him to smash my car with one big fist.
Instead, he lowered himself to my window so his face was inches from mine. He breathed hard, braced on those thick arms of his.
Then the bastard winked.
Damn, my kidnapper was getting cheeky.
Holding my gaze for a beat longer, he pushed off my car and walked away, his huge shoulders rippling under his black t-shirt when he passed under a yellow streetlight.
I stared after him, my fingers trembling.
What the hell was that? Where was his demand to give up what he wanted?
It was almost as if he’d chased me for fun.
I sagged, fought to control my wild pulse, then switched on my engine and got the heck away.
Throughout my trip back to Deadwater, I kept peeking in my rearview mirror, examining every pair of headlights that came close. None of them were Kane’s black car, though. He’d quit. There was no justification for the disappointment that burned in my chest.
Shortly after eight p.m., I arrived at the hipster bar Molly had given me the address for and stepped into a buzzing interior with a DJ pounding the decks.
Lights flittered over the queue for the bar that was three people deep, so I picked my way to the very end and waved at a bartender at the till, shouting my request. He gestured to a wrought-iron staircase.
I climbed it, finding a slightly less busy space with the smaller bar at the top.
Behind it, a short, curvy woman with a blue pixie cut handed over a pint of beer to a waiting customer. The man beckoned to speak in her ear, and she bent forward, a line forming between her eyebrows, one of which was decorated with a ball piercing.
Molly, because it had to be her by the fact there were no other bar staff up here, recoiled from the man. Whatever he’d said clearly pissed her off, because she reached for a cardboard drinks coaster from the polished bar top and flicked it between his eyes.
It bounced off his forehead.
My kind of woman, turning a coaster into a weapon.
Molly laughed and stuck her thumbs in the waistband of her tight jeans, a cropped top with the name of a band across it exposing inches of her stomach.
The jerk who’d offended her rubbed his forehead then swung a furious gaze at her, muttering something through gritted teeth.
She shrugged and reached to neatly take his pint glass back behind the bar.
The guy raised his hand.
Oh, hell no. She was a third of his size. I hurried over in time to hear his slurred words.
“Fucking slut. You can’t do that to me.”
Molly widened her eyes, her tone mocking. “An insult? So original. What are you going to do with that hand, jackass?”
He formed it into a fist.
Shit. What did I do? There needed to be a bouncer up here, but if I ran back downstairs to get one, I wouldn’t be able to help her.
No one else at the tables paid attention to the argument, and a group further along the bar just appeared impatient to get their round in. The jackass had his back to them, so they probably couldn’t see what he’d done.
Swallowing fear, I closed the distance to thump on his shoulder. “Leave her alone.”
He swung around to face me, his movements jerky and his forehead dotted with sweat. “What the fuck did you say?”
“She told ye to leave her alone,” another voice repeated from over my shoulder.
My jaw dropped. I peeked around.
Kane stood directly behind me, his body almost touching mine but his furious gaze locked on the customer. My guardian psychopath was back.
How? How did he find me? And why was I so glad to see him?
Kane dropped his chin and linked his gaze to mine. “Get behind me, Lovelyn.”
I slid away and moved to the bar, dragging my focus off Kane for a moment to speak to the woman I’d come to see.
“Molly?”
“Oh my God, you’re Lovelyn?”
I nodded then glanced back to where the customer slurred something at Kane then shoved him.
His mistake. In a heartbeat, Kane bounced the guy’s head off the bar then wrenched his arm behind his back.
Blood oozed from the man’s nose, and to his squeals of protest, Kane dragged him through the tables, knocking over an empty chair, then marched him across the room and half threw him down the steps, my own pet predator pursuing him out.
I was not attracted to violence. I was not attracted to violence.
Coming back to Molly, I tried to settle my face into a calm expression. “What did he say to you?”
“The usual. That he liked my tits and wanted a go on them. Men see bar staff as easy lays. Aren’t you a sweetheart for stepping in? I like how your boyfriend broke his nose. He won’t forget that in a hurry.”
I opened my mouth to reply that Kane wasn’t my boyfriend, more of a recurring problem than a relationship, but that begged an explanation I couldn’t give. Instead, I perched onto a tall stool. “Do you have a second? It looks like you’re busy.”
Molly glowered at the people further down the bar who cringed back at her fierce expression. “They can wait. Do you have the tablet?”
I handed it over. She frowned at the screen then drew a squiggle across the number pad.
It unlocked. Molly’s eyes brightened.
“I can’t believe that worked. Wait, I’ll do it again but slower so I can tell you the number.”
She did, and this time, I noted the code of three-eight-four-three.
“Thank you.” At last, I could get into Dixie’s systems. Except with Kane here, I couldn’t do it unwatched.
Molly shrugged. “Can I ask what it’s for? Is this to do with Dixie disappearing? Everyone’s been talking about it.”
“I can’t say too much.”
“I get it. I’ll mind my own.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is she okay?”