CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Looking at him now, I wondered if I’d ever really known Xander at all.
His dishevelled appearance and the fury in his eyes as he stared at me was scaring me, and I had an urge to run. But my feet seemed to be welded to the bracken-covered forest floor and I couldn’t move.
‘What are you doing here?’ I blurted out. ‘I don’t understand. I’ve been texting you...’
His frown deepened but he didn’t reply.
Then he made a sudden movement towards me.
And I ran.
*****
What the hell was going on?
Had Xander been camping out in the woods ever since our argument? Or was this a temporary home?
Is this why he’d been avoiding taking me back to his place? Because he’d lost his flat for some reason and had nowhere else to live?
But why wouldn’t he have just told me what was going on?
It didn’t make any sense at all . . .
I ran blindly through the woody terrain, crashing through brambles and bushes but miraculously managing to remain on my feet, until eventually, I was back on the familiar path.
Relieved, I stopped for breath and looked back. There was no sign of Xander. And despite the sweat I could feel trickling down my back, a shiver ran through me.
I’d no idea what was happening here, but if I’d ever thought that Xander could be a criminal, that seemed to be proof back there that I’d been right to think it was possible.
Could he really be living in the woods as a fugitive, trying to escape detection by the police?
But the Xander I knew would barely even drive over the speed limit, let alone take part in a raid on a jeweller’s shop!
Unless I’d never really known him at all...