AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Astrid sat back and tilted her neck to the right and then left, enjoying the satisfactory crack of bones, releasing the tension from being hunched over for the last thirty minutes, signing books and posing for photos.
This part of her fame she enjoyed. She loved getting out and meeting her fans. A movement to the left caught her attention, and she saw a man standing in the back corner of the store. A shiver of apprehension spiraled down her spine.
What did he want?
He didn’t look like he frequented home goods stores, which was awful of her to make such an assumption, but he didn’t. There was an air of danger around him.
Oh shit, he isn’t one of the guys from the parking lot, is he?
Astrid tried not to let the thought take hold and freak her out. How could any of those guys possibly have tracked her down here? But her flight instinct was kicking in again. She needed to get out of here.
“Astrid, you okay?” Penni rushed up to her. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”
Penni cupped her elbow and sat her back down.
When did I stand?
I don’t remember getting up.
The thoughts tumbled in her mind, and her breath was coming out in rapid gasps. Maybe she was about to faint.
Astrid looked over to the corner where she’d seen the man, but he wasn’t there anymore. Had she imagined him? No, she knew for a fact she hadn’t conjured him up—he’d been standing there, watching her.
Had she made too much out of it? Was her reaction over the top because she was still a little freaked out by what had happened the previous day?
Anything was possible. Perhaps he was just a fan, and that was it.
Her breathing was settling down, and her heart rate was kicking back to normal. “Sorry. I’m okay. I think I just stood a little too fast.”
Penni looked like she was about to question her further, but Amy, the store manager, came over to them.
“Thank you so much for coming, Astrid. We’ve sold out of your new product range and have a list of people who want it too. We’ll be ordering more for sure,” Amy gushed.
Astrid should be over the moon that her products were such a hit, but all she could muster up was a small smile. “That’s great.”
Her mind was blank, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“That really is fantastic, Amy,” Penni took over for her. “I’ll make sure that your store is linked to when we upload the pictures. Are you good to go now, Astrid?”
She nodded, needing to get out of this place so she could examine why she was freaking out as much as she was. This was more than appearance anxiety. As silly as it seemed, Astrid knew that man wasn’t there to buy her products.
He was there for her.
Like she had earlier, Penni cupped Astrid’s elbow as they both exited the store. They’d taken a few steps when Penni stopped and looked at her. “What’s going on, Astrid, and please don’t say nothing, because I know there is. I’ve seen too much shit in the last few years not to believe that something is going on with you. Apart from looking like you were about to pass out, you looked ready to flee the store, as if being chased by a swarm of angry customers.”
Could Penni help her? Could her husband? Although she didn’t know what Knox could do. He worked for the Navy. He couldn’t go in and demand something be done to help her.
Astrid looked around to make sure that there wasn’t anyone in the vicinity that might overhear what she was about to say. “Last night, I witnessed a murder. Well, more heard than saw, but I did see an argument and then heard shots and men ran past me and took off in a car. When I went back to my car, there was a man on the ground. He’d been shot.”
The words were a jumbled mess, and hopefully, Penni could understand what she’d been trying to say.
“Shit. Did you report it to the police? Did you see someone here? Is that why you freaked out?”
Astrid shouldn’t be surprised that Penni had been able to connect the dots from her rambling confession to her reaction in the store.
“I d-don’t know if who I saw a few minutes ago was involved, but he was watching me and I got a…”
What would Penni say if she said she had a feeling that there was something off about him? Would she laugh and tell her she was overreacting?
