Page 14 of Abandoned

“I’m no one’s pet, least of all yours. Please leave.”

Ernie chuckled. “You’ll be singing a different song after I’m done with you.”

“Get lost.” She needed backup, so she checked her back pocket. Her phone was still in her car, and Ernie blocked her path. How could she be so stupid?

Maybe if she led him away, she could circle back and get in her car without him getting too close. She backed up farther and directed herself around another vehicle, shifting away from the truck he’d come around.

As she suspected, he followed, regardless of how fast she went.

Ernie’s leering eyes seemed as if they were trying to undress her. “You know, you look hot in your uniform, but those shorts are even more enticing.”

Apparently, she wasn’t wrong about his eyes. “You do understand that I’m an officer of the law, and whether or not I’m in uniform, if you touch me in any way, you could be charged with assaulting a police officer?”

“And I’ll tell them you asked for it.”

“You think they’ll believe a convicted felon over me?” She wasn’t going to fall for his tricks. Skirting around the end of the car, she drew her keys from her pocket. Now, more than ever, she wished all the doors didn’t automatically unlock on her car. She always hated that feature for safety reasons, and moments like this were why.

As soon as Ernie was at the farthest point from her car, she dashed to the driver’s door, swung it open, and before she was inside, she hit the door-lock button. Tossing her uniform into the passenger seat, she shoved the key into the ignition and started the car.

Ernie slammed into the hood of her car and pointed at her. “I will find you.”

She put the car in reverse and backed out of the space.

It took the whole drive back to her apartment to stop shaking. She wasn’t sure if she should take Ernie seriously. He’d been one to talk a lot, and on occasion he’d backed up what he said with action. But more than that, she desperately wanted to know why he was in Hazel Hill. Had he followed her? She hadn’t kept it a secret where she was moving after she’d thrown her dad in prison, but she hadn’t advertised it either. How much did she need to be concerned about Ernie?

Chapter Five

With her hair wrapped in a towel, Zara wandered into her kitchen to look for some food. Coming off four nights of the graveyard shift was always rough to adjust to. She’d only slept for about six hours then took a shower.

The clock on the microwave claimed it was four o’clock, but was that right?

She calculated on her fingers. Yeah, it was right.

Unfortunately, her sleep hadn’t been as peaceful as she’d hoped. In addition to her incessant coughing, it was hot today, and her little window unit could only handle so much heat. She’d need a cooler place to hang out until the sun went down.

She ditched the towel on the corner of the counter, opened the refrigerator, and half stared at the contents, half enjoyed the coolness. Breakfast or lunch? She grabbed a yogurt and some granola from the cabinet.

After pulling back the lid, she sprinkled some of the granola then retrieved a spoon as she considered where she should spend the rest of the day.

It was too hot to be outside if she wasn’t at a pool. She wasn’t going to one of those by herself.

The library would be closed before she even finished eating.

What she wanted to do was call Will. But should she?

She polished off the yogurt, but her soul wasn’t sitting right.

Music. That’s what she needed. Where had she left her phone this time?

She wandered to her bedroom and found the phone on her nightstand. Once her speaker was turned on, she opened the music app on her phone, and worship music filled her little ground-floor apartment.

Better. But she still couldn’t shake the weird feeling.

She sank onto the overstuffed couch and tried to ignore memories of her run-in with Ernie that morning, but it wasn't working.

Should she have reported the run-in? Maybe.

Her phone dinged with a new text message. Will.