Page 36 of Abandoned

She turned the corner and a dark figure approached.

She screamed.

Chapter Ten

Will put his hands out in front of himself. “Zara! It’s me!” He shielded his face from the bright beam of light pointed directly at his eyes and was able to see her.

She pulled her hand away from her gun. “Will?”

“Yeah, It’s me.”

She lowered the flashlight. “Sorry.”

“I got out of my car because I heard you scream. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“What are you doing wandering around outside?”

“What are you doing outside of my apartment?”

“I … I was debating calling you. I couldn’t bring myself to even go home with how we left things. I don’t like it, Zara. I may not always be the best at follow-through, but I’m not leaving you high and dry. I want us to work. I want to be with you for better or worse. Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but I’m not giving up so easily.”

“Will.” She seemed to deflate.

“Please, Zara. Don’t push me away.” He took a cautious step closer.

“I can’t even process right now. Miley called and needs me to come over.”

Will didn’t like the idea of her randomly going over there by herself. “I can take you. You probably shouldn’t go over there alone in the middle of the night. I can wait outside.” He hoped she could sense his care and concern and didn’t think he was being overbearing.

She nodded. “That would probably be good. You can keep an eye out for Brett then too.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m not trying to ignore what you said, but can we talk about us later?”

“When you’re ready.”

Her face scrunched and distorted. He had enough sisters to know that it was an attempt to keep tears from escaping.

He closed the space between them and pinched the bill of the baseball cap and jostled it. “Nice hat. I was wondering where I’d left it.”

She touched it. “Yeah. I don’t actually want us to be over, but … I don’t know. I’m scared, I guess. I’m not an easy person to deal with.”

“No one is.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “We’ll talk later, maybe when we aren’t both so tired. And Miley.”

“We need to go to her.”

Will wished he could pull Zara into his arms. But things had shifted because of their argument, and he knew that he couldn’t simply hug Zara’s fear away.

She went inside and deposited her flashlight and retrieved her purse.

He went in with her. The air wasn’t much cooler than outside. “Why is it so warm in here?”

“Air is out, and I can’t figure out why. That’s the reason I was outside.” She swung her purse over her shoulder. “Ready.”

“Want me to look at it?”