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“No. She just said she wanted to be alone.” Alex’s eyes filled with worry. “I’ll stay here in case she comes back. I’ll text you if she does.”
With a nod, he snagged Roxie’s spare keys from the entryway table and ran back out to his car. Three minutes later, he arrived at Comfort Food. The café was pitch-black, locked tight, and secured for the night. Letting himself in, he went to her office and confirmed his sinking suspicion.
No Roxie.
Dammit.
He slammed his fists on his hips and groaned as his gaze shot around the empty space.
Where the hell are you, Roxie?
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
Roxie’s lungs burned, and her legs grew heavier with each step. She’d been running—sprinting, really—for over an hour now, along the wooded trail that followed the island’s western coast. The only sounds were her ragged breaths, her racing heart, and the slap of her feet on the packed earth.
The longer she’d sat in her room, the more claustrophobic it had become. She’d asked Alex for space, but her friend had remained downstairs. The thought of Alex giving her a pitying smile had been too much. Sitting in her room with her swirling, overanalyzing brain had been too much. Staring at the bed that she and Joe had repeatedly shared had been too much.
She’d needed out, needed to escape, needed to push her body so freaking hard that she couldn’t think. Tossing on her running clothes and sneaking out had been a no-brainer. At least she’d been conscious enough to clip a running light to her jacket and toss on a headlamp. That was something.
The terrain she was navigating at breakneck speed could be treacherous if she wasn’t careful. For that, she was grateful. It took all her concentration to maneuver the uneven path and left no time to think about what had happened. About how, at that very same minute, Joe was out having a romantic dinner with Candie and her fancy designer shoes.
She grimaced and pushed her pace faster. That floozie had called himJoey,for Christ’s sake.Joey.No one called him that. Ever.
Roxie’s foot caught on a root, and she slammed into the dirt face-first. Violently. Her headlamp exploded upon impact, and the hard ground knocked the wind from her lungs. For a few seconds, she gasped for air, unable to catch her breath, chest seizing.
Holy shit, that hurt.
She held still as her entire body smarted. When her pulse had slowed and her oxygen levels had recovered, she rolled onto her back with a groan. Her forehead ached, and a wet trickle slid down the side of her head. With an unsteady inhale, she sat up. Everything swayed.
Holy hell. That fall had served her right for not concentrating on the damn path.
Roxie didn’t know how long she sat there in the dirt, but when she felt pretty sure she was no longer at risk of passing out, she gingerly made her way to her feet. A glance at her Apple Watch showed a cracked screen of flickering nonsense. She patted the side pocket of her leggings for her phone and came up empty.
God, she really was too stupid to live.Shit.
Yeah. A solo, high-speed run on a dangerous trail through the woods at night, while she was distracted by spiraling thoughts and emotions, might not have been the best decision she’d ever made. But at least now her mind wouldn’t wander, that was for damn sure. Because if the awful throbbing in her ankle was any indication—and her whole damn body was throbbing, so that said alot—it was going to take every last bit of her focus to get back to the main road.
Walking at a snail’s pace for what felt like days, she finally spotted the trailhead in the distance and let out a sigh of relief. She supposed only a couple of hours had passed since she’d snuck out, but dammit, she was exhausted. The trailhead meant there were still roughly two more miles between her and the house. But she wasn’t going home. There was no way in hell she could go back there.
By now,Joeyand Candie were done with dinner. He would either be home alone now... or with her.
Roxie’s chest stung, and it had nothing to do with her fall.
No, dammit!Screw Joe. She’d find somewhere else to stay tonight.Anywhereelse would be preferable.
After the longest two-mile walk of her life, at a speed that had made her earlier snail’s pace seem downright gazelle-like, Roxie settled onto the futon in her office. Her body screamed with every move, every breath. The futon was still in the couch position, and she didn’t care. She was too drained to think about adjusting it.
Even glancing at the clock seemed tedious, but she managed to do that, at least. Her frown deepened upon seeing it was almost eleven. Just like old times, when she’d been too tired to make it home after an endless day at work. Tonight, however, her right ankle was swollen to triple its size, her jaw ached from clenching her teeth, and the headache pounding at her temples had her eyes watering. But the good news was her forehead had finally stopped bleeding.
Damn. Who was she kidding? She was a wreck. Everything hurt. Her foot, her shoulder, her head... her heart.
Gingerly adjusting her position, Roxie attempted to swing her legs onto the futon. She yelped as a lightning bolt shot through her right ankle, up her leg, and into her hip.Holy shit. Grinding her teeth, she wheezed through the pain, willing it—hell,beggingit—to subside.
She should probably call Doc. He’d come see her.
Looking around, she frowned. The office phone on her desk required her to get up—that sure as hell wasn’t happening—and her cell was still on her nightstand at home.
Home.
