AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her attacker paused for a brief second. Long enough for her to kick out and land a heel on his shin. He yelped and staggeredbackward. Then spun and raced down the street toward the subdivision’s exit.
“Vince!” She had no idea why he was still there, but she was grateful.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes!”
As soon as he had her confirmation, he raced after the guy.
“Vince! No!” No, no, no, no. What if—
She rolled to her feet. Her ankle twinged but held her weight, and she bolted after Vince and the intruder. By the time she rounded the corner, Vince was stopped between two fences, his head swiveling, phone pressed to his ear.
“Where’d he go?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Probably found an open garage or front door. I keep waiting for someone to come out of their house or—” He directed his attention back to his phone. “Yeah, I’m here. Sorry.” After providing the address, he tucked the phone into his pocket and ran a hand down his face. “They’re sending units to search, and I’m going to stand right here in case he shows his face.”
“Well, if he does, it’ll have a mask on it.” Or he’d take it off to keep from attracting attention?
“How did he get in? I cleared the place, you had the alarm on.”
She sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “That’s an easy answer. He was already in there when you cleared the place.”
“But that’s not possible. Your house isn’t that big. Where could he have been hiding?”
She shook her head, her mind spinning, adrenaline crashing. “The same way he got into my parents’ house in California.”
“What do you mean?”
“He must have already been in the garage when I pulled in.” She shrugged. “I don’t normally keep the kitchen door locked because I always have my garage closed, but it wasn’t until after you cleared the house and left that I locked it.”
“So, he came in the back as I was leaving out the front.”
“And slipped into that closet just inside the door. I noticed it was cracked, but didn’t—” She blew out a shuddering breath. “He managed to get into my bedroom without me noticing.” The mental image of him coming out and down the hall sent a shaft of nausea through her. She shivered, turned on her good heel, and headed back to her house just in time to see the first cruiser pulling to a stop at the curb.
Vince stayed on her heels, and for the next hour, they gave their statements while the officers examined her house. All in all, it was over before she could blink, and now she sat on her couch trying to wrap her head around everything.
After seeing the officers out, Vince sat next to her and took her hand.
“I was scared,” she said, her voice low.
“I would have been too. Anyone would have been.”
“But I handled him. Up to a point anyway.” She looked at him. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
“Like you said, you handled him.”
But would she have been able to get away in the end? She wasn’t sure. “Not that I’m not grateful, but whywereyou here? I thought you’d left.”
“I almost did, then I decided to take a look around outside your house, look for any vulnerable issues. I really didn’t see anything or anyone, so I got in my truck. Even cranked it. But then couldn’t leave you. Not after that weirdness at the restaurant. Just as I cut the engine off and settled in for the night, you came slamming out of the front door with the Hulk not far behind.”
She shuddered. “Hewasa big guy, wasn’t he?”
“Very.”
“It wasn’t Kevin.”
“You’re sure?”
