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I barely feel the cold air or the rough wooden porch boards on my bare feet—then the asphalt, the ground, cracked twigs stabbing my calloused feet as I chase him through the trees.
How is he so quick?
His long legs fly in a blur, tailcoat streaming behind him, breathing loudly through clenched teeth.
Asshole, no, you don’t!
I pour everything into the frantic chase, closing the distance one ground-eating stride at a time, fists clenched as I pump my arms, faster,fasteruntil—
He vanishes into the tree line at the edge of my property.
Fuck.
Snarling, I plunge in after him, the shadows under the branches swallowing me whole.
Boughs and shrubs scratch at my arms, my shoulders, my chest.
I shove the foliage aside, scanning left and right, searching through the dense tree trunks, but there’s nothing.
Nothing but the earthy smell of autumn and the screech of a startled owl.
Dammit all.
I can’t see more than a foot or two in front of my face.
Even with the trees mostly stripped of their leaves, the branches are a thick net. The black starless sky doesn’t help tonight, either.
Sighing, I stumble to a halt, inhaling and exhaling roughly, my breaths puffing in white clouds of rage.
Shit.
I’ve lost him.
And what the fuck just happened?
Whatwasthat?
What does he want with me and Ophelia?
* * *
“I don’t know,”Ophelia answers, after I voice the same question out loud.
I’ve got a funny feeling I’m about to get my head ripped clean off and honestly, rightfully so.
“But look at you, Grant—you didn’t even put shoes on. You’re a mess...”
Her eyes shine with sympathy.
Wincing, I make myself hold still while she dabs an alcohol wipe over a long scrape down my forearm, thin and shallow enough that the blood’s mostly dried.
I didn’t even feel it when it happened.
The moment I came stomping out of the woods and found her standing on the porch in nothing but one of my shirts with her phone clutched in her hand, 9-1-1 already partially typed in, she insisted on parking me on the sofa and checking me over.
Wouldn’t that have been a riot?
Calling 9-1-1 from the police captain’s house.
