Page 63 of Island Rescuer

He was so full of crap. “You’re delusional.” If he was going to call her names, she would be mean. She couldn’t remember a single time when she had set the trend for fine dining in Charleston.

“No. Everyone saw it the way I saw it,” he screamed at her. “You were with me. We weretogether. I was about to close a major deal when you stopped taking my calls.”

“Delusional,” she repeated. “We were never going to be together. If you were making deals and implying that was the case, you made your own mess. You deserve every bad thing that happened.”

He lunged for her, and this time she wasn’t ready. He came straight over the bench and tackled her.

For a moment everything inside her froze. Her muscles locked and her breath backed up in her lungs. Only her heart moved, hammering inside her chest, demanding action.

She bucked and kicked. Finding a little space, she managed to scratch his face. He reared back and she scooted away. Thorns bit into her palms and scraped up her knees, but then she was up and moving.

It wasn’t like a nightmare where she couldn’t move her legs. No, she ran. Hard and fast. Her feet pounding against the pavement as she raced through the parking lot. Behind her he was gaining, his longer legs eating up her small head start.

He shouted threats, but she kept going. She glanced back once and bumped into a car hard enough to slow her down. She let the momentum carry her around the vehicle. Trying to hide.

It didn’t fool him and he was on top of her again in a hurry.

But she was ready for his next attack and managed to get her knee up at the right moment. It was a glancing blow to his groin, but it still slowed him down. Amped up on adrenaline and determination, she made the most of the opportunity and barreled down toward the beach.

She had to decide whether to go over the dunes or get caught on the short boardwalk that protected the natural barrier. She went for the boardwalk. Good habits died hard. Maybe she could use the weathered wood to her advantage, somehow.

Walker cut her off, slamming her down on the steps and knocking the air out of her lungs. He grabbed her by the throat, crushing her airway. She saw his mouth moving and felt the spittle strike her face as he screamed at her. The words were a jumble of nonsense. Pure hatred and anger. She tugged at his hands, tried to remember those self-defense lessons on escaping a chokehold.

Her maneuver only bought her a short reprieve. He countered quickly, maintaining the advantage. She thought she heard shouting in the distance. Maybe even a siren. She prayed it was real and not just a figment of her oxygen-deprived imagination. So much for her plan to hold him off. Her bravado was used up and gone, but she kept on fighting.

She caught his ear and gripped and pulled with all her might. She put everything into dragging that ear right off his head. He screamed, fighting her. The pressure lifted from her throat and she dragged in air, even as she held on. He would not get away. Would not disappear.

“Let him go!” An unfamiliar voice shouted at her. “Let him go.”

“I’ve got him,” she said. This was the bad guy, she was doing the right thing.

“Harper. Harper, it’s over.”

She recognized Knox’s voice. He’d come up behind her and his larger hand covered hers where she still clutched Walker’s ear. “Let him go,” Knox said. “Look, Harper. Caldwell’s got him covered. He’s not going anywhere.”

She hadn’t realized her eyes were closed and when she opened them she saw they were surrounded. She was kneeling on Walker’s chest with no clear idea how she’d gotten there. A small trickle of blood was smeared across Walker’s face and over her hand from her nails biting into his ear.

And now that blood was on Knox too. She lurched away from Walker and curled into Knox’s support. Against her will, the tears started flowing. A blanket came over her shoulders a moment later.

Knox held her, murmuring praise she couldn’t possibly deserve. She had no idea how long they sat there. “I’m sorry,” she said at last.

“Don’t apologize to me.” He gave her a gentle squeeze. “Do you want to watch them haul him out?”

“Yes.” She sat up a little and he helped her to her feet. She turned just in time to see Caldwell and Lieutenant Frazier marching a handcuffed Walker to a patrol car.

A big crowd had gathered. She saw Lila and Travis, Nina’s husband Boone, Trina, and plenty of others. Her brother wedged himself through and caught her in a tight hug.

“Are you all right?”

She appreciated the brotherly concern and embrace, but she wanted Knox. His strong arms, his steady heartbeat under her cheek. “I’m okay.”

“What were you thinking?” Rhett demanded.

“It was time to be done with this,” she replied. “It was dragging on. And when I saw him, I just acted.”

“You did the right thing,” Knox said, rubbing her shoulders. “You put up a hell of a fight.”

“The self-defense classes paid off.”

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