Page 13 of She's Mine

She was at a point further along the two-mile street, and I assumed she’d wandered away without thinking of the repercussions.

Following the GPS, I raced down Rodeo Drive, scanning the area for Alyssa and any signs of a threat.

My heart stopped when I saw her backed into a corner by a man with a knife in his hand.

Instinctively, I pulled out my gun and took aim. “Let her go!” I demanded.

The assailant looked at me, his eyes widening, and he dropped Alyssa like she was made from fire. He glanced at me for only a moment, before disappearing down a back alley.

I wanted to chase after him. If I could catch the guy who’d drawn a knife on Alyssa, I could have taken him in for questioning. But I knew she was my priority.

One glance at Alyssa told me that putting her first was the exact right move. Her skin was pale, her eyes were rolling back in her head, and she looked as though she might faint at any moment.

I holstered my gun and rushed forward, grabbing Alyssa just in time as she collapsed into my arms.

6

ALYSSA

“Please, tell me again -- in detail -- what happened?” Jeffrey Garcia asked calmly.

I sighed and raked my hands through my hair. I felt like I’d answered this question ahundredtimes already.

David and I were back at my home, along with my parents, Jeffrey Garcia, and the two bodyguards assigned to my parents -- Payne and Lincoln.

“David stepped out of the shop to answer a call--”

At this, David and Jeffrey exchanged a brief glance. David had already filled me in on the fact the call he’d received while we’d been at the boutique on Rodeo Drive had been from his sick mother.

Hearing that David’s mother was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and she’d called because her care worker hadn’t arrived, only compounded the guilt I felt.

I’d screwed everything up, all because I was acting like a petty brat.

“I came out of the fitting room, and Claire -- that’s the owner of Brioni -- told me David had stepped out to take a call. I saw that as my chance to slip away.”

What I didn’t admit to Garcia, nor had I told David, was that I’d wanted to slip away tospitehim.

I was still furious with David!

I could understand him saying we couldn’t repeat our actions on the night we slept together. Sure, it hurt like hell hearing him say those words, as though the intimacy we’d shared meantnothingto him. I got it, I was too young, and he was probably scared what my father would do if he found out. Hell, I was terrified what my father would do if he found out David and I had slept together. But the way David had shrugged so nonchalantly, it made me feel like I was just another notch on his bedpost.

I’dtriedto put my feelings aside. I’d even tried being more careful with my safety and spent less time going out with Courtney and Brittany. In fact, I was growing toactuallyenjoy spending time with David. We cooked together and watched movies. I loved that he seemed to like old Hollywood classics as much as I did. I genuinely thought we were becoming friends.

That’s why I’d been so annoyed not only by his total lack of interest in my outfits, but also by the fact he’d stepped away to take a call. I hadn’t known at the time that it was his sick mother calling. All I saw was a man who’d arranged this amazing surprise for me, and then acted like it was the most boring thing in the world. I wasn’t expecting him to leap to his feet and declare his undying love for me the moment he saw me in that black string bikini, but a response beyond, ‘You’d need some sort of kaftan or cover up, or you’ll end up sunburned,’ would have been nice.

It was like the man was made from stone!

Witheveryonestaring at me like I was the criminal, I gulped around a lump in my throat and went on. “Claire told me the shop had a back entrance, usually reserved for staff only, but she didn’t mind me using it. I had no idea how long David was going to be on the phone for, but I only intended to visit the shoe store two buildings down. Only that store had been overpriced and full of last season’s designs.”

Not a lie. The once reputable store had really gone to the dogs since I’d visited last, and I wasn’t about to spend thousands of dollars on a pair of booties that were out of style, and likely to fall apart after wearing them for a few days.

“I knew about another shoe store further along Rodeo Drive, and figured it was safe to pop in there. There was no one else around and I thought I would be as quick as I could. Or Ithoughtthere was no one else around.”

I shuddered all over at the memory of the muscled man cornering me as I approached the shoe store. At first, I thought he was just some random guy trying to hit on me or something, but then he’d drawn the knife and my blood had gone cold.

Thank God David had installed GPS tracking on my phone and gotten to me in time!

“What did the man with the knife look like?” Garcia asked.

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