Page 74 of Hunted Innocence

She needs to move on. Nadine deserves to move on, and I need to focus on my task at hand.

I can’t get distracted.

I must stay focused.

Except, I don’t leave immediately. I stay where I am, my eyes locked on her window as I watch her shadow near the glass. I know it’s her by her shape. She places her palm on the glass, staying there for a long moment, almost as if she knows I’m down here watching. Then she drops her hand, closes the blinds, and her shadow disappears. A few moments later, the lights are flicked off, and then her bedroom window lights up for just a few moments before it, too, is turned off.

Chapter Thirty-Two

NADINE

Smoothing down my skirt,I look behind me, half expecting to see Grayson there watching me, but he’s not. Then I listen for the front door of my apartment, hoping he’ll appear and take me to work. He doesn’t. I know it’s a foolhardy idea because I’m the reason he’s not here, even though I want him back.

I feel stupid.

He doesn’t want me. I should have just left it at that, given him a smile and hoped that he would come around somehow, that I would somehow be able to charm him—seduce him. I snort. The idea is hilarious, me seducing anyone, like full-on hilarious.

Grabbing my purse, phone, and keys, I shove my phone inside my handbag, hitch the straps over my shoulder, and walk out of my apartment. Locking the door behind me, I glance around and let out a heavy sigh.

I don’t have to be scared anymore.

I’m free.

Freer than I would like to be, but free nonetheless. Walking out of my apartment, I head to my car and sink down into the front seat, but not before I check the back seat out of habit—nobody is hiding there.

Starting the engine, I glance into the rearview mirror, shift the car intoReverse, and make my way toward the office. I haven’t really been away that long, only a few days, but with months of being on lockdown in the safe house and then walking away, it feels like it’s been a lot longer.

And I’m nervous.

I’m nervous about how I’m going to feel when I finally face Theron. I gave him my two-week notice. Then I disappeared. It was rude, it was wrong, it was not like me, and no matter the excuses, I shouldn’t have done it.

But I did.

And now I have to face him and apologize.

It doesn’t take me long to drive to the office. I’ve been taking the same route every day for years. But as I shift my car intoPark, staring at the building in front of me, I can’t help but wonder just what it’s going to be like now without Grayson.

I shouldn’t have let him walk away.

This is his world as much as it’s mine, even more so. I know what he went through, what they all went through, and I know that they need each other. The guilt begins to consume me, begins choking me.

Fight-or-flight instinct has me looking over my shoulder to get back to my car and run. But I don’t. Shifting back around to face the building, I begin to walk. One foot in front of the other. I need to go in there and do my job because Lucille and Colette have a plan. It’s going to work, too.

It has to.

There is no other alternative that I’ll allow. The only other choice will be that I’ll have to chase him down. It’s going to bereally embarrassing, especially since there will have to be a lot of begging involved, and I don’t want to be that girl. But for him, I would be any girl he wanted.

I want Grayson home. Selfishly for me, but also for him because this is his family, and I know that they all want him here almost as badly as I do. But not quite. Because I don’t want him just here in Nights, I want him inside of me. I want him beside me. I want him toownme.

The office is quiet as I step onto the elevator. I think about using the stairs for some extra exercise, especially since I ate more sweet treats than salty treats last night. But I don’t. I’m tired and too nervous to try climbing them in my heels. I would probably fall flat on my face with my shaky legs.

The car doors open with a ding. Stepping out in the hallway, I turn toward my desk and stop at the sight of Theron, Boden, Hale, Vaughn, and Merrick standing in a line in front of my desk. The only person missing is Grayson, and that makes my heart squeeze.

Hesitantly, I move toward them. One foot in front of the other. I try really hard not to trip and fall, and thankfully, I don’t do that because it would be embarrassing as hell. Stopping a few feet in front of them, I tip my head back slightly so I can look up at their faces.

“I’m back,” I whisper.

And then something happens. I don’t know how it does, but in the next breath, I’m surrounded by these five large men, and they wrap their arms around me in a big, over-six-foot-tall group hug.

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