Page 11 of Property of Bones

I can’t move. Can’t blink. Can’t think.

The silence stretches out. Then slow footsteps. One after the other. Getting closer.

I press myself into the metal shelf, praying, begging, for whoever it is to turn the other way.

The footsteps stop.

Then turn.

And leave.

I count to ten. Then twenty. Then maybe fifty. I don’t know. My legs finally unfreeze, and I backtrack, slipping around the corner as fast as I can.

I don’t even realize I’m shaking until I crashright into a wall of muscle.

Not a wall.

Jack.But his friends called him Bones.

His hands close around my arms instantly. “Easy, doll.”

I can’t breathe.

His brows draw tight. “What happened?”

I shake my head, but it’s no use. My mouth opens. No words come out.

“Sunny.” His voice is low. Firm. A voice that means he’s not playing around. “Talk to me.”

“I…” My throat burns and tears cloud my vision. “I think someone just got killed.”

That gets him.

His eyes sharpen. “Where?”

I point a trembling hand toward the back. “Behind those boxes.”

Without another word, he turns and leads me from the back of the store to his friends.

“Tank!,” Jack barks. “Watch her and stay with the girls.”

“What’s going on?” Riley asks, alarmed.

“She saw something. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

And then he’s gone.

Gone to see if I really heard what I think I did.

God help me. Iknowwhat I heard.

Chapter Five

Bones

Sunny’s fearful face is burned into my mind as I rush through the employee stockroom. I’ve only met the woman a few times but never has she been anything but smiling.

My hands are itching to get ahold of the bastard who took that away from her.

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