Page 15 of Galen
“What is?”
Customers entered the shop, the ringing of the bell above the door causing the man to release his grip on me. With a sinister smirk in place, he took a step back, then another.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said before walking toward the door.
As he left, I expelled a breath and felt like I was going to crumble to the floor. Just like he said, dammit. I greeted the customers, then headed toward the back room. With each step down the hall, breathing became difficult. It felt like my throat was closing up, blocking my airway. My lungs burned.
I slid to the floor once in the break room and listened to the faint rumble of the minifridge, trying to focus on anything except for the fear in my gut.
He knew my name. Threatened me.
And all over that stupid box.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
I was nervous for the rest of the day. All night too. I lay in bed, blinds closed on all the windows and the bedside lamp turned on. Each time I heard a sound, I expected the auburn-haired man to bust down my door and take my ass out. And not in the fun way.
Too nervous to sleep, I broke into my emergency stash of ice cream and sat at the island in the kitchen as I stuffed my face. It was almost midnight. Eating so late was awful for the diet. I debated the pros and cons of weight loss as I ate another spoonful of mint chocolate chip deliciousness.
Right now, ice cream was winning.
A car alarm went off outside.
I jumped at the sudden sound and crept over to the window that faced the street. Lights flashed on a small white car parked by the curb as the alarm wailed. A bar wasn’t far from my building, and sometimes people stashed their cars on my street if they couldn’t find a place closer to park. The horn honked once before the alarm shut off. A guy appeared seconds later with his arm thrown around a girl. They got into the car and left.
A dark shape darted across the sidewalk and into the bushes below my window. I ducked out of sight, my heart pounding.
Probably just a stray dog. Nothing to worry about.
I chuckled at myself as I walked over and put the lid on the near-empty ice cream container. A few days ago, I had freaked out over that damn box, and now I nearly lost my shit over a dog scampering around outside. The confrontation with the guy earlier had made me paranoid. Add that to being overworked and stressed, and me being so on edge made sense. Maybe I needed to take Kyo’s advice and go away for a week. Somewhere nice and relaxing.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a vacation.
Thud.
I snapped my head toward the window before walking across the room and peeking out. My trash can was knocked over. Just as I was searching the dark for what could’ve done it, another thud sounded… That time at the back door.
“Yeah, I don’t like this.” I grabbed the baseball bat propped against the wall and went over to the front door. Listening.
The staircase leading up to my loft was right beside the side entrance door, so if anyone came in, I’d hear them. The alarm would also go off. Well, it hadn’t the night the sexy-as-hell thief broke in, but he was on a different level than everyone else.
Maybe it was the auburn-haired psycho?
I gripped the bat tighter and waited.
And kept waiting.
After five minutes passed, I relaxed a little. I needed sleep. My paranoia had gotten out of control. I placed the bat against the wall and sat on the edge of my bed, rubbing at the back of my neck.
The crash came from the window beside me.
Glass shattered inward, bringing in a gust of cold air. I shielded my face on reflex and jumped up from the bed. It took my brain a moment to process what had happened. The bedside lamp fell to the floor, the lightbulb smashing into pieces and sending the room into darkness.
At first, I thought a storm had come through. We were expecting some rain, and the wind gusts could get crazy sometimes. Not completely impossible for a branch from the tree beside my building to crash through the window.
But that didn’t explain the lamp.
Or the hoarse breathing sounds I heard in the dark room.
