How much more could he take? He’d been punched in the gut and his fists hurt from knocking one of the guy’s teeth loose. Then Katie had given his jaw a good whack, and she might just have given him a loose molar for all his trouble.
Looking at her standing in the dark alley, he was actually proud that she’d knocked his jaw loose. She must have paid a little attention to some of the self-defense classes he’d forced her to take in junior high. Now he could see her starting to shake and her face looked paler than normal. What they needed now was a place to stop and think, so he could regroup. Looking around, he saw a cafe a few blocks away and tried to pull her in that direction.
“I grabbed the keys from the guy I left spitting out his teeth back there,” he said, nodding in the direction they had come. “I’ve been trailing you since Bristol, and it appears it was a good thing, too.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Bristol?” He could see her mind working, calculating.
She’d been in Bristol for the New Year’s celebration. He’d lucked out when he had caught up with her there. It had only taken him five months to track her down after she had left her dorm room
She’d attended the masquerade ball at Flamingos. His heart had stopped when he’d seen the silver dress she’d been wearing. That’s when he’d noticed she’d cut her hair shorter. He’d easily gotten close to her with his mask on and she hadn’t even noticed he was standing next to her. He had kept silent, hoping that she wouldn’t notice it was him, but ended up the evening just following her back to her hotel room. It had been so good to see her again. He’d gone to sleep that night dreaming of her.
Upon her empty stare now, he grabbed her hands again and started to pull her towards the cafe and the lights.
“Come on.” He checked over his shoulder as they walked, and when they passed under a bright street light, he noticed that her hair was a mess of wild tangles and she had dirt on her face. Stopping at the corner, he pulled her close and tried to fix her hair with his fingers. She swatted his hands away and took off her backpack and handed it to him. Pulling out a brush, she tried to straighten the tangled mess herself.
He had always admired her dark hair, it seemed to always be shiny in any kind of light. Now he could see a hint of red streaks he knew she’d gained from all her time outdoors. Her skin was glowing with the extra sun she’d taken in, as well. But it had been especially wonderful to hear her voice again; he had missed hearing it for so long. Over the last few months he’d been so focused on watching her that he had almost forgotten what she sounded like.
“Why are you trailing me, as you put it?”
“I’ll tell you everything if we can just get inside.” He pointed to the cafe.
There were over a dozen people crammed in the small place and he knew that they could easily hide in a back, dark corner somewhere.
“Fine, but then you’re going to give me answers to all the questions I have.” She pushed her brush back in her bag and took the bag from him. Then she stormed across the street and walked through the doors, leaving him smiling behind her. That was his old Katie-Kat, doing everything her own way, on her own terms.