A collective gasp sucked almost all of the air out of the room, as everyone turned to stare at her with big eyes. Rayne continued the story, “Apparently, he’s been smitten with her ever since.”
“You are so lucky, girlfriend!” The high pitched squeal came from Cynthia, “Oh my gosh, I’d die to have Jason save me from near peril!”
“I don’t know how perilous it was,” Allie snorted in response to the over exaggeration, “he probably saved me from getting blisters, though.”
“Oh, that’s just so romantic!” Cynthia gushed, probably more than a little drunk by this point. “I need more wine to deal with this level of sexiness!” With that she jumped to her feet, wobbling slightly, but still making her way to the food table to replenish her wine supply. Seeing she may have trouble holding the bottle steady, Stacy reached over and poured it for her with a laugh.
“Has he asked you out?” Hana asked as she sat down next to Allie on the couch. “Because if he has, you are duty bound as a gab-together member to dish on that sexy hotness.”
“Oh my gosh, you guys, he hasn’t asked me out. He’s just being nice. Honestly, I find it annoying.” She pointed back to the tv, “Look, the show’s back on.”
Not to be deterred, Hana pressed, “Would you go out with him if he asked? I mean, rhetorical question, right? Who wouldn’t?”
“Shhh, I’m watching this drunk guy totally embarrass himself by taking his clothes off and jumping in the pool.”
“I’d watch Jason take his clothes off and jump in the pool,” Cynthia almost tipped her drink as she sat back down, “drunk or not.”
“He totally stopped by the shelter last week.” Rayne kept egging them on, “And...wait for it...brought in a puppy he rescued.”
“Awwwwww,” the collective sigh from all the women resonated like high definition surround sound in the room, “Jason and a puppy, oh my God, just when I thought he couldn’t get any hotter!” Julie fawned happily as she fanned her face with her hand, “Damn, sometimes I really wish I were still single.”
“No you don’t,” Hana rolled her eyes at Julie, “you’re madly in love with your man, and he’s just as hot as Jason. So leave the rest of us girls some eye candy to look at.”
“You’re right,” Julie laughed, “but I can at least still look and not touch, I mean, this is Jason Connors, for pete’s sake.”
Turning the focus back on Allie, another one of the women named Amy exclaimed, “You would be the hero to every woman in this town if you stole Jason away from Daphne!”
The other women groaned. “Ugghh, I can’t stand that woman.” Hana moaned.
“Who’s Daphne?” Allie felt like she was asking a rhetorical question based off of everyone else’s reactions to the name.
“The mayor’s daughter.” Hana stated.
“The snootiest brat around who thinks she’s something really special.” Amy added.
“The woman every woman hates.” Rayne interjected.
“The town bitch.” Cynthia added to the mix.
“She thinks she’s such hot stuff with those designer clothes and handbags, driving around in that fancy red convertible that her daddy bought her.” Hana drawled on sarcastically.
“Oh her! I have met her.” Allie gasped, “She almost ran me over with her car when I first came to town.”
The room erupted again, this time in furious outrage. Except for Cynthia, who calmly replied, “Yep, you’ve met her all right.”
“So Jason’s dating her?” Against her better judgement telling her to leave it alone, Allie pressed for more information. Based off of the way he was acting, he didn’t give off the impression that he was in a relationship. She still couldn’t believe Daphne was his type. Not that she knew him that well, but honestly, how could Daphne be anyone’s type.
“Oh. Hell. No!” Cynthia shouted, “He would never date her, but she sure thinks he does. She considers him to be hers, and if she senses any other woman possibly sniffing around,” she used her hands to make air quotes, “her man, then she does her normal bitchy thing and tries to make trouble.”
“Does she ever come to one of these parties?” Allie asked.
“Psshh, goodness no,” Amy snorted, “we’re too beneath her and a waste of her time. She wouldn’t be caught dead coming to a gab-together, just like she’d never come to book club.”
“You all have a book club too?” Allie’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Yep,” Amy confirmed with a wink, “but it’s romance novels only, none of that serious award winning boring crap.”
“Yep, yep, no sleep-inducing books allowed,” Cynthia sloshed. “Only ones that make you horny.” She gave a little wink.
“Oh, I am so in!” Allie laughed, a huge smile spreading across her face. She looked over at Rayne who gave her a happy thumbs up.
Shouting suddenly broke out from the tv in front of them, and their attention collectively turned back to the show as one of the contestants suddenly punched another in the face, “Holy craps,” Cynthia sputtered, “what’d we miss?” Her eyes got big as she stared at the fight erupting between the two men, while the other contestants were standing around trying to stay out of it.
“I love this show.” Stacy said as she started popping popcorn into her mouth, just as both of the men fell into the pool.
“Thank you so much for coming.” Stacy smiled at Allie as they all walked to the door to leave for the night. “I hope we’ll see you again next week. Same time...same channel.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” Allie answered back.
Rayne along with the other women who had been drinking were climbing aboard a van that Stacy always rented for the girls to get a ride home in. They all waved at Allie through the windows, and she gave them a cheery wave back. Allie was making new friends, and it felt wonderful. She loved just being around them and taking in their personalities. From the more serious and quiet Kim to tipsy and silly Cynthia, she was quickly liking them all and looking forward to seeing them again.
She strolled down the street heading back to shelter, but not really in any hurry. It was a beautiful night. And even though she had a wonderful time tonight, it was nice to have a moment of quiet. All the girls really wanted her to give Jason a chance, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about that. In his defense, the more time Allie spent around him, the more she started to like him. And that was scary. It wasn’t easy for her to trust new people, especially men. All the men in her life had always let her down or caused an enormous amount of fear...her father, Paul, all the men in the community who saw her father beat them and did nothing, even God...they all let her down. So why should she start to open her heart to yet another man who would probably just let her down too?
After she arrived at the shelter, Allie used her key to let herself inside and turned off the alarm. Shuggy knew she was there, and started barking her hello instantly. She walked back to where the cages were, “Hi Shuggs, how’s my little girl doing?” Allie squatted down to unlatch the cage, and Shuggy bounded right out and into her lap, covering her face, neck, and ears with kisses like she had been gone for months.
Allie laughed, turning her head to the left and right, trying to avoid the little kiss monster’s attack. She cuddled the little puppy close and kissed her head, “I missed you too Shuggy. Are you ready to go home?”
As if she understood Allie, the dog yipped in acknowledgement. “Bye everyone.” She addressed the rest of the animals in the room before leaving, “Bye Reavers.” Allie could swear she heard the big, moody dog grunt in response as she walked out the door.
Allie attached the leash to the puppy’s collar and led her back to the front door. After resetting the alarm, she walked them back outside and locked the door behind her. Shuggy pranced all around Allie as far as her leash would reach. She was so full of puppy energy and wanted to sniff and inspect everything they came across. Shuggy noticed a yellow flowered shrub along the sidewalk and immediately stopped to investigate it. Figuring
she may as well let Shuggy get it out of her system, Allie just waited. Suddenly Shuggy jerked her head out of the bush and gazed behind them. A low growl rumbled from the tiny puppy as she stared intently into the shadows behind them. Allie tried to make out what she was looking at, but it was dark now and difficult to see. Nothing stood out immediately as being wrong, but since that wasn’t normal behavior for Shuggy, it concerned her.
Allie gave the leash a little nudge, pointing Shuggy back in the direction they were headed. She also picked up the pace just a bit. After all, walking faster was good exercise and never hurt anyone. They both kept their ears on alert, just in case something seemed out of place.
If she hadn’t been listening intently, she probably wouldn’t have even heard it, but there it was. Footsteps behind her. They weren’t too close, but she could tell they were getting closer. Allie gripped the leash tighter and quickened their pace to stay in front of the person behind them, but whoever it was sped right up along with them. Allie could hear the footsteps thud deeper and louder as they got faster and closer.
Concern turned to worry, and Allie snatched Shuggy up into her arms to carry her and sped up even more. The footsteps behind her continued to match her pace, and again were gaining on her.
She was almost home. The diner was just ahead, she could see it in the distance all lit up. All she needed to do was make it to either the diner or the door to her separate entrance. She wanted to go straight to the diner because there would be other people present, but the door leading to her stairwell was closer. If she could make it there, she could let herself in and lock the door closed behind her.
She moved Shuggy to the crook of her left arm and shrugged her purse down her shoulder. Her purse jostled back and forth as she reached inside and scrounged around for her door keys so she’d be ready. But where were they? Of all the times for her purse to be too full of crap.
The footsteps behind her increased in intensity and thudded faster and faster against the pavement. Whoever it was, was now running toward her. Shuggy looked over her left shoulder at the fast approaching person and started barking rapidly. Allie ran. She ran as fast as she could while still holding onto Shuggy and her purse that was now flapping around on her arm. The keys had to be in there somewhere. She kept digging as she got closer to the safety of her stairwell.
There! Finally, she felt the cold metal of her key ring and clenched her fist around them tightly. Allie pulled the keys from her bag. She was only fifty feet or so away now, it was so close!
But the footsteps were gaining on her. They felt like they were right on top of her as she gasped and dashed across the remaining distance. With her key ready, Allie threw herself at the stairwell door and jammed the key into the lock, twisting it in one smooth motion as she pushed the door inward. She then immediately spun around and started to slam the door closed, just as a dark figure lunged at the door. All she saw was a body hurtling towards her, the face covered in a black ski mask. Allie threw her shoulder into the steel door and forced it the rest of the way closed, quickly throwing the deadbolt home.
The masked figure pounded his fists against the entrance, and Allie could feel them reverberate through the steel door. Shuggy seemed to instinctively sense her mistress was in danger and bravely responded by alternating growls and barks back at the masked assailant.
The fear finally hit Allie full in the chest, and her knees started to wobble back and forth. She slowly lowered herself to sit down on the on the bottom step of the stairs leading up to her apartment and cradled Shuggy close. Each time another pound resonated through the door in front of her, it made her entire body quake in fear. Who would do this to her? How long would they keep it up?
After what seemed like ages, the banging finally abruptly stopped. Allie lifted her head from Shuggy’s fur and gazed up at the door in front of her. It was still very securely closed. The only sound that she could hear now were Shuggy’s low growls. Allie slowly stood to her feet and deliberated for a moment if she were brave enough to approach the door. Slowly putting one foot in front of the other she made her way the short distance to the steel blockade that had kept her safe.
She still couldn’t hear anything, but she was also terrified to open the door and find someone lying in wait for her. Still clutching Shuggy in one arm, she pressed her ear to the door straining to make out any sound from outside.
The door buzzer blared throughout the stairwell, scaring the daylights out of her. Allie jumped back away from the door with a scream as the buzzing continued to echo through the space.
“Allie?” A muffled voice sounded through the door, “Allie, are you ok?”
Jason. She knew that voice. Apparently, Shuggy recognized it as well because she started wagging her tail and her growls turned to a yip of excitement as she struggled to get down and get to her friend outside.
Allie took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart before it burst from her chest. Jason wouldn’t hurt her. He had plenty of opportunities to if that was his intention. And Shuggy trusted him. The little puppy was excitedly gazing up at her mistress wondering why she hadn’t opened the door already. Allie slowly released the breath that she had been holding and reached up to turn to the lock.
Jason had been waiting in the diner for over an hour, slowly nursing his cup of decaf. Yeah, so it was a little stalkerish to camp out and wait for Allie to come home, but he just couldn’t help it. Ever since he had seen her eyes light up with happiness when they landed on little Shuggs, he knew that he had to see her again. He just felt drawn to her, like he innately knew that she was special. He liked to be around her. And he was pretty darn sure she liked to be around him as well, even though she tried to pretend she wasn’t. It definitely didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous. With that honey blonde hair and her soulful blue eyes that he just seemed to sink into without even realizing it.
He let out a big sigh. It shouldn’t be too much longer, Stacy’s gab-a-thons or whatever they were called tended to be over by now, so Allie should be home soon. Good thing too, the way Annie kept giving him the motherly eye like she knew why he sat alone for the last hour, drinking cup after cup of decaf of all things. Who was he fooling, of course Annie knew why he was there. Annie was one smart cookie, and besides, the way he kept staring out the window in the direction of Allie’s apartment was probably a dead giveaway.
He’d come up with some reason to talk to her when she came home. Maybe he could say he stopped by to see how Shuggs was doing. Anything to break the ice and get her to talk to him again.
Jason lifted the cup of coffee to take another sip but then stopped halfway. Huh, that sounded like Shuggy’s bark. It was faint, but that definitely sounded like her. She had a very unique deep, gravelly voice for a puppy, it was pretty freaking adorable actually. Almost as adorable as the dog’s mistress.
There it was again. Shuggy definitely sounded upset. That wasn’t her typical happy, playful bark. Jason stood to his feet and threw some money down on the table for his bill. He turned and walked outside, taking a left at the door to head towards Allie’s apartment. The barking was definitely louder and more vehement. He reached the corner of the diner and turned to where the stairwell was leading to her apartment. What the hell? A masked man was hurling his body against Allie’s front door while slamming his fists against it.
“Hey!” Jason shouted as he sprinted toward the masked figure. The man’s head jerked in surprise at Jason’s yell. When he saw Jason charging forward at him, the man took off running down the alley. As much as Jason wanted to catch the scumbag trying to break into Allie’s apartment, he needed to make sure that she was ok first. Shuggs was barking ferociously from inside the stairwell, and Jason needed to see them to ensure that they were unharmed.
Jason jumped up the stairs to the steel door and quickly pressed down on the door buzzer. He pounded his right fist on the door and shouted, “Allie? Allie are you ok?”
He heard Shuggy give a little yip of acknowledgement to h
is yell, and then the deadbolt turned. The door slowly seeped open and two of the most beautiful blue eyes peeked out at him through the crack. He didn’t realize that he’d been holding his breath in fear until he saw her, and it all came out in a big whoosh. Jason heard a little gasp escape her lips as she stared up at him for a brief second before she threw the door open and jumped into his arms.
He grabbed onto her and held her as tight as he could. Her body was trembling horribly in his arms causing him to clutch her even tighter. Poor little Shuggs was squeezed between them, but the dog didn’t seem to mind. She managed to wiggle her little head into a space where she could reach up and kiss the undersides of both of their chins.
Afraid she was too wobbly to walk, Jason placed one arm around her back and the other he swept under her knees, picking her up in his arms with Shuggy flopping into her lap. Allie looked up into his face in surprise for a moment, before silently acknowledging that she knew he wasn’t going to hurt her by nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck.
Jason used his shoulder to swing the big door shut, and then turned and managed to relock it without jostling Allie too much. His grip on her tightened as he carried her over to the stairs and climbed up to her apartment. When they reached the top, he pulled her keys out of her tightly clenched fist and unlocked the door. Still snuggly in his arms, Jason carried her into the room and to the couch. He gently set her down on the cushions, then turned back to close the door and lock that one as well. The scumbag most likely wouldn't be back, but he wanted her to feel as safe as possible after what happened.
He strode over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, quickly filling it with water, he then brought it back to Allie still sitting on the couch. She had pulled her knees up to her chest in a fetal position and looked like she was still in a pretty good amount of shock. She was looking in his direction, but not actually seeing him. Jason’s heart clenched at the look of utter sadness on her face and with everything inside him, he just wanted to wipe that look away. Jason sat down on the couch next to her and reached out one hand to gently nudge the hair that had fallen forward across her face back behind her ear. Unable to release her just yet, he softly lowered his fingers from her ear caressing her cheek as he made his way down to her chin. He cupped Allie’s chin and gently nudged it upward, so she was looking into his eyes.
Entangled (Free Indeed Book 1) Page 7
