Chapter One
Riley’s situation was very tenuous. She stood on a juncture from which her life had the potential to go down two different paths. One path could lead to great happiness and peace, and the other could throw her on the brink of agony. Soon, she would have to choose. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a clue as to which road was the right one. When she met Chance, she didn’t have an idea that this man could turn her life upside down. She didn’t know that he would make a place in her heart.
Riley wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, but that’s what this was quickly becoming.
After there was a break-in at her place and her brother tried to kill her yet again, Chance refused to run away. He stood by her side, fought the intruder, and saved her life in the process. Now, she owed him big. Riley didn’t like being in debt. It made her cranky. Perhaps that was the reason why she was currently having a huge fight with him.
“You absolutely can’t stay in that place anymore,” he said.
She lifted her chin and crossed her arms at the chest. When she met his gaze head on, desire stirred in her heart. She squashed down on it without the least bit of mercy. Just because he was handsome as sin didn’t mean she had to give in to his ridiculous demands. “We’re dating. That doesn’t mean that you have the right to tell me what to do and what not to do. I make my own decisions,” she replied.
He thumped his hand on the kitchen counter. They were currently standing in her apartment. Even though he only wore faded, blue jeans and a white t-shirt, he looked good enough to eat. His hair was cropped short, and his green eyes were sharp and bright. “You can make whatever decisions you want as long as they are not made here. You’re coming with me.”
“The locks have been changed, and there is even a new security camera in the lobby.”
“Your demented brother isn’t going to care about all that when he comes to murder you. All he wants is to gut you alive, and I would prefer it if you didn’t give him the opportunity to do so,” he spat out the words in a voice that indicated that his temper was now on full boil.
Riley also didn’t think that new locks and a camera were sufficient to stop Wesley, her brother, who was actually hunting her as ordinary men do with animals in the forest. He would come again—that much was certain. This was the reason why she still hadn’t decided if she was sticking to this town or moving on. Since she turned eighteen and was free from the foster homes, Riley made it a point to shift to another town every year or so. The more she moved, the harder it became for Wesley to track her. Yet, he always managed to find her. She still had to figure out how he was finding her again and again. Maybe it was time to change her name. That was the only thing that still connected her to the past. Everything else was erased and gone. She was reluctant to take that final step to become a new person. Maybe most people would have liked to shed that baggage, but not Riley. She wanted it so that she could always remember how far she’d come.
Her life was good, and she didn’t need a man to complete it.
As good looking as he was, as needy as he made her feel, and as kind and sweet as he was, Chance was a complication, and it was time to get rid of him.
“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long, long time. Don’t tell me how to get this job done because I am on top of it.”
“A job? You think saving your life is a job.”
She shrugged. Sure, she wanted to live. That’s why she kept moving. It was the only thing that kept her safe all those years. But she’d long ago removed all emotions that she felt about this particular matter. This was just a part of her life. She’d accepted it, embraced it. She didn’t waste too much time worrying about the hows and the whys. If she did, she would go insane. After all, there was a history of mental illness in the family. A father who regularly beat his family and a brother who killed his parents and wanted to murder his sister weren’t sane, even if the world didn’t declare them insane. She didn’t want to end up like them. So, she kept her emotions tightly locked and worked on autopilot. If she didn’t allow herself to feel strongly, she wouldn’t ever lose control.
Maybe it was a strange kind of logic, but it worked for her.
“I don’t need a man to tell me how to do things, Chance. I’m fully capable. Make no mistake about that.”
“And we saw plenty of evidence of that when he came calling this time. If I wasn’t there, he would have gutted you with that knife.”
“If you weren’t there, I wouldn’t have been out. Before you arrived in my life, my routine was pretty simple. I went out for work and came back home. There wasn’t a chance for anyone to break into my house.”
He curled his lip. “That’s just stupid. He would’ve broken in when you were at work. You were just damn lucky that I came into your apartment with you…if you’d come in alone…” He suddenly stopped, and his eyes clouded. She was amazed to see that his hands shook. Seeing her glance at them, he took them off the counter. He didn’t want her to see how shaken he was by the incident. She was strangely touched by this emotion. No one had ever cared that much for her ever before. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Riley. Please. It’s not a big deal. If you’re not comfortable staying in the same room as me, I will set up an extra bed for you in the guest room. It’s not a problem. Just stay there until it is safe again.”
If he’d remained angry, she would’ve continued to argue. However, seeing him upset, all the fight left her. She sucked in a deep breath of air, as tears swam in her eyes. No, she wasn’t going to cry. “Fine. Ok. If that makes you happy, I’ll do it but only for a short time. I’m going to leave this place soon.”
“What do you mean?”
She couldn’t bear that anguished look on his face. She didn’t want to feel guilty for putting it there, but she was responsible. “I can’t stay here. He has found me, so I must disappear.”
He looked at her for such a long time that she became disconcerted. What the hell was he thinking? Sometimes she could take a look at him and tell exactly which direction his mind was working, but sometimes it was impossible to read his thoughts. “How long have you been moving from city to city?”
“Since I was eighteen…so about nine years.”
“And he finds you after some time?”
“Sometimes in a few months, sometimes it takes year. I was able to live in Maryland for two years before he came. Luckily, I saw him one day as I looked out of the window. He’s careful, but he’s just a guy. He has to do surveillance, so if I am careful, which I usually am, I always check the scene out of the window before I step out. He’d kept an eye on my building, so that day when I saw him, I disappeared in the middle of the night,” she said in a proud voice.
“Don’t you wonder how he finds you?”
She bit her lips. “Yes, but I have no clue.”
“We must figure this out. Riley, you can’t keep running away. This is a problem, and you need to find a solution for it.”
“There is no solution. The police have to catch him. Once they do so, he will go behind bars, and I will be free for a few years. Or else he has to die.”
Much to her surprise, he began to pace the room. She wished she could take him in her arms and assure him that all would be well. She hated to see him so worked up. “Sure, we can rely on the police, but they won’t move unless they catch him in the act, and in order to do so, we have to be proactive,” he said.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that we need to think like him. How does he find you? Where does he stay? What does he do for a living?”
She blinked her eyes. Riley hadn’t thought so much about her brother. Everything in her life was centered on her decision to stay alive and to keep a step ahead of him. She never wondered how he made a living, what he did when he wasn’t chasing her, and what other purpose in life he had. “He probably doesn’t work.”
“Then, how does he afford to move from city to city and look for you. Think about it, Riley. This guy must be g
etting information about you from someone, and he must be paying for that knowledge. More than that, he needs a place to stay. This takes money. He has a job.”
“But how can he follow me if he has a job?”
He scratched his head, as he continued to pace the room. Walking over to the window, he lifted the curtain and peeked out. Over the past many days, he’d become very paranoid. She could see that the constant stress was wearing him down, but now he appeared animated. The prospect of catching her brother seemed to have excited him. “He must have some kind of a job that allows him to travel.”
She shook her head, confused by all these new questions that he was raising. Why did she have to think about all this? All her energy was taken up by the simple task of keeping herself alive. If she began to concentrate on these issues, she would slip up somehow, and any mistake that she made would be the last one that she ever made.
“Let’s not get carried away. It’s not going to be that easy to find him.”
“He manages to do it to you.”
She walked over and picked up her purse. “He has had years of practice, and I don’t want to indulge in those kinds of activities.”
“So, it’s ok with you that he doesn’t allow you to settle in one place, that you can’t ever stop looking over your shoulders, and that you have to be on your guard because a murderer is chasing you?”
She glared at him. Why did he have to always strike to the heart of the matter? He had a way of stating things that made it impossible for her to give replies. In an argument, he was more than her match. “It’s ok with me.”
“Oh, please. What kind of a life is this? You have to find him and put him behind bars so that you can have a normal existence. A family, a house, a permanent job, and friends.”
The pang in her heart was so sharp that she actually felt it reverberate throughout her body. She had spent years eliminating such dreams from her life. By bringing up these topics, he was reopening the wounds that took years to heal. “I can’t ever have a family, and yes, I can’t ever stay in one place. That’s just the reality of it. Even if he goes behind bars, how long do you think he will stay there? Five years? Seven years? When he comes back out, he will be even angrier. It won’t change anything. So, it’s better for me to not settle in one place and not to have ties to people. Anyone who is with me is in danger.”
She’d thought that he would now be angry, but he walked over and drew her in his arms. The look in his eyes told her that he understood far more than she realized. The man sure had some kind of a connection with her. It was impossible to understand and explain, but she could feel it deep down in her heart. She could trust him and rely on him. That was more than anything she’d ever said for anyone else in her life. Chance wouldn’t let her down.
“You’re not alone, Riley.”
The sweet words made her heart pang. She so wanted to find comfort in his arms, but she was quite aware as to where it would lead. Anything permanent with Chance was just a pipe dream, and she didn’t want to dwell on it for too long. “It doesn’t bother me when I am,” she replied swiftly.
He grinned, and then he bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. The spark of desire that careened though her veins was instant, powerful. His breath was hot and his arms strong, as he held her as if he intended to never let her go. “But you are not,” he insisted. “I will not leave you. You can try to scare me away, but it won’t serve a purpose. I’m here to stay.”
“Why?”
“Because I care.” The words were simple, but their meaning was powerful. She felt the impact of them in her heart. Riley nearly shook. Did he mean all those things? Sometimes she felt that he said things that he didn’t mean. Other times, she thought that he knew exactly what he was saying or doing. As she opened her mouth to ask him more, his cell phone rang. Digging his hand in his pocket, he took it out and swiped it to pick up the call. “Chance here. Yes, sir. Ok.” A strange grimace appeared on his face. He glanced at Riley and then seeing that her gaze was intent on him, he turned away. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
He shoved the phone in his pocket, as she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Just a call from my boss. Need to have a meeting.”
“About work?”
He nodded. “Yes. I’ll drop you off at the bar. Don’t leave until I come back to pick you up. I’ll be there on time.”
He’d turned his life upside down. Earlier he was escorting her only at night, but now he was with her whenever she traveled from the bar or from his house. In fact, she was pretty sure that he was neglecting work to stay at home with her because he didn’t want her to be alone. This was crazy. If they continued like this, he would get into trouble. Sooner or later, she would have to make up her mind as to what she wanted to do: stay or flee. Any decision she made would have an impact on Chance, too.
This time around she would have to be very careful. She had never felt as tense in her life as she was now. Chance made everything difficult, complicated. She didn’t much like it, but she didn’t have a choice. At least now, she didn’t. Maybe if she went away, her life would be hers once more.
Maybe.
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