me. Lurkers hanging out in corners. My attempts to fight off the anxious energy seeping into my bones failed.
A man materialized, appearing in my peripheral like a sneaky dark shadow. Six-two, about two-twenty, light brown hair, and extremely fair skin, he had my senses tingling. And although I automatically exchanged fake smiles with passing shoppers, he had my full attention.
My brain was flipping through my memories to recall if he had popped up in any of the same places as I had. I didn’t believe he had, but he was following way too close and didn’t seem to care that I noticed him. Where the hell was the Vallin guard? Had he been immobilized or worse, taken out?
The lingering man was the reason I was about to take a seat in this crowded food court and wait him out. I was holding on to the hope that the guard would make a sudden reappearance. I had been told on a few occasions that I was the approachable type so men, who wanted to ask me out, just asked.
However, the malicious intent radiating from this man’s stiff body and the fact that he was eyeballing me erased the hope that this stalker was working up the nerve to ask me out on a date. Wishful thinking on my part, I know.
The mean scowl on his face highlighted his impatience at my lack of movement. Who the hell was he? Why was he standing there aiming his angry attention in my direction?
A stream of erratic ideas ran along the sphere of my brain, causing me to produce outrageous scenarios. The abusive husband I had drugged hadn’t been able to identify me because of the mask I wore, but could he have found a way and sent someone after me anyway? Was this some other angry ex who had figured out I had stolen away their woman trophy? The possibility of being targeted for helping the victims was always there, but being followed so blatantly in a public place had me shook. I accepted that my Vallin-appointed protection was no longer in the picture. I was on my own.
Dammit!
My pistol was in the glove compartment of my car, and I didn’t have anything to use as a weapon except my keys. I had slipped my credit card out of my purse that I’d left on the passenger’s side floor of my car to keep from lugging it around. I turned in my seat, staring back at the man who was staring stone faced at me.
His sinister smirk met me head on before his eyes roamed the busy area surrounding us until they landed on a group of unsuspecting pre-teens. His smile deepened before he turned his gaze back on me and motioned his head for me to head towards the restrooms.
I didn’t move. The sight of him putting his gaze back on those kids while reaching into his jacket caused my heart to sink to my toes and melt onto the black leather of my heels. He hadn’t said a word, but his threat was as loud as if he’d yelled it across the food court.
Fucking dirty son of a bitch… I believed he would hurt those kids without an ounce of remorse. How did he even know if I was the compassionate type?
Fuck! My job, dammit! If he knew that, he knew to play on my weakness. It also meant he had likely been keeping tabs on me before we met in this mall. I stood with a frustrated huff and headed in the direction of the ladies’ room with a stomping march of my heels.
The man didn’t move, but I sensed his eyes on me, his gaze boring into my back like a hot poker. I dialed Mecca first, keeping my phone close to my chest while strolling at a leisurely pace down the long white and unusually deserted hallway. The call went straight to voicemail. It was expected as she was dealing with running a drug empire.
Once I shouldered my way into the bathroom, I turned and locked the door behind me. I ran into the middle door of five open stalls and locked myself inside. When I called up the number that would alert the LoC that I was in trouble, the harsh thump of someone knocking at the bathroom door caused me to jump. The door creaked and groaned at the man’s hard shoves. It sounded like it was giving up the fight on the third forceful thump,