I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,54

floor, not expecting to find him there decked out in black on black. I wondered if it was a show of defiance since he knew how much I hated it.

We walked in silence to the car. I slipped into the backseat and pulled out my phone, using it as a distraction for the ride. I would not look at him. I would not speak to him. He did this. Not me.

Once we arrived at the shelter, I pushed open the door and hurried in to see Doris and the dogs. I grabbed Simone and two other pups and leashed them. I averted my gaze as I moved by Tristan who stood against the car.

A dark blanket of clouds covered the sun as we set off on our walk. Since I wore cutoffs and a hoodie, goosebumps scampered up my legs as a cold chill moved through the woods. And, as much as I tried not to think about last night’s conversation between Tristan and me, it was all I could think about as his footsteps trailed behind me.

Why wasn’t it easy for him to be around me?

Did he think it was easy for me?

His footsteps stopped as I paused to let the dogs sniff their favorite tree. After a couple of minutes, I continued walking deeper into the woods but I didn’t hear Tristan behind me. Good riddance. I began to hum and the dogs’ tails went crazy, wagging at the sound of my humming. I laughed, loving how dogs’ love was unconditional.

“Kresley!” Tristan called from a distance.

Footsteps pounding the ground echoed through the woods behind me.

I spun around, ready to give Tristan a piece of my mind. But it wasn’t him.

A man in a dark hoodie rushed toward me. Alarm bells wailed in my head as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I dropped the leashes and spun away from him, running as fast as I could deeper into the woods. I stumbled over tree roots as my heartbeat ricocheted off my chest, but I stayed upright because I knew I needed to get away from this man. Every step I took felt like it was happening in slow motion. Tree branches tore at my clothes as I plowed off the path and into the thick brush and darkness of the woods. I wouldn’t turn around. I just needed to run. Run as if my life depended on it. Because it did. Tears burned my eyes as I propelled my legs forward, hearing the footsteps behind me getting closer.

A gunshot reverberated through the woods.

I dropped to the ground and covered my head. A scream I couldn’t contain tore out of me. My limbs shivered as I mentally assessed myself for pain. My head. My back. My arms. My legs. I didn’t feel anything. My head jerked over my shoulder.

Tristan, with a gun in his hand, stood over the man who now lay face down on the ground no more than twenty feet away from me.

Complete terror washed over me and tears rolled down my cheeks as what happened finally registered.

Tristan looked anxiously to me. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” I called, my voice cracking.

He leaned down and quickly zip-tied the man’s hands and ankles, but the pool of blood beneath him told me he was no longer a threat.

I crawled to my knees. Physically, except for a few bloody scrapes marring my knees and elbows, I was fine. Mentally, I wasn’t sure I’d recover.

Tristan rushed over to me, his eyes assessing me while still staying alert of our surroundings. “I need to check the perimeter. But I need to know you’re safe in the car.” He held out his hand to me. “Come on. I don’t know if he was alone.”

Fear gripped me, knowing there could be more men out there. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.

“Stay behind me,” he said, easing me behind him. He walked with his gun extended in front of him and his head moving from side to side, his eyes undoubtedly scanning the wooded area around us.

Neither of us spoke as we moved toward the start of the path that seemed miles away, our ears alert for unfamiliar sounds. There were so many places someone could hide in the cover of the woods. So many places someone could lay in wait with a gun aimed at my head. I jumped every time a branch snapped beneath our feet. And, the jackhammer pounding in my chest