Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she remembered her mother’s face. Strong and beautiful and resilient, even facing her death. She’d never cried. Not when they’d hit her. Not when the knives cut into her body. Her sole focus had been protecting her child, making sure she was safe. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, Katherine held the memory, made herself remember it, and then, with a shuddering exhale, let it go the same way.
She lifted her face up and let the water rinse away her tears until her teeth chattered and the physical pain from the cold took the place of the emotional pain. It was a temporary fix, she knew that, but it always provided relief when her fear threatened to overwhelm her. Reaching down, she shut off the water and then grabbed the towel hanging over the curtain, still damp from that morning’s use. As she wrapped it around her and stepped onto the bath mat, she found she could breathe again.
* * *
WHEN SHE WAS dressed and able to project an unruffled air again, she headed back into the main room.
You’ve got this. No reason to freak out. They’re not gonna hurt you. You’re strong, not a freakin’ wimp.
Kirkpatrick looked up when he saw her, looking apologetic.
“Are you okay? We weren’t even thinking about—”
Dismissing him with a hand, she quickly said, “I’m fine. You didn’t know, and it’s not a big deal. Anyone hungry?” She rummaged through the snack bag, pulled out an apple, and frowned. “We need to go grocery shopping.”
“Garrett can accompany you tonight, or we can go between classes tomorrow,” he told her.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Also, we reached out to Steven, but he wasn’t free to stop in this evening.”
“Oh.” She furrowed her brow. “Did he say why?”
“No, just that he’d try to check in with you some time this week.”
Huh. That was weird. Maybe he was upset with her for snapping at him, but he wasn’t usually the type to hold a grudge.
Shrugging, she said, “Okay, well…guess you guys are stuck with me again. What’s the plan for tonight? More Gin Rummy? Some Go Fish?”
“Don’t you have homework to do?” Garrett replied, busy writing in a little black book.
Kirkpatrick shot Garrett a death glare when he glanced back up, and he put his pen down and fixed his eyes on hers.
“I apologize if what you saw earlier frightened you.”
It probably took a lot for Garrett to muster even that much of a forced apology—he didn’t seem the kind of guy who just threw around “I’m sorrys.” He was giving her his full attention, but there was no emotion behind his amber-flecked eyes.
Not wanting to make it a big deal, she merely said, “Thank you.”
He gave a short nod and picked up his pen again.
“Wait…what’s today?” she asked. “Wednesday?”
“Thursday.”
“Shit.” She ran back to her room and grabbed her backpack before bursting back into the kitchen. “Who’s up for a late night sexcapade?”
When they both gave her blank stares, she shook her head. “Wow, I need you both to calm down, you got way too excited there.”
More silence.
Rolling her eyes, she threw a bag strap over her shoulder. “Class. I have evening classes on Thursdays. Here.” She took out a coin from her pocket and tossed it on the table. “You can flip for it.”
THERE’S A PATH that winds down to the edge of campus from Katherine’s latest place of residence.
It’s brightly lit—for the moment, anyway. That can be taken care of easily and in time.
She and the bodyguard walk directly underneath the street lamp, his eyes scanning the falling darkness around them.
I bet she thinks she’s safe. That her protectors will always be there to guard her and keep her from harm—she’s wrong.
I wonder if the hand the bodyguard gently places on the small of her back is a comfort to her as he leads her away from a passing cyclist? Or if the visible shiver that passes through her at his touch is from the biting January cold or something else?
It’s the thought of the “something else” that has me enraged, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek until I taste blood. My hands ache to wrap around her smooth neck, to end this already.
I hate the waiting.
NIGHT WAS FALLING as Jason escorted Katherine to her evening class. He was surprised at the number of students still roaming around campus, and told her.
“Nah,” she said. “Evening classes are popular among the hangover crowd. They can sleep in all day, hit a night course, and then go straight to a party after. It’s a way of killing two birds with one stone, kinda.”
Before he could stop himself, he asked, “Is that why you chose this one?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Definitely not. It was the only one left during sign-up. Bree’s a pretty hardcore hangover member, though, always running off somewhere and trying to get me to go with her.”
“Ah, Bree, the roommate.”
“Mhmm. Well, former roommate now, I guess. I traded her in for two antiques.”
When his eyes narrowed, she laughed. “God, you’re so easy to tease. Are you always so stiff? Wait…don’t answer that. I don’t wanna know.”
“You, Miss Shaw, lack a filter.”
“You’re right about that,” she agreed. “Bites me in the ass on occasion, but I’m too old to change my ways now.”
“Twenty-two is considered old?”
“Why else do you think they stuck me with you two?”
Christ, her mouth…
As they walked, she continued to chat about anything and everything under the sun. There was no doubt in his mind that she could talk her way out of a speeding ticket just by driving the officer crazy. Something about the way she talked made him feel like she was putting on a facade, but he wasn’t about to call her out on it. Whatever true self she was hiding underneath could prove to be much more irritating. Or worse—appealing.
“Are you gonna make me talk to myself the whole way there?” she asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Even as curious as he was about how much longer until they reached “there,” he kept quiet.
“Okayyy.”
The wind whipped around them suddenly, a ferocious gust that caused her long locks to go flying in every direction. She looked a bit like Medusa right then, hair thrashing about like snakes, hypnotic jade eyes blazing, and just as she lifted the hood of her jacket over her head, the wind died down.
“Yeah, that just figures,” she muttered, as she put her hand inside the hood to smooth down her hair.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, the caller ID reading Thompson. He answered before the second ring. “Sir.”
“Just calling to check in with you, Garrett. I spoke with Kirkpatrick and went over the rundown on our end, and he gave me—”
“Ow, shit, motherfucker—”
A string of curses continued to fly from Katherine’s mouth, her arm caught in an awkward angle over her face. The bracelet on her wrist had hooked onto the jacket liner of her hood, and the more she tried to yank it free, the more it snagged.
Thompson’s voice turned apprehensive. “Is everything okay over there? Is that Katherine—”
“Yes, yes, she’s fine,” Jason said.
“She doesn’t sound fine.”
“Just a little…female issue.”
“Female issue…? Ohhhh. I see. Well, good luck with that. Talk later.” Thompson hung up swiftly, and Jason shook his head. Wimp.
Katherine stomped her foot as she continued to wrench her arm free, and he tried not to smirk at how ridiculous she looked.
I should just leave her like that, he thought in amusement.
“Are you gonna talk on the phone all night or are you gonna fucking help me sometime this century?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” he asked.
“No, what I want right about now is a chainsaw to free myself and then stick up your ass.”
He shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Sounds like foreplay.”
She stopped struggling for a moment, and he tried not to notice the way her shirt had ridden up to display a few inches of her creamy skin. “Now the sense of humor comes out? Now?”
Stepping forward, he grabbed her wrist with one hand and tried to get her bracelet free with the other, but it was lodged in tight. Her pulse beat rapidly under his thumb, and he stroked over it once before realizing what he’d done. A quiet gasp escaped Katherine’s lips.
“Hold still,” he murmured, tightening his grip. “It might hurt.”
With a quick snap, he ripped the hood away, a chunk of tattered material still clinging to the mangled jewelry. She pulled the bracelet off her arm and rubbed her wrist.
“Thanks,” she said, a bit breathless.
He nodded as he backed away, and she got the hint to keep moving and not mention it.
They walked together in silence, for once, until a cluster of buildings came into view, and Katherine directed them toward it. When he saw her look over at him from the corner of his eye, he braced himself for the next round of questioning he knew was coming.
“So…you never told me your first name,” she said.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Well, that’s rude. I thought we just had a moment there, Jason.”
He stopped in his tracks, and she burst out in victorious laughter.
How the hell did she know that?
“And you thought I was unobservant.” She wore a smug look on her face. “I may be a lot of things, ruiner of jackets included, but give me a little credit here.”
“Where did you hear that?”
She shrugged. “It was a hunch. I’d referred to you as Jason Statham when I was talking to Steven at my father’s house, and I noticed you flinched when I said it. So, either you get that comparison a lot, or it was an involuntary reaction to hearing your name and trying not to react. Thank you for confirming my suspicions.”
Well I’ll be damned. Not just a pretty face, are you?
“Oh,” she said then, taking a step back. “Oh, no. That’s not…a tiny sliver of respect I see in your eyes, is it?”
He grimaced. “No.”
“Thank God,” she said with mock relief as she climbed the stairs to the main doors and stopped just outside them. “I couldn’t take it if you actually liked me.”
He had nothing to say to that, too busy trying to see past the mask she wore that he’d only briefly thought about earlier. She was observant. I wonder what else she’s hiding…
She turned around. “Can I ask you something?”
“God knows you would anyway.”
The Katherine that faced him now wore a serious expression, with no trace of the sarcastic woman he’d had to deal with the past few days. She cocked her head to the side as she studied his face.
“Are you always this much of an asshole with your clients, or am I just lucky?”
Before he could summon an answer, she reached for the door handle but then pulled away so he could enter first. She stayed beside him as she walked them to her class, and he knew she didn’t expect a response. After getting her settled and taking position against the wall nearby, he entertained her question.
Two things he knew for sure: First, he was definitely an asshole. And second, under the current circumstances, he’d never refer to Katherine Shaw as lucky.
THE WEEKEND HAD passed, and still nothing from Steven. Not that he knew where she was or what her number was, but he sure as hell knew her class schedule. She knew his too, so after her Monday class, she hightailed it to the chemistry building, determined to get to the bottom of his weird behavior, and caught sight of him just as he was exiting the double doors.
“Steven,” she called, but he was too engrossed in conversation to hear her.
“Would you like me to forcibly drag him over here?” Kirkpatrick asked, reaching underneath his jacket for God knew which weapon.
She grabbed his arm and shook her head. “Not necessary, but thanks.”
He looked mildly disappointed, but removed his hand. “If you insist.”
“I insist.” She looked over at the crowd of students outside the building again and spotted him greeting a guy she’d met in passing acquaintance with one of those obnoxious, complicated handshakes. “Steven!” she called out again.
This time, he glanced over his shoulder and spotted her, his smile becoming tight-lipped as he nodded at her. After saying goodbye to his friend, he crossed the green, his shoulders hunched.
Worry gnawed at her as she reflected on what was said the last time she saw him.
Was I really that horrible that his smile falls now when he looks at me?
She’d been upset, but surely that wasn’t enough to ignore her or rebuff the attempts her bodyguards had made at contacting him.
Maybe something else had happened?
There hadn’t been two days since she’d been back at school that they hadn’t talked or gone out for lunch or walked across campus bitching about incompetent professors and even more incompetent classmates.
But, dammit, nothing came to mind.
That day had been partially blocked from her thoughts anyway—the stress of dealing with her father and the news he’d shared just too much to absorb at the moment, so she’d filed it away for later. She and Steven had had a good morning…but then he’d decided not to go with her to the hotel. He’d claimed a group project instead of being there when she was scared and needed him. That caused an irrational surge of anger to flow through her, so when he walked up and said, “Hey,” she lost it.
“Hey?” she asked. “Hey? That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself? Hey?”
His eyes widened and darted between her and Kirkpatrick.
“I can say bye too.” He started to leave, but Katherine reached out and grabbed his shirt.
“What the hell is going on with you? Did you get a lobotomy in the last week?”
He pulled away from her hold and straightened. “I’ve just been busy. I told you I had a—”
“Group project,” she finished. “Yeah. You said that. I don’t believe you, though.”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“That’s a great question, Chambers. Why would you?”
Sighing, he stared at the ground and kicked a rock. “That was true, but…look, you’ve got a lot goin’ on…”
“And? That’s exactly why I need you around.”
His forehead puckered, and he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “No, you don’t.”
“I’m getting trailed by bodyguards protecting me from someone trying to kill me, so yeah, I kinda need my best friend right now.”
That caught his attention. “What did you say?”
“That’s what my father told me that day in his office. I guess he wanted to drive home the seriousness of the situation, although I can think of several more effective ways he could’ve gone about it.”
“Someone’s trying to kill you?” Steven asked, bewildered, and rubbed his forehead. “Why the hell, Kat?”
Shrugging, she said, “Probably some fellow business student who knows I’m about to become the next big thing.”
He didn’t budge. “And the real reason?”
Her eyes met his, and she could see the anxiety she tried to hide reflected back in his. “My mom. Whoever it is, it’s the same person who killed my mom.”
He was silent as he stared at her, and when he opened his mouth again, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She threw her hands up. “And when have I seen you to tell you? You’ve been ignoring me. Unless it’s something I did that offended you or hurt you, then I won’t bug you about why. I know you need space to do”—she searched for the right words—“guy stuff or whatever.”
“Guy stuff.” The side of his mouth quirked up a little, and he said, “Yeah. Something like that.”
“Okay, so if the guy stuff is all over and done with,
can we please hang out? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been great with Captain Kirk over here.” She pointed with her thumb in her bodyguard’s direction. “But he’s not half as good as you at movie trivia. No offense, Kirkland.”
“Other than the continual misuse of my name, Miss Shaw, none taken,” he replied.
“Plus you haven’t seen where they’ve put me up. It’s so nice the furniture should be covered in plastic.”
Steven shook his head like he was about to tell her no, but then blew out a breath instead.
“Yeah. Okay, Kit Kat.”
She smiled and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank youuuu,” she singsonged. When she pulled away, she glanced at Kirkpatrick. “Can you give him the address, please?”
The man gave them both a long, hard look before finally inclining his head.
“Great,” she said, taking off her backpack to grab a pen and paper, but Kirkpatrick stopped her.
“No need for that.” His expression was severe as he stared Steven down. “I’ll say it once, and you’re not to repeat it, is that understood? I’m telling you only because we’ve done your background check. It could endanger her life if you start spreading it around.”
Steven gulped and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, understood.”
As Kirkpatrick rattled off the address, a palpable tension formed in the air, and Katherine cleared her throat so she wouldn’t choke on it. “Right, well…see you tonight, then?”
Nodding, but never taking his eyes off Kirkpatrick, Steven said, “Later.”
KATHERINE BLEW OUT the candle on the cupcake as the clock turned past ten o’clock.
Stood up. She’d never been stood up before.
Who would’ve thought the first time would be by my best friend?
She leaned over onto the kitchen counter on her elbows and swiped a sizable amount of chocolate frosting off the cupcakes she’d made, oh, five hours ago. They were Steven’s favorite and had been made as a sort of peace offering for whatever had sent him running, but apparently she’d be forced to eat them all by herself now. Time for sweatpants.
Flash Point Page 5