And it wasn’t until that moment that Liam forgot all about his potential lead.
He was off and running into the woods right after them, nothing but red hair in his mind.
Chapter Two
It had been years since Blake had been in the woods behind the high school. Set between the gym’s parking lot and the old building that had housed a Kmart half a mile away, between the trees had become just another rite of passage for Seven Roads’ teens.
They couldn’t escape the boredom of small-town life; they could skip a few of their classes though.
Now Blake didn’t see how she had navigated the area as carefree as she had back then. A few feet in and a tree root nearly took her down. She caught her balance halfway through the fall. Her dress wasn’t as fortunate. She heard the tear but didn’t stop to investigate.
Instead, she was all eyes on Ryan Reed.
“Stop running,” she yelled out to him, rounding another tree he had tried to put between them.
Ryan had never been the fastest kid in school, but as an adult, he had seemed to inherit a talent for being slippery. He wove through the underbrush and oaks like the snake that he was.
Too bad for him that Blake had made a career out of having faster reflexes than most of the people she ended up chasing.
Instead of running behind him directly, Blake cut to the right and picked up speed. If her memory wasn’t that far off, there was a slight hill that sloped up before sliding down into a small clearing. She could make up some space and cut him off.
So Blake followed her plan with total dedication. She didn’t stop when she got tripped up again, she didn’t stop when a low-hanging branch scratched at her face, and she didn’t let up even an inch when her legs burned as she ran up and then down the small hill into the clearing.
She only stopped once she realized her plan had worked.
Ryan was holding his side and gasping. He broke through the tree line like he’d run a marathon. Blake closed the distance between them before Ryan realized she had cut him off.
His eyes widened.
Blake held out her hands in a stop motion.
“What are you—”
Before she could finish the question, Ryan did something Blake truly didn’t expect.
He lunged at her.
Years of experience sang to her muscles. Instead of trying to avoid the hit, her legs and core braced themselves as her hands worked in sync while serving two different purposes.
Blake’s left hand jabbed up in time to grab his wrist opposite her. Her right hand turned into a fist.
A fist that was angry.
It connected against the unsuspecting Ryan with enough power to throw him off his game. He stumbled to the side, only held up by her grip. Blake wasn’t a petite woman, but Ryan still had some height on her. He lost his footing for a moment only to turn in the next and strike out with his free hand again.
It wasn’t his fist that hit Blake but his elbow.
She cried out as pain exploded in her eyebrow.
Instead of trying to keep up with him, Blake decided to create some distance. She let go of his wrist and pivoted away.
“Stop this,” she ground out.
Blake took a step back to try to meet his eye.
Ryan had both his fists up. Blake had only one ready. She knew what she was capable of and that she could do some damage. But that didn’t mean she wanted to go against him again.
“What are you doing?” she tried. “Why did you run?”
