His dark eyes turned molten just before a sinister laugh bit out of him. “Nice try. You know you wanted that.”
I picked up my pace, heart rate spiking again. Hoping that he would let go and leave me alone. I fought my fear and found that voice again. “No.”
My watch vibrated, warning that my heart rate had spiked higher than the planned training zone. My legs burned, lungs screamed, and his long legs loped alongside me as if he were taking a casual stroll through the park. Fuck him for this. Fuck him for taking my peace.
“All my favorite words. Damn, Kendra. You know, I’ve been watching our videos, and fuck, they were hot. You think that billionaire boyfriend of yours would like to see those?”
The ice that ran through my bloodstream, flowed into my muscles, and I could feel my body as it fought not to seize up. My conversational pace from earlier had picked up to where I could no longer get the words out. Fuck him for easily striding next to me, once again proving that he was in fucking control of my body. His threat to share the videos we made with Jonathan was a reminder that I couldn’t escape him. Even if he was no longer in my day-to-day life, he still had evidence that could destroy my peace.
“I’m not sure what ideas you’ve got in your head, Kendra. But just remember, I’ve got evidence, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
I halted my steps, and he was ten feet ahead of me whenhe realized I had stopped running. The coffee shop we were passing had just unlocked its door, and I had my eye on the door, ready to run into it for safety.
“You want to talk evidence?” My voice shook, and I swallowed it back before I forced myself to continue. “There’s a rape kit in Hanover, New Hampshire, filled with your DNA and enough evidence to file charges. If you so much as hint to Jonathan that you know me as anyone other than an employee for the team, if you push me to where I havenothing to lose,you don’t want to see that side of me.”
His face clouded over, and then the mask he used to charm the press washed back over him. “Oh, Kendra. You might remembersomeof my favorite games. But I never played my best one with you. Chess. Ineverlose. So, if you think you have me, fine. But I’d watch your back if I were you. Check. Your move.”
And then he ran off. Leaving me heaving on the sidewalk, miles from the end of my route, lungs burning, and every nerve firing with adrenaline from the terror that I had once again allowed him to force onto me. I hated my past self for letting that man into my life, for trusting him, for giving him a part of my soul, and for not being strong enough to keep him from disturbing what peace I had recently found.
Miles from the end of my run, I was too far out to turn back, and far enough for the rest of my run to become an opportunity for me to replay the conversation with Tucker. Run through my past. Remind myself of all the mistakes I made that brought Tucker into my life and forced me to face them repeatedly.
It also reminded me of why I had started running in thefirst place, making clear that I could never run fast enough, or far enough to escape my past.
When I arrived at the stadium, I flashed my badge at security and headed straight to the showers. The clothes and toiletries I left in the women’s locker room hung where I left them the day before as I swiped a towel and moved straight to the shower.
It was there that Jonathan found me almost an hour later, curled in a ball, fully clothed in my running gear, the water hitting my back as I shook with fear.
THIRTY-EIGHT
hawk
When I kissed Kendra goodbye,I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Not with her when she walked out the door, but my intuition wanted me to go after her.
I tried not to stalk her on her run, but I noticed when she stopped, and her signal stayed in one place for several minutes. She’d been at the stadium for more than an hour, far longer than it would typically take her to shower and dress.
“Fuck it.” I set off to find her, the signal drawing me into the women’s locker room, not caring if she got pissed at me for checking on her. At this time of year, she was likely to be the only one in that section of the building. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong.
I heard the water running, but nothing could have prepared me for how I found Kendra. She was still dressed in her running gear, curled up in a ball with the shower water rolling off her back. Her forehead pressed into her knees as her body shivered under the steady stream ofpiping hot water. The fact that she was shivering even as piping hot water blasted her body shot fear straight through me.
“Kenny,” my voice shook as I forced her name out.
She turned, her round blue eyes red, vacant, and haunted. I rushed to the valve, turning the knob and shutting the flow of water off. I grabbed the towel she’d left on the hook. Pulling her wet gear off of her before wrapping her up as she continued to shiver in my arms. She burrowed into me, desperate for heat.
As her body stilled, she pawed at me—her hands greedy, wandering my body. Maybe it was the relief that she had stopped shaking, but I reacted to her the same way I always did when she touched me—instant, without question. Kendra owned my body in a way no one ever had. My brain was slow to put out the warning.
I didn’t think twice as her mouth brutalized mine. I supported the weight of her hips as she wrapped her thighs around my waist, and I sighed as she released my weeping cock from my pants and notched it at her entrance.
When she came, her body squeezed mine like a vice grip. I followed her over the edge. She buried her head in my shoulder for a few seconds before sliding off of me, breaking all physical contact. She bent to gather her wet clothes, avoiding my eyes as I stood there, limp dick hanging, and in my work attire, soaked through from her body.
“I’ll see you upstairs.” She cut through the showers towards the locker where her clean clothes hung.
“Ken—”
She didn’t even look back. The faint ring had finally cut through, and alarm bells were screaming in my brain.I took a moment to put myself together, mentally thanking God that I had a spare suit in my office.
Unable to shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong with Kendra, I followed up with a text once I was in my office.
Me: Are you okay?
