Rose peeked up at the man again.
She didn’t want to even think about it.
As if she had voiced her thoughts out loud, the man in question swung his golden-rimmed gaze her way. He thumbed back over his shoulder.
“Isn’t that our guy?”
Adrenaline shot through her, breaking up thoughts of panic and of James and the comfort he brought. Rose swung her head around James’s shoulder so fast that if she had been wearing her hair in a ponytail it would have smacked him good.
“That’s definitely Lloyd,” she confirmed, staring at the group of people who had just left the cafeteria. “Doc Ernest said the Camden people always take lunch at the same time during the week. He’s the one in the back on his phone. The good-looking guy with the blond hair.”
James snorted but was already moving. She heard him mutter beneath his breath.
“I didn’t need that last part.”
Rose didn’t respond to his cheekiness. Instead, she let James take the lead and approach the group by himself. She held back out of sight. Only a few of the people who had been there during the storm still worked at Camden now. That didn’t mean she wanted to chance falling into a catch-up by running into them. Her current plan was simple: see if Lloyd had had any contact with Damon since the storm or had any dangerous run-ins recently.
Rose didn’t need to chat past that.
Lloyd seemed just as uninterested in the usual pleasantries when he rounded the corner with James in tow. His eyes widened at the sight of her, but he didn’t smile.
“Deputy Little, what a coincidence, I was just about to try and find you.”
Rose shared a look with James.
Unlike the last time she had seen him, Lloyd Harrison looked somehow worse for the wear. Which was saying a lot, given their last danger-filled interaction had been in the middle of a flood and a tornado. There were dark circles beneath eyes that were tinged red. He also seemed to have lost some weight.
Maybe Rose wasn’t the only one Damon had been targeting after all.
“You were looking for me?” she asked.
Lloyd nodded. His tired gaze shifted between her and James before he lowered his voice.
“I think it’s time we had a talk.” He nodded to James but kept his eyes on her. “A very private one.”
Chapter Fourteen
James had no idea what was going on, but he did know everything had gone wrong.
“Rose!” he yelled, not for the first time.
The woman might have been small in size but what she lacked in height she more than gained in speed. She ran full tilt down the hospital hallway like she was running for her life. The problem with that?
James was the only one behind her.
“Sto-stop!” he yelled out, nearly tripping over a patient coming out of a room. He sidestepped the confused woman and focused back on running after the woman confusing him.
Rose started to slow but only so she could take a turn in the hallway. He could hear her shoes squeak across the floor. James wanted to use her slower pace to his advantage, but it just wasn’t in the cards, with his physique. He took the turn a lot less gracefully than her, losing him even more distance between them.
What had happened?
Why was she running?
James chanced the quickest of looks back down the hallway he was leaving.
There was no one chasing them. Absolutely no one.
But it had to have something to do with that Lloyd guy. If he had time, James would have cursed the man. He never should have stepped aside to give Lloyd the privacy to talk to Rose.
