“Focus, Roman,” I muttered to myself. Opening my laptop, I searched the address, finding that it belonged to Amber Martin, and relief that it wasn’t a man she was meeting flooded my system.
I waited for over an hour, hoping they were having a quiet night in, but Hana’s outfit told me not to get my hopes up.
When Amber’s front door opened, and the two of them left, linking arms like old friends, jealousy flared. Having her so close the other night had unleashed something inside me I wasn’t sure how to control, so I did what I did best: I hacked into the CCTV system for the town, finding them on a camera and tracking where they went, watching as they walked to the town's one nightclub.
It took me less than two minutes to access the club’s security system, cursing how terrible their footage was. I squinted at the grainy images, eventually finding who I thought was Hana, promising that tomorrow I would find a way to get a tracking app on her phone.
I watched for about forty-five minutes, the heat in the car on full, steaming up my windows as the temperature outside plummeted. As she danced, a man pressed up behind her, making her turn; she grabbed Amber and pulled her to another space on the dancefloor, calming the aching rage that spiked in my chest. Suddenly, the camera went off, and my screen wentblack as my phone pinged with a text notification. I glanced down to where it rested in the middle console of my car.
Thomas Lanton: Stop it.
Motherfucker.I didn’t even bother to deny it, knowing that there was no way I’d be able to reconnect to the cameras. Thomas was obviously running some sort of interference, and I didn’t have the tech capability to deal with it from my laptop. But first thing Monday, I was going to work out what his staff—fuck,mystaff—were doing to block my access to cameras I should be able to hack in my sleep.
Desperate, I left my car, hurrying through the quiet streets until I got close enough to the door of the club that I could watch people come and go. I wanted to go inside, but I knew myself well enough to know that the noise and the people would mean I would last about three minutes before losing my temper or my mind.
Turning up the collar on my woollen trench, I leaned against the dark wall of the street opposite, burying my hands in my pockets as the cold air nipped around me like a small, angry dog. It wasn’t long before Hana appeared outside. Alone.
Cursing under my breath, I watched as she wrapped her arms around herself—because, of course, she wasn’t wearing a jacket. She glanced at the long queue of people waiting for a taxi before shaking her head and setting off down the high street on foot.
Sticking to the shadows like the stalker Thomas accused me of being, I followed her, having no intention of speaking to her; I just wanted to make sure she got home safe, but the further she got from the club, the more frustrated I got that she’d put herself in danger.
Grumbling, I stepped closer, reaching out and brushing my fingers over her goosebump-covered bicep. She screamed,spinning around and pulling back her arm. I only just dodged her fist as she directed it straight at my throat.
“Jesus, it’s you. What the fuck are you doing creeping up on me?” she let out breathlessly before pulling her hand back to her chest as if she was hurting.
“What are you doing walking home on your own?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m walking back to the diner. I can order a lift home from there. Why are you out here? Do you just hang around on dark street corners waiting to save unsuspecting women? That’s weird.”
“I was passing and saw you.”
She looked around the empty pedestrian street. “Passing how?”
“You’re freezing.”
“I asked you a question. Are you following me? Waiting for me? Do I need to be worried you’re about to kidnap me and make me wear a skin suit of your previous victims?”
I laughed. It was such an unfamiliar sound that it caught me off guard, and it obviously took me too long to give her a reply that reassured her.
“Fuck off. Please. I’m not being lured by a handsome stranger only to be murdered. If I see you again, I’m calling the police. I mean, I don’t even know your name. You could be anyone.”
I raised my hands in surrender. “I was walking back to my car. I start a new job on Monday, and I was there, filling in some paperwork. I just happened to see you.” I paused. “And it’s Roman. My name is Roman Black.”
Her eyes flared for a second as if she recognised my name, and I wondered what the small-minded people of this town were saying about the giant, tattooed stranger who moved here, that she’d obviously overheard. “I’m too cold and too hungry for this. Goodbye, Roman.”
She stomped away, but I followed close behind. “Hana, my car is just over there. Let me give you a lift home. It’s not safe out here.”
“It’s okay for you to walk alone at night, but not me?” Disdain was clear in her tone.
I huffed loudly, unsure why she was being stubborn.
“What? Because I’m a woman… because I’m dressed likethis.” She waved her arm up and down her body as her heels clicked over the concrete.
“Well, yes. Have you seen the size of me? I’m 6 foot 4. No one’s messing with me, but you… you’re tiny.”
She mumbled something that sounded a lot like her calling me a misogynistic arsehole, but I couldn’t hear it clearly as she continued to walk away. I lengthened my steps, closing the distance between us. “You’re being ridiculous. At least take my coat. You must be freezing.”
She stopped and turned, her eyes dancing with what looked like anger, while her hard nipples pressed against the thin material of her top. “Fine. I’ll take it.”
