He tipped his head upward at that point, like he was acknowledging an acquaintance and not the woman he’d disappeared on thirteen years ago.
“He’s coming this way. Do you know him?”
“Sort of,” I answered, my eyes fixed on the man advancing through the pub, every head turning as he passed.
“Shit,” the nurse on the other side of me whispered, “wasn’t he in a few weeks ago?”
I nodded.
“Hi,” he said as he stopped in front of the table.
“How’d you find me, Ry?” I asked, hearing the silence descend in a thick hush around me.
“Asked security.”
“And they just told you where I was?”
He shrugged, his eyes not moving from me. So much for security.
“I’m out with my friends, Ry.” A lie. I knew it, and Kirsten sitting next to me knew it too, but she said nothing.
Two leather-clad bikers in one day. This didn’t feel like a coincidence.
“Just thought I’d watch you home,” he said, his voice vibrating into the charged atmosphere around us.
“Why?”
“Trying to be a gentleman, I guess?”
I glanced at the glass on the table, at the half-drunk pint of Coke I’d sipped on for the last hour while trying to make small talk with a group of people I should know better.
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“No,” he said quietly. “Didn’t say you did.”
Something in his tone made me look up. Not the same edge as before. I pushed my chair back anyway, the scrape of it loud enough to turn a few heads.
“I should go,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.
Kirsten frowned. “Already?”
“Busy day. But thanks for tonight. I really enjoyed it.” I reached for my bag, my eyes casting back to Ryan.
I stepped around him, close enough that the scent of leather and something darker brushed past me, catching in my chest for a fraction of a second, too short to really recognise it.
“Night,” I muttered to the table, not quite meeting anyone’s eye as I headed for the door.
All noise stopped as the door closed behind me. Cool air hit my skin, sharp and intimidating. I breathed it in slowly this time. Footsteps followed. Steady. Unhurried. I didn’t turn around.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said, my voice quieter now, the fight draining out of it without my permission.
“I know, but I’m going to, anyway.”
I stopped at the edge of the pavement, my hand tightening slightly around my keys as I glanced left, then right. Cars passed. Headlights cutting through the dark. Normal. Everything lookednormal. And yet there was that feeling again. Low. Persistent. Watching. Ryan.
I stepped off the curb. He stayed a pace behind me as we walked. Not beside me. Just there. Close enough that I could feel him. Far enough that he wasn’t taking anything I didn’t give. The street stretched ahead, familiar and not at the same time.
I found myself checking the cars as we passed them. Windows. Reflections. Shadows. My chest tightening with each step.
