seventeen. Now the way she'd steered conversation made sense. Her best friend had left. Her boyfriend...well...he was an ass, but an ass she apparently cared about despite him having chased some blonde to another country. Her grandfather was on a business trip, and her brother was threatening to re-enlist and maybe leave her for good. Of course, she felt alone. Of course, she felt like everyone was leaving her and she was on her own.
“Leighton?” I asked, my voice low. “You know I'm here for you, right?”
“Liar,” she said.
I caught her hand, stopping her before she got to the door, but she refused to turn around and face me. “I'm here for you, and I'm not going anywhere.”
Again, she wrenched her hand free from me, turning to me with blazing eyes. “Liar!” she hissed. “Ian let your little secret slip. Now I know you only took this job because it requires you to be on your feet all day. You thought if you could keep up with me and pound the LA pavement all day and night, you could tell that to the army doctors. A reference from my grandfather, plus the expert witness of the private doctors he paid to fix you up, and you'll get a clean bill of health, no problem.”
I didn't know what to say to that. I'd yet to reconcile my original plan with my current mission to keep Leighton safe. I couldn't leave her. I knew that now. I couldn't move on until I knew she was safe and the threat was gone. Still, I had to admit that I wanted to prove my injury was no longer holding me back. I wanted the clean bill of health. I wanted my career and the life I'd once known back.
The question was…did I actually want my old life back? Or was I only craving the known? If I wasn’t a soldier, then who was I? What and who would I be instead? Did I want to get back on my original path...or could I risk trying something new?
The thought burned me, and Leighton saw the conflict in my eyes.
“Don't worry, I'll make it easy on you,” she said, her expression becoming a cold, smooth mask. “I'm leaving.”
I let her go, and then followed her in silence. There was nothing else I could say to her.
To make things right, I needed to talk with Ian and see if her brother knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe if she had him back, the desperate look in her eyes would fade, and I wouldn't have to worry about her running, putting herself in danger. When people thought they had nothing to lose, that was when they were most dangerous to others...and themselves. I needed her trust, but more than that, I needed Leighton to take care of herself while I searched for the threat she knew nothing about.
Chapter 5
Haze
I followed Leighton home and saw her get out of the car safely. My contract stated that when she was within the gates of her grandfather's home, I was off duty, but I didn't want to let her walk away. It was clear from our one short conversation in the art gallery that Leighton felt everyone was leaving her. I needed to make sure she knew that she wasn't alone.
The one person who could do that was Ian. His car was in the driveway and his regular shoes were at the bottom of the grand staircase in the foyer. I suspected he was out training on the trails around Devlin's estate, but I couldn't go out to find him until I knew Leighton was settled somewhere.
She was restless, not even bothering to glance at me as I followed her. Finally, she changed clothes, and headed downstairs to the exercise facilities. There, she turned on a treadmill, and started running at a punishing pace. I watched for a moment, but her pace never slackened. She'd be there for some time, I knew, until she was too exhausted to think. I'd been there before, and I knew Leighton wouldn't stop until exhaustion drove away all her other thoughts.
If I wanted to find Ian, this was the time to do it.
I ran up the stairs two at a time, and hit the trail behind the formal gardens. The trail ran the perimeter of Devlin's estate, and soon, I ran across Ian
Debra Klamen, Brian George, Alden Harken, Debra Darosa