She backed out of his grasp, her breath coming in heavy pants. “A cat? You turn into a big black cat with weird green eyes.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. He nodded in agreement.
“Shit!” She looked down to see where she’d dropped her gun. “Oh my, shit … dammit, dammit.” When she bent down to get it he was there, his hands encircling her wrists.
“Come with me,” he whispered. “Now.”
“Hellllooo? Hellllooo?” Mrs. Gilbert sang, peeking her head inside the open door. “Kalina, are you here? Are you okay?”
“Tell her you’re fine and that we’re leaving,” Rome whispered. “Or you’re going to witness a hell of a lot more than my claws coming out.”
She looked at his hands that held hers, up to his face, then to the door where Mrs. Gilbert stood. She didn’t have her cat with her. Thank goodness. The last thing Kalina thought she’d be able to take was another cat in the room.
Standing, she pulled her hands from his grip and turned to Mrs. Gilbert. “Hi, Mrs. Gilbert. I’m … ah, I’m sorry for the noise. I’m ah, I’m just trying to get some things together. Gonna be staying someplace else for a while.”
“Staying someplace else? You sure?” the old woman asked, eyeing Rome suspiciously. “He going with you? You need some help?”
“No.” Kalina was shaking her head as she walked toward her neighbor. “No. I’m fine. Just going to get some things and get going. I’ll, um, I’ll call you when I get settled in so you’ll know I’m all right.”
She’d never called the woman for anything, even though she had her number and Mrs. Gilbert had hers. Kalina had never been the one reaching out to her neighbor; it had always been the other way around. Realizing this made Kalina feel like an ass. The concern on Mrs. Gilbert’s face was evident and she wanted to reassure the woman that things were okay, but really, how could she? The place was a mess, there was a strange man leering at both of them, and if the woman’s hearing aid was worth a damn Kalina was sure she could hear the rapid heartbeat about to explode from her chest.
“Well, okay, if you say so.” Mrs. Gilbert moved back to the door and out, but stood in the hallway still looking in. “But if you need anything.”
“Right,” Kalina said. “I know. I’ll call you.” Because she knew that even in the midst of all her self-imposed loneliness she could, and Mrs. Gilbert would answer.
With a little effort Kalina pushed the broken door until it just about closed. Then she turned back to face Rome.
“I’m only going because my door’s a complete loss and it’s a mess in here. Not because you said so.”
He nodded. “Can you just hurry up?”
She was talking and asking questions and time was wasting. He’d smelled the stench the moment he touched the guy who was strangling Kalina. It was Rogue, but the man wasn’t. Still, a Rogue had been here, in this apartment.
A Rogue he knew well.
A Rogue he’d vowed to kill.
And he’d been in Kalina’s apartment. Death was definitely imminent now.
In the truck there was silence. She remembered being inside this vehicle before. Twice. Once with Rome and another time …
“I think somebody else has been following me,” she said, because too many things were happening that she was second-guessing herself on. If sitting beside her was the beast she’d sworn wasn’t real, then the person snapping pictures of her and leaving them at her apartment was a real threat, too.
He’d been quiet since she’d grabbed a bag and tossed another one at him before they left the apartment. She’d left with him, was in this truck with him, going she had no idea where. She had to ask why. The answer wasn’t simple.
“What happened?”
“Pictures,” she replied simply. “He keeps sending me pictures. Of the night of the party and of that night two years ago. Pictures of me.”
“Do the cops know?” he asked without looking at her.
“No.”
“Really?”
She glanced at him, wanting to see him again. Wanting desperately to see the cat.
It occurred to her that she should be afraid of him and what he’d told her he was, what she knew she’d seen. Maybe she should have killed him or at the very least arrested him, but for what? Saving her life yet again?
While there was a measure of fear of what would come next, she didn’t instantly identify with that emotion. It was strange, coupled with all the other strange things that had been going on in her life. She wanted to go with him, wanted to hear what he had to say about who and what he was, why he was here. For a minute she felt like Lois Lane desperate for any answers she could get from Superman.
But this wasn’t for an interview. For Kalina it was more. She wanted to know why she’d been attracted to someone such as Rome when she hadn’t felt anything for a man in years. She wanted to understand what had drawn her to him and why.
“You were there that night in the alley when that dealer attacked me. You were there at the party when those thugs were coming for me. Last night there was something at Mel’s house. I saw the eyes and heard noises from the bushes. Then I was knocked out and I woke up in your bedroom.” She’d only remembered that as she’d packed in the last hour. The minute she’d seen this truck parked on the street in front of her house, it had all clicked neatly into place. “And you were there again today. Always there when—”
“When you need me,” he finished. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kalina. Ever.”
He spoke with controlled finality, as if it was a simple fact that she would have to accept. Well, despite him following her, he didn’t know her at all.
“I didn’t hire a bodyguard because I don’t need one.”
“Good. I’m not for hire.”
He didn’t look at her, just kept his gaze either on the back of the seat in front of him or out the tinted windows. That irritated her, too. She wanted to see his eyes, to look into the orbs that had haunted her for so many nights.
“Why didn’t you tell the police about the pictures?”
“The same reason I don’t need a bodyguard. I can handle it myself.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“I don’t recall asking you to.”
“And I’m not offering. I’m telling you.”
With those heated words he looked at her, his eyes now dark brown again but still smoldering.
“This is insane.” She sighed. “All of it. You’re following me. Someone else is following me. I don’t even know who or what you are now.”
He was quiet.
“Why won’t you answer my questions?”
“I will but not here, not now.”
“Oh that’s right, I forgot. Everything in your time on your terms. Where are you taking me, or can’t I ask that question, either?”
“I’ll answer all your questions when we get there.”
“When we get where?”
He sighed, then turned his head slowly to face her. “Do you ever stop asking questions? You’re like Eyewitness News or something.”
She almost smiled, almost sank back into the seat and rattled off a smart-ass answer. But his eyes stopped her. They were still brown human irises swirling with emotion.
“I’m just an ordinary woman trying to make sense of all this,” she said quietly.
