Page 126 of Reckless

The others are laughing.

“Oh my God, Krista Benke!” The woman grins at me. “I love your books.”

I’m not scared. Like I told Jude, meeting people who love my work is always a pleasure. And here, where there are tons of readers, is the best place to meet them. While her other friends pee, she stands and talks to me. She apologizes for asking and jumping the queue, in a manner of speaking, but I’m more than happy to sign a copy of my book she is carrying.

When I leave the bathroom with them, I don't even notice the person in the cubicle beside mine never came out.

I hurry to get back to the table, taking pictures and signing books. Emily comes over to let the people still waiting know I have to leave for a panel, which breaks my heart, but she gives out tickets so they can come straight back without getting into the line, when I finish.

“You think of everything.” I squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”

“You need to go to Meeting Hall B,” she takes out a map, making me love her even more. “Here,” she hands me another bottle of water and my phone.

It’s been under the table the whole time I’ve been here. I haven’t had time to check it. I wave to Bri as I pass her table on the way out, checking my phone to make sure I’m not running too late. There are six missed calls from Jude.

That’s weird. Why is he calling?

I follow the small crowd of people walking out of the hall, moving on to their next area, or taking a break for lunch. I pause and look down at the map. It’s just a turn away. I have time to call Jude.

As I look up, I see a familiar face in the crowd and frown. My first thought is, what a coincidence. Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen this woman twice. It’s so odd. She was happily telling Jude my books aren’t that great, and she’s read better, if I recall.

Still, I give her a slight smile as I turn away. Feeling weird about it, I turn back, but she isn’t there anymore. A shiver runs down my spine, but I shake it off and carry on moving. As I round the next corner, I spot her again. She is standing further down the hall.

Staring right at me, and she doesn’t look at all happy about seeing me.

What the hell?

Someone grabs my arm and I’m pulled back around the corner. I almost scream but when I turn, its Riggs. I’m stunned to silence for about five seconds, but he puts his body between me and the corner.

“Riggs? What are you doing here?” I finally find my voice.

“Stay behind me.”

He sounds so serious. I’ve never heard him talk like this. Luther is the intense one. He moves out and looks around the corner, cursing.

“You need to come with me.”

“What? Why? Riggs, I need to be at a panel in five minutes. I don’t want to be late.”

“You’ll have to skip it,” he puts a hand on my lower back and starts ushering me away.

I dig my feet in and turn back to him. “Wait a minute. I’m not just going to walk away. People are expecting me. Why are you here?” I demand.

My mind goes back to the woman. To the way she was looking at me. Like she hates me. The times I saw her fire through my memory. How much she tried to convince Jude I’m not a good writer. She didn’t speak to me, she glared.

Then at the caves, she was red faced. I thought it was about hiking and tiring herself out, but…

Fear ripples down my spine. “Who is she?” I ask Riggs as we move away from the meeting room.

I’m too distracted to worry about where I need to be right now. Jude has been calling me way too many times to be normal. I stop walking again and Riggs nearly piles into me, but I cross my arms and stare up at him, making it clear I’m not going anywhere till he tells me the truth.

He glances around, then huffs out a breath and turns back to me.

“She’s been stalking Jude for the past few months, her behavior has escalated more recently to the point where we're worried. We only just found out who she is, but didn’t know she’d contacted Jude until he recognized her picture when Luther told him what was going on.”

It takes my mind a moment to wrap around that. A stalker. Did she want to hurt Jude?

Jesus, she wants to hurt me. It explains why Luther was following us the whole time, and why Riggs stayed in Chicago.

---