Page 14 of Bullet Unleashed

“These things happen?” I echo as my jaw hits the pavement. “I know you’re not from around here, buddy, but this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Sance.”

“Apparently it does.”

A thought flashes across my mind. “Oh! I need to call the police—”

“I’ll call the police. You go home.” His voice is deep, with a rich texture birthed from it coming from his chest, rather than his head.

I nod again. Chase releases my hands and I reach into my jacket pocket for the keys. My hands are still shaking. They fall in a spectacular clatter to the ground when I pull them out.

A warm, strong hand on my shoulder, and then Chase bends over. He picks up the keys and cycles through the ring till he finds the one he wants. The familiar chirping of the release of my car alarm greets my ear and then an open door. “Hope.”

My name. When he speaks it, the strength in his voice reaches me and pulls me from my mental fog like a lifeline. “Chase?”

“I know.”

What are the odds we both wind up here in Sance together?

It’s been too many years and in a different world. I don’t know how we found each other in this small town, but for now, bringing up the past is counterintuitive to my current circumstances in the present.

#

THE NEXT MORNING, THEbirds are singing and the coffee’s brewing, but my thoughts are on the events of the night before, and how my body aches. Chase was right. Coming home and bathing with warm tea helped to settle my nerves, but it did little to ease my mind. If anything, the warm bath and tea and the excitement of Chase defending me made my body ache in a different way. It’s a good thing he didn’t follow me home, or I might be pregnant this morning. A quick shower and change from night non-sexy pajamas to boss-lady-reporter outfit, and I’m out the door.

The parking lot is mostly empty save for a car or two as I enter the café where I get my morning meal. A twinge in my heart reminds me of how I haven’t had a moment to go visit my sister Dream’s café. She worked hard for it, and I keep telling her I’m going to come visit, but we’re both extremely busy with our careers. If anyone understands that, she does.

I’m up and about early for production meetings as we determine what stories are going to be featured for the day and which stories to chase for featuring later. Sance may be small compared to a lot of other cities, but Channel Nine news reaches a wide variety of people over the airways. Everyone’s looking for their next video to go viral, or the event leading to the break needed to get to the big markets. While I’m waiting for my meal, I grab the latest copy of the Sance Observer, the local paper. On the front is the picture of a pretty blond-haired woman the headline says hung herself. Autumn Pratt was her name, and my heart sinks. Death by suicide is sure to be the morning topic in the meeting, as Sance inhabitants are generally a happy bunch.

My name is called, and I tuck the Observer under my arm and head to the counter. The cashier is friendly as most are in Sance, and hands me my morning bagel. With my food fortification in hand and hot tea in my cup, I’m out the door and off to tell stories. Well, I’m off to try to convince Liam of which stories I should tell.

The elevator ride up is uneventful, and the newsroom isn’t as busy as it can be. Today looks like it’s going to be a great day.

“Morning, girly.”

Shit.

It’s Hayden George. Typical blonde with a flagpole body but big tits, and thinks she’s hotter than she actually is, Hayden is one of the news anchors and a bit of a bitch. I haven’t decided if she’s jealous of me or just a bit of a bitch. I’m leaning towards bitch bit.

“Morning, Hayden.”

“Did you bring enough to share with the rest of the class?” She asks and points to the white bag in my hand containing my morning bagel breakfast as I settle in.

“No,” I answer and put on a broad, fake smile. “But, I heard through the grapevine that you’ve already been eaten this morning. Oops, I meant you already ate this morning.”

Hayden’s cheeks change from tan to bright red and I clamp my lips together.

“Bitch,” I hear her whisper as she swivels away from me in her plush office chair and faces towards her desk.

Hayden has made it clear to me in the past that we’re rivals. I don’t consider her to be one, but she has taken it upon herself to compete with me in everything. Most days I pay her no mind and move on about my life, but after last night, I don’t have it in me to patiently put up with her nonsense. I’d rather she leave me in peace than stir up some shit.

“Rawr, somebody’s got their claws out,” Jesse teases as he walks up behind me.

“Jess, don’t be so cliché when it comes to women,” I say, but then my eyes widen. “Let me tell you what happened to me last night.”

“You finally get some?”

His comment earns him a playful punch on the arm and an “I wish,” in hushed tones as a response. I catch him up on the previous night’s events, including my hero in white, shining t-shirt and gray sweatpants. What I fail to mention to him as his jaw drops, is my hero is a man I know.

“Are you alright?” He asks at the end of my recap.

“Yeah,” I nod. “It was all so crazy. What I can’t figure out though, is why they were coming after me in such a public place like that?”

Jesse rubs his chin. “Hmm. Maybe they figured the teenager wasn’t going to be much help and they’d get lucky. The bigger question to me is, where are they from? Does this mean we have new people coming to the city? With more people, comes more problems and if we’re suddenly getting a migration then this could become more than an outside incident.”

My knee throbs. “Doesn’t feel like it was an outside incident. From my attack to the suicide I read about this morning, I don’t know. It all seems related somehow.”

“Hey, I’m just the camera guy. You’re the reporter. See if you can get Liam to let you do some digging. Maybe there’s a story there.”

“You mean, sell Liam on the story so I can do some digging,” I correct with a chuckle.

Liam is an older guy with a head full of silver hair and a gruff exterior. He’s been around the block a few times in his career, but deep down has a heart of gold. He does what every head of leadership should do—push the people under him to be the best version of themselves they can be. If I can show him an angle on how the recent events might be related, then maybe I can use it to see if I can find some dirt on the candidates running for election. And I still have to crack this cellphone mystery, though it’s no longer of a high priority.

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