Page 33 of The Gentleness of Rage

Slate’s guess that she was hiding from a man who had resources was correct. Hence why Jaelynn needed a cash-in-hand job. She couldn’t be tracked. And she was clearly scared of who she was running from.

His guess was she believed they had power. Sadly, it was quite likely they did. Slate wondered what to do. He faced a real dilemma. He could go behind Jaelynn’s back and get Hawthorne to track her down or wait for Jaelynn to tell him. Slate either risked upsetting her and Jaelynn,fleeing or endangering her because he wasn’t sure what to watch out for. And that one thought put an ice-cold sensation in his gut.

Jaelynn wouldn’t face an unknown risk alone. He wouldn’t allow it. That blinded Slate to what was coming for her.

As he talked and put Jaelynn at ease, he made plans to contact Hawthorne. No fucker would hurt Jaelynn on his watch!

Chapter Seven.

Jaelynn

As we left, I thought I saw a man duck behind a truck, but as we rode past, I realised I’d been seeing things. The sun was dipping low in the sky, but the air was chilly.

Slate told me there was somewhere else he wanted to show me if I was okay with that, and I agreed.

I’d worked last night because Mac had asked me to swap shifts to review everything with me. Usually, I’d have been off. In return, Mac was giving me either Thursday off or overtime. Naturally, I’d accepted the extra work.

“Have you ever been here?” Slate said as we pulled up outside an attraction.

“What is it?”

“A haunted house experience. This is open all year round. Friends of mine run this, and a hunch told me you’d like it,” Slate answered but seemed unsure.

“Slate, I love haunted houses and Halloween. There’re escape rooms, too?” I questioned, seeing another sign.

Slate looked uncomfortable, and I guessed I’d said something wrong.

“There are. And they’re pretty good, but a friend got attacked there, and she’s still recovering. Still, we can visit them if you want. Security is a lot tighter than before,” Slate replied.

“The haunted house is great,” I stated, not wanting to distress Slate any further.

Slate smiled at me, and he visibly shrugged the negativity away. Something horrible had really happened here.

“Can we go elsewhere? This place makes you upset.”

“No, it’s fine,” Slate said.

“No, it’s not,” I argued.

Slate caught my hand up. “Jaelynn, I’m good. The house and gardens weren’t part of the bad memories. Come on and watch out for zombies!”

“Zombies?” I demanded as he yanked me through a creepy graveyard.

A couple of times, I screamed as zombies popped out of the ground, and as one made a grab for me, I shot off, yelling.

???

Slate was laughing hard an hour and a half later as we exited the grounds. “I can’t believe you ran backwards to escape the Horseman. Damn Jaelyn, you ended up getting chased all over two more times!”

“Shut up,” I said mock grumpily.

“You fled from those statues, then headed back into them and ran out again. And you still wouldn’t cross that bridge. It’s a good job I knew a diversion,” Slate stated, chuckling.

“You’re mean!” I replied, laughing.

“There’s a restaurant, fancy a bite or a drink?” Slate asked.

“You promised me doughnuts,” I reminded him.

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