Page 15 of Callahan's Haven

She had made it halfway across the parking lot with her head down against gusts of bracing wind when the snick of a car door opening had her looking up. The driver’s side door of the car directly in her path stood wide open. She slowed her pace when no one got out.

“Okay. Not suspicious at all,” she muttered, pushing her hair out of her face while her heart set up a rapid tattoo. She altered her path and took a wider berth around the passenger side of the vehicle.

No sense tempting fate.

She passed the car but made sure to keep an eye on it. Between the black tinted windows and the unlit spot the car was sitting in, she couldn’t see inside. So, she walked faster.

But not fast enough.

Running feet came up behind her before she was thrown hard against one of the other few parked cars, knocking the air from her lungs. A hard, massive body pressed her into the cold metal frame before she could take a good breath.

“I’ll teach you, bitch.”

Brayden. She could almost hear Destiny’sI told you so.

“No one,” he whispered in her ear while pressing his lower body against hers, “especially a nobody like you, is going to embarrass me and get away with it.”

Oh, God. He was hard and grinding himself into her butt. She took a few shallow breaths to keep from throwing up. He had her well and truly trapped, but if she could just get some space between them, she could do something,anything, to defend herself.

“Get off me!” she finally managed to get out while struggling in his grasp and pushing against the car to try and gain some leverage. It wasn’t working. So she stomped her feet behind her, determined to smash his toes when the glint of his knife in the dim light froze her in place.

“I’ll get off you once I’ve—”

“Mine!” The nearly inhuman roar split the darkness seconds before Haven found herself free. She turned and stumbled away from the car to find a red-haired mountain of a man knocking the knife out of Brayden’s hand before throwing him to the asphalt under a patch of light, and then landing on top of him.

“You…fucking…son-of-a…bitch…” The man sat on her assailant’s stomach and pummeled him with both fists, punctuating each of his growled words with a strike to Brayden’s face.

“Stop! He’s out!” Haven didn’t think and grabbed ahold of the stranger’s shoulder when he raised a fist to strike Brayden again. She was glad he’d shown up, but she didn’t want the man killing him. “Enough!”

The mountain stilled at her touch, his great body heaving as he lowered his arm. He hung his head and rested his clenched hands on his thighs, while his harsh breath sawing in and out turned the air surrounding him white. Brayden lay beneath him not moving.

Was he dead?

She took a closer look to make sure he was still breathing. He was.

Haven still had ahold of her savior but let go. She doubted he would harm her since he’d come to her rescue and all, but if the last few minutes had proven something to her, it was to not take anything for granted. She rubbed her unexpectedly wet fingers together and then held her hand up to the meager light.

Blood.

She looked the man over. How could she have missed the blood running from under the sleeve of his black t-shirt?

“God, you’re hurt.” She searched around the parking lot and wondered where he’d come from before letting her gaze rest on his broad back. He certainly hadn’t been out walking—not without a coat. “You need to have this looked at.” She reached out to him but pulled her hand back when he turned his head up to her, his narrowed, angry blue eyes turning soft the longer they stared at each other.

She gave him a hesitant smile—one she thought he was going to return until he closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath about breaking protocol.

“Um, maybe it would be a good idea to call campus police now.”

He didn’t say anything, just shook his head and let out a short laugh, saying, “I’m so screwed.”

Why would calling the police have him screwed? Wait…

“You’re not wanted by the police or anything. Are you?” She took a step away from him.

“No, Haven. But I have a feeling I’m going to have one angry father on my hands as soon as I contact him.”

“Hey, how do you know my n… Wait a minute. Whose father?” she asked, stepping closer to him again, her anger rising. “Notmyfather.”

Oh, if her dad had decided she needed babysitting after all these years, she was going to be one pissed off daughter. The mountain looked up at her again and gave her a hesitant nod.

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