Page 57 of Blind Attraction

Alana screamed. A car door slammed, then another. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen rushed forward, helping their son to his feet. And Mitch stood there, frozen in place.

Sean’s face moved in front of his, asking questions he couldn’t hear. His gaze sought Alana’s. She walked away from him, glancing over her shoulder in shock while Kate ushered her down the path.

The noise from the Bowens didn’t register over the static in his head. The elderly couple helped their son to his feet, avoiding eye contact and rushed inside.

“Mitch!” Sean gasped his shoulders and shook. “Mitch! They’re probably calling the cops, bro. We need to get out of here.”

He tried to blink away the confusion. Where had everyone gone? What had he done? A car door slammed, jolting him back to life. “Shit. Alana.” He shrugged off Sean’s hold and strode down the path, his pace quickening with every step. “Hurry up.”

“I’ve been trying to get you to move for five minutes, dickwad.” Sean’s footsteps thumped behind him. “Why the sudden need for speed?”

He concentrated on Alana and the tortured expression that skewered him from the passenger side window of Kate’s red compact car. He mouthed for her to stop and held up his hands. Instead of acknowledging his pleas she looked away, embedding a knife straight through his heart.

“Fucking hell.” He didn’t mean to yell. He couldn’t help it. His entire body ached, his chest, his lungs, his arms, all the way to his fingers. And that didn’t include the pain pulsating in the knuckles of his right hand. “Hurry up, Sean.”

He began to run, making it to his hired car and opening the driver’s door as soon as Sean released the lock.

“What’s the fucking hurry?” Sean asked, sliding into the passenger seat and slamming the door.

“I have no idea where Kate lives. If Alana’s too pissed to stop and let me apologize, she’ll probably be too pissed to answer her phone before we have to jet outta here.”

Kate’s car passed as Mitch fastened his seat belt and turned the key in the ignition. Before he pulled from the curb, he reefed his cell phone out of his pocket and threw it at Sean. “Call her. If she answers, find out where they’re going.”

“Awesome. I always wanted to be your secretary.”

He steered onto the road to follow Kate, his tires screeching. By the time she turned the corner, he was right behind, but had to stop and wait for traffic. Blue car, green car, white truck. He accelerated with a burst of speed, the little red car barely visible up ahead.

“She’s not answering.” Sean handed the phone back.

“Try again.”

“I don’t think she’s going to answer. She seemed pretty pissed when you snap-crackled that old-timer.”

Mitch pushed the phone back. “Try. Again.”

“Fine...Who was the guy anyway?” Sean dialed again.

A sigh of regret escaped Mitch’s lips. “Her father.” He placed his foot down harder on the gas.

Sean’s laughter filled the car. “That’s badass.”

“Yeah, pretty fucking badass seeing as though I’ve completely totaled my hand.” He wiggled his fingers and winced at the thousand shots of pain that followed. “How come you never told me how much it hurt to punch a guy?”

“Cause you’ve always been too prissy to wanna break a nail. If I even contemplated the thought of you cracking someone, I would’ve told you to aim for the stomach to avoid damaging your hand. Good luck playing during the promo tour with swollen knuckles.”

Sean gripped the door’s armrest as Mitch took a sharp turn without slowing.

“How’s it feeling?”

“Like I’ve got Wolverine’s blades embedded under my skin.”

“Yeah,” Sean sniggered. “That sounds about right...and you might want to slow down.”

Damn it. Where the hell had the red car gone? He was stuck in suburbia with only two lanes of traffic. Why couldn’t he be playing speed racer on the freeway?

He swerved into the opposite lane and veered straight back when he sighted an oncoming van.

“Holyfuckingshit. You’re gonna kill me.” Sean wailed, gripping the dash with his free hand. “I’m too pretty to die.”

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