Page 50 of Coach
I wasn’t exactly calm.
But I didn’t feel like my skin was crawling anymore.
Considering that progress, I slowly raised an arm, watching the light illuminate the alley.
No one scary hiding in the shadows.
Just me.
And my aching muscles that didn’t want to go back inside to wax the damn floor.
But if Irina didn’t like the shine, I was just going to have to redo the whole process.
With a sigh, I made my way in through the back door.
I was leaning down to move the box I’d shoved in the doorway when I heard something in the front of the pool hall.
Startled, I lost my footing.
I stumbled backward, my belly bottoming out as I flailed, but there was no way to brace for a backward fall.
I crashed down hard.
The pain exploded up my spine, stealing my breath as tears pricked my eyes.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I whimpered. I pressed my palms to the floor, pushing to lift up off my aching butt.
I got to my knees, then all fours, breathing through the pain as I forced myself to slowly get to my feet.
I stumbled forward, pressing the back door until it clicked and locked before inching my way through the back room, grabbing the mop as I went. It wasn’t the best of weapons but it was better than nothing.
I tried to focus, to listen. But all I could hear was the blood rushing through my ears, the thud of my heartbeat, and my ragged, uneven breathing.
My footsteps were blessedly silent as I leaned through the doorway, looking for any dark, scary figures.
But there was no one.
And nothing seemed out of place.
I reached back, rubbing my sore ass, trying to tell myself that I’d been hearing things, that I was just anxious from my little panic attack.
But I couldn’t out-logic the prickle moving across my neck, the goosebumps rising up on my arms.
Something felt wrong.
My gaze scanned around again, spotting what was wrong.
The men’s room door was ajar.
I had a distinct memory of closing it when I’d been wiping off the doorknob.
I hadn’t cleaned the bathrooms after closing since I’d just finished cleaning them when the hall had still been open.
Could someone have been trapped inside?
But if so, why didn’t they show themselves sooner? I’d been working for hours. They had to have heard me.
Could they have been passed out?
