Page 59 of Free to Run
I pull him over to the beginner’s trail. “Please. I’m not a complete idiot.”
Swiftly dropping a kiss on my lips, he starts down the trail, using his phone as a flashlight. “I never, ever thought you were, Alison.”
“Good. While we’re walking home, why don’t you tell me why you and Caleb are really working out of Collyer?”
25
Keene
Damn, I forgot I was on the phone with Caleb when I reached the summit. I keep walking when I realize Alison isn’t following behind me. She’s waiting for me to respond.
“Caleb and I have a small problem,” I start, wondering how much I should tell her. Do I tell her that I’m being stalked by an ex-lover? Not only that, it’s a woman who worked for my company and was caught on film masturbating on my bed? The same bed I’d hoped to take Alison home to last night, right before Melody destroyed my place?
I don’t think so.
“Really? You both have an office and you’ve decided the scenery around Collyer is just so spectacular in the summer, you want to enjoy it from our boardroom? Or was it the suits that were getting to you? Not that your ass doesn’t look delectable in one, but I can appreciate how the coat might get hot as you’re skulking the halls at this time of the year,” Alison drawls as she walks beside me.
Sweet Jesus, that mouth.
I reach out an arm, hook her around the waist, and drop a hard kiss on her lips. “How’d you know we’d taken over the boardroom?” I’m amused, despite the gravity of the situation.
Alison chortles. “Please. That was the first of many things Corinna told me this afternoon when she dropped by.”
I reach for my crusty hair and say, “Corinna, yeah…” in my most menacing tone of voice.
It’s Alison’s turn to pause on the trail. “Uh-oh. What did Cori do?”
“You mean you didn’t notice the new red streaks in my hair, or did I manage to get them all out? I still feel them.” Slapping my hand against the back of my neck, I start walking. “And apparently, the bugs like them too.”
She starts laughing. “What did she do?”
“I’m sure you’ll hear about it.”
We’ve reached the end of the mountain trail, and Alison grabs my arm and points to a worn pathway. “See over there? That’ll take us right to the fence behind the farm. Cuts about two miles off our walk.”
With the gnats and mosquitos starting to think my whipped-cream hair is their personal snack, I’m all for shortening the distance. “Lead on.”
“Now that’s two things,” Alison comments as we cross the darkened field.
“Two things, what?” I’m finding the nearest shower the minute I can. Along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol so I don’t scratch these bites all night.
“Two things for you to tell me. Pick which one you want to tell me first. Why you’re in Collyer, or what Cori did to you that’s making you the newest hive for every mosquito and gnat in a fifty-mile radius. Because while the first is intriguing, the second is making me want to smear you with it every time you’re with me. My own personal bug trap.” Even through the darkness, I can hear the smile in Alison’s voice.
I inhale deeply and manage to swallow some kind of flying bug.
Coughing, I choke out, “She flung a platter of red-dyed whipped cream at me when I went to talk to her today in the kitchen.”
“Oh my God, Keene! Are you okay?” Alison exclaims.
“Yeah. She didn’t throw it very hard, but it was seriously messy.” I’m pleased she sounds concerned.
“No, I meant about the bug you swallowed. Be glad she diluted it with whipped cream. Red food coloring stings like a bitch if it gets in your eyes.”
Before she can move away, I pull her closer into the cloud of bugs swarming around me. “What, no sympathy for the mess?”
Even in the darkness, I can see her head cock to the side. “For Cori, sure. Whipped cream is a pain to clean. You, on the other hand, totally deserved it.”
I touch my still-sticky hair to hers. “Seriously?” I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe a little sympathy? Then again, knowing what I put her through last night, taking a platter of whipped cream to the face was a small price to pay and I know it.
