Page 3 of A Cold Fateful Night
Using one hand to dig in her gym bag she pulled out a foil wrappedbar and tapped him on the shoulder with it. "Here I have a protein bar.It's really good, it's peanut butter and chocolate flavor."
Taking the offered bar from her hand, he continued his pace whileexamining the bar. Ripping open the package with his teeth he took a large bitefrom the bar.
"This isn't a protein bar."
She nearly stumbled over his words. "What do you mean?"She was expecting a thank you not a judgment at her proverbial olive branch."It says protein bar on the wrapper, I stayed at the health food store fortwenty minutes taste testing…"
Eating the rest in one bite, he shoved the empty wrapper in hispocket and shook his head. Lasette wasn't sure if he was laughing at her not."You picked it for the taste. I figured that much when I saw how muchsugar was in it."
Annoyed she regretted giving the awful man anything.
“I'm thirty-three years old, single, and I retired from themilitary two years ago. I joined the Army directly out of high-school, and Iwas an Army Ranger for the last five years of service.”
Lasette was sure she heard an unspoken "are you happy now," but she didn't care she was just happy there was more than just silencebetween them. Seizing the invitation, she began to tell him how much hereminded her of her two twin brothers who are Navy SEALs. She was just about totell him about her other brother when she spotted a familiar sight.
"Dorian look it's the Gardenia Hotel," pointing at thebig snow-covered potted plants that marked the hotel's doors. "They shouldhave a landline we can…"
Not bothering to finish her sentence, she trudged along ahead ofhim in the now two feet deep snow, reaching the hotel's glass doors andstopped. Cupping her hand over the glass, she peered into the hotel. No one!There was no one inside, not one soul. Shocked she stumbled back in the highsnow, pitching backward into the solid body behind her. Embarrassed Lasette steadiedherself, doing her best to ignore the iron grip of Dorian's hands practicallyholding her upright.
"What's going on Dorian?" Doing her best not to cryLasette looked up to the tall man for answers. "Hotels are always open,where is everyone?" She could hear her voice crack under her rising fear,this was starting to move beyond creepy to just plain terrifying.
Grabbing her by the shoulders, Dorian gave her a warning look."Lasette I need you to stay in the path I'm making and keep moving."He turned away and not waiting for her to reply, obviously annoyed at herinterruption in their journey.
He wasn't listening. "But where is everyone?! I don'tunder…"
Stopping in his tracks, Lasette watched nervously as Dorianstiffly looked over his shoulder giving her a chilling look before turningaround to face her completely. "There are no cars or people because it's aholiday weekend and this street is mostly filled with shops and banks. And ontop of a current ongoing blizzard and large-scale power outage there is aplayoff game at the Bronco Stadium which is most likely aiding in this poweroutage. Satisfied or do you have any more questions?" He answered icily,his gray eyes challenging her to say something else.
He made an indiscernible groaning noise when she sadly nodded,turning around he continued forward.
She was wrong, she thought as she slowly followed the man, he wasnothing like her brothers. The giant of a man might share a few traits, but hewasn't kind and patient like they were. With every step she prayed the powerwould come back on or the bars on her phone would pop back up so she could turnaround and leave the moody man out in the cold. But her prayers wentunanswered.
Crossing another empty intersection Lasette shivered at the bitingwind hitting her damp sneakers. He was right she should have stayed in hispath, looking at his broad back she sneered in disgust, she rather die ofhypothermia before she admitted that though. Looking down at the street theywere crossing, her heart soared when she saw fresh tire tracks in the snow. Sheknew it was silly, and it was just her overactive imagination, but she wasreally happy to see some sort of sign of life.
"Son of a bitch," Dorian's words were lost in thewhipping winds around her as she quickly looked up.
Still standing with her legs apart in his pre-made tracks Lasetteawkwardly leaned to the side in a half lunge position to see. They both stoodat the street's edge and stared at the sight ahead of them—an empty UnionStation.
Chapter 3
"I can't believe it!" Lasette whispered aloud."It's empty. Union station is never empty."
Walking back towards her from checking out the doors Dorianstopped a few feet away. "It isn't just empty, it’s closed," theanger in his voice was audible even through the freezing wind. "There is asign on the door listing all the cancellations due to weather."
At this point, she was visibly shaking all over. The cute brownsuede gloves and matching hat were doing absolutely nothing to keep out thereal winter conditions they were so clearly not designed for. Why did shelisten to this man? She should have stayed in her work building, at least thereshe could have blindly made her way back to the office and hunker down therefor the night.
Who is she kidding, she sighed that was a terrible plan, and sheknew exactly why she followed this six-foot statue. It was the commandingself-confident aura he exuded that somehow made her feel that everything wouldbe all right as long as she was with him.
Look how far that got her, she huffed.
"Now what?" She asked, hugging her for coat tighteraround her.
Checking his phone again she watched him frown at the screen.Shoving the phone in his pocket, he looked down the street beyond her notsaying anything.
She couldn't take it anymore she was so cold and tired she feltnumb. She refused to be a part of this man's silent macho take-charge attitudeanymore.
"Well, I think we should do what we should have done in thebeginning and go to the police station." She said trying to put a note ofconfidence behind her teeth chattering tone.
For the first time that night he smiled at her, but there wasnothing good about it. The smile was mean and taunting as his eyes cut to herslike a whip.
