Page 34 of A Whirlwind of Color (The Light to My Darkness 2)

He stepped forward and kissed my temple. “I’ll catch you up on everything tonight. I promise,” he said.

I was pretty sure Melissa would fill me in on everything as soon as I saw her. Or better yet, she’d tell me I had been kidnapped and everyone around me was a psychopath. And she’d rescue me and take me back to college where I belonged.

“What time will you be back?” If I was going to escape, I needed to know how long I had.

He glanced at his watch again. “As soon as I can. If it gets too late, you don’t have to wait up for me. We can always talk tomorrow.”

I felt guilty thinking about leaving. And I wondered if he felt guilty for all the secrets he was keeping from me. Our dinner had been lovely. It was like I was transported into another reality that was starting to feel like home. But standing here now? I knew James and I would never work. We were too different. “Okay.”

“Okay.” He gave me a forced smile. “I’ll see you tonight. Briggs, Porter,” he nodded at them. “Call me if you need anything.” He turned around without another word and walked in the opposite direction of the way we had come. As soon as he was out of earshot, he pulled out his cell phone and pressed it to his ear. And he never looked back.

“Where is he going?” I asked no one in particular.

One of the security guards cleared his throat. “Ma’am, we should probably get you home.”

I turned around to see them both staring at me. “Who do you think he was calling?” His ex-wife? I wasn’t sure where the thought came from. I squashed it down and tried to bury it in my mind. What did it matter? He needed to rely on someone and I wasn’t that person.

One of the security guards glanced over his shoulder, like he could feel someone watching him too. When he turned back around he was frowning. “Trench coat at 7 o’clock. I’m going to call William to bring a car around and I’ll wait with Mrs. Hunter in the restaurant.” He grabbed my elbow and pulled me back toward the restaurant before I could even try to see who he was talking about.

“What’s going on?”

He ignored my question as we hurried toward the restaurant. He let go of my arm as soon as we were inside and started scratching the side of his neck. It seemed like a nervous tick, and it made me nervous to watch him.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah…I’m sure it’s nothing. This place just always makes me unsettled after everything that happened here.”

“You mean…at our wedding?” I couldn’t think of what else he would be talking about that happened here. Was he not invited to the wedding or something? That seemed harsh. God, was I a bitch in this world? Or maybe he didn’t have a fun time.

“Yeah. I can’t believe I didn’t see the shooter that night. I’ll never forgive myself for James getting shot.”

What? It felt like I couldn’t breathe. I knew Rob said I was in danger, but I didn’t know if he was being serious or not. He seemed to joke around about everything.

“Not that the guy outside is a sniper, but who wears a trench coat on a clear night in the middle of summer? It’s like a thousand degrees out.” He loosened his tie.

“James got shot?” I thought about how every now and then he seemed out of breath. Or needed something to lean on. But our wedding was supposedly years ago. Was he still hurti

ng from that? Again I got the unsettling feeling that someone was watching me.

“Oh, shit.” The security guard said. “He told me he was going to tell you everything. You didn’t get to your wedding yet?”

“No, we did. He just failed to mention the part where he almost died.” God, this really was a nightmare. It was like I was in a horror movie. Rob was right. I was in mortal danger. “What happened?”

“It’s not my place to say…” his voice trailed off.

“If my life is in danger I think I have a right to know.”

“Mrs. Hunter…”

“My name is Penny Taylor. Taylor, not Hunter.” I wanted to unleash hell on everyone around me. James had sat there and lied to my face about our perfect life, leaving off the fact that he almost died and that I probably had too. “Am I in danger?”

“Briggs and I would never let anything happen to you.”

“But am I in danger?” I asked again.

He pressed his lips together.

“I need to know. I need to be able to protect myself. Is someone trying to hurt me?”

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