Page 50 of Lost Track

The story scroll started, and she snickered to herself. “Freedom is sexy.”

He allowed some of the tension to ease out of him.

Maybe she thought he was a weirdo. Maybe not.

She hadn’t asked him to leave. In fact, when he suggested the next movie she readily agreed.

A knock at the door had both of them looking at each other with wide eyes.

“When is your roommate coming home?” he asked.

“Not until three.” Her voice was just above a whisper and the color had drained from her face.

“Wait. Are you scared?” he asked, caught between being amused and indulging her fear and joining her there.

“Shh!” She waved at him to be quiet. She turned the movie’s volume down.

Out in the hall were voices. Deep male ones.

Someone tried to open the door.

Okay, now that was just rude.

Dave didn’t like fear as a general rule. If something frightened him, he tended to go towards it.

He was almost to the door when he heard Sabine sputter behind him.

“What are you doing?” She was backwards on the sofa, her fingers digging into the cushions.

“I’m going to see who it is,” he explained.

“What if they’re murderers?” she whispered frantically.

Dave shrugged. They probably weren’t murderers. They were being very loud. They sounded like drunk idiots who got off on the wrong floor. But she looked too worried for him to point that out.

“Do you have a weapon?” he asked.

She hurtled over the back of the sofa and fell to the floor. She jumped right up and darted to the freestanding locker next to the coat rack.

He had wondered what that was for.

She pulled out a cricket bat and handed it to him.

“Ookay,” he said, hefting the flat wooden piece of sports equipment. Of all the things he thought she’d have on hand, a cricket bat was not it. But he’d have to ask her about it later.

He moved to the door and felt something at his back. He stopped and slowly looked over his shoulder. Sabine was right behind him and she had hold of the belt of his bathrobe. Her hazel eyes darted up to him and she gestured for him to keep going.

Good grief she was adorable.

He bit back his smile and headed for the door.

He paused before opening it, looking through the peephole.

“Who is it?” she whispered at his back.

“It looks like a bunch of serial killers.”

She sucked in a startled breath as he unlocked the door and opened it.

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