Page 41 of Blue-Eyed Hero

He had to get away from her before he told her exactly why she needed to stay out of his past. The truth was exactly what he needed to hide from her. It was bad enough that the person threatening her was resorting to tactics that related directly to that very past. He hoped it was a coincidence, but he experienced enough in his life to know nothing was ever a coincidence.

He couldn’t tell Allison without telling her everything. It was a last resort scenario. He just needed to get her to understand the potential severity of the threats. It seemed an impossible task.

She had watched after him as he left, but he was used to being tailed. He could lose an entire army of people if necessary. At the right moment, he slipped out of her line of sight, and turned back to see her, standing there, hands on hips and a pissed off curve of her sexy lips.

No. Her lips were not sexy.

For fuck's sake. Get it together.

The fairgrounds seemed safe as always, people milling around but friendly and no confrontations, so he went to turn to head back to the station. He had a shit ton of stuff to go over with his deputies to make sure the weekend went off without a hitch. His attention was drawn to Allison, though.

The slight breeze tossed her dark hair, and she bent down as a little kid approached her and handed her a piece of paper. She offered the kid a smile and waved him off. Her teeth slid over her lip as she unfolded the paper.

Allison’s eyes widened for the briefest of seconds, but then she put on that fake smile, and Reid thought it was a false alarm. But all the color drained from her face, and the smile faltered. Reid ran across the fairgrounds, scanning his surroundings, searching for someone waiting in the shadows. He ripped the paper from her hand and looked down at the letter.

I see you, but can you see me?

“What did that kid say?” Reid demanded.

Allison shook her head, noises sputtering out, but no coherent words.

“Allison!” The command snapped her to attention.

“He said someone asked him to give this to me.”

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To find that kid.” Reid grabbed her hand and started running through the grounds, weaving in and out of vendors who were still setting up.

“Reid!” Allison called out, and he glanced to see her stumbling to a stop. “I’m not exactly in the best footwear.”

He looked down at the too high heels. “You are getting death threats. Don’t you think you should wear shoes that would make it easy for you to run?”

“If I actually thought I was in danger, maybe.”

He shook the paper at her face. “You. Are. In. Danger. Get it through your pretty little head.” He hoped it was some jackass just messing with her, but he couldn’t ignore the pit forming in his stomach that Louie could be behind this. The tongue was a signature Louie move and then the notes… He loved psychological warfare and making his targets terrified before he pounced.

“Maybe it’s just some asshole, trying to scare me.”

“Are you scared?”

Her eyes met his, and she didn’t need to say anything. Words meant shit now. He could see the fear in her whisky-colored eyes. Whoever was doing this to her was going to pay.

“We’re going to find who’s responsible, but first we have to find that kid. Do you know who he was?”

“No,” Allison said. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“Me either. It could have been a tourist or someone visiting from out of town.” He had been so focused on Allison, he’d lost track of the rugrat. He scanned the area, focusing on all the nooks.

“Uh, Reid?” Allison said.

“Yeah? Do you see him?”

“Um. No. But…” She held their entwined hands up. “People are starting to look.”

He glanced around at the booths, and Allison wasn’t kidding. Mary Potts leaned into Catherine Hagel, whispering something as she stared at them with what looked like hopefulness.

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