Free Play Me by Alla Kar Page A

it’s been touched but why would it? His parents are loaded and give him whatever he wants, except child support money obviously.
    My fingers stay curled over the sides of my bowl as I stare down at my bowl of noodles. He could be watching me now. Or the people that were after him. Obviously they didn’t kill him if he wrote this note.
    Closing my eyes, I see everything. His face. Those blue eyes I fell so deeply in love with. The addiction. The pain. The torment.
    ***
    It was so hot. My sports bra was stuck tightly to my sweaty body. Sweat poured down my back and into my eyes. My vision was blurry. Limbs slapped at my face and stung against my sweaty skin.
    The darkness blinding me didn’t make the situation any better. I had no idea how close he was or how close I was getting to my house. The park was only through a small cluster of trees, I thought. The black SUV that had been stalking the house disappeared.
    The heavy weight that had been pressing against my shoulders lifted and I was able to live again. Ryan hadn’t been home in two weeks. The longest so far. My jogs were stress relievers—for everything.
    He came out of nowhere. Something heavy was thrashed into my upper back—aimed at my head, for sure—I didn’t even look back until I had been running for ten minutes. But when I did I knew who it was. The moonlight shown down on us through a cluster of trees. Each time the moonbeams brightened his face up, the more my skin began to crawl. He was there to kill me because Ryan stole drugs from him. Ryan, not me. Ryan almost got me killed.
    “You might as well give up, darlin’. I’m gonna catch ya!” the man yells. I’d seen him first at the park while Maddox played. He left as soon as we did.
    Then at the movies for Maddox’s first trip. He held the door open for us. And then in the black SUV that had been stalking the house. And then chasing me through the woods.
    I blindly ran through the woods, dodging limbs, broken tree trunks and jagged tree branches. The crunching of his boots seemed to be the only noise I could hear. No animals. No vehicles. Just his feet.
    All the energy in my body seemed to be seeping out slowly, prolonging my death until I saw the streetlight ahead. Almost there. Almost there. I repeated it over and over until I knew I was going to make it. When I broke through the trees I kept running.
    Even when I ran into someone’s yard I jumped the fence. Maddox’s face flashing in my head. He would have no one if something happened to me. Absolutely no one. By the fourth fence, I’m running down my street.
    “Gaining on you, sweetheart!” the man yells.
    I keep running. Three houses down. Almost there. “Open the door!” I begin to shout at the top of my lungs. My throat feels like I’m swallowing fire but I screech. The porch light of my neighbor’s house flickers on.
    Then our front door opens and the babysitter, Allison, pokes her head outside. “Open the door,” I yell again, pushing myself to run up the steps and slam the door shut behind me.
    ***
    I don’t even realize I’m crying until a tear slips into my mouth. Sighing, I wipe the tears away and focus on my food. That was a long time ago. My old life. A life I never want to see again. Slurping up a noodle, I rest my head against the back of the couch. I don’t have to be afraid anymore. I can’t be afraid anymore. The stress I felt in that last year with Ryan was the worst I’d ever felt. I won’t let it happen again.
    Bang. Bang. Bang.
    Shit. Who in the hell could that be? My thoughts go back to that night in Texas. But I push past it. They are not after me anymore. They couldn’t be. Biting my lip, I set my bowl on the table.
    Bang. Bang. Bang .
    Damn. Slowly I walk toward the door and unlock it. My fingers curl around the knob and I open it an inch. A soft sigh escapes my lips. Weston. “What are you doin’ here?”
    Weston runs his fingers through his hair and kicks the door open with his good foot. Both