Free Chased by a Stranger (Craved Series #3) by Hazel Kelly Page A

She sure knew how to lift my spirits. “Does Dad want to
talk to me before I hang up or-” 
     
    “I'm sure he
would, but he’s in the garage putzing around with tools or something and I
wouldn’t disturb him for all the money in the world.”
     
    “Alright. Well,
please let him know I’m home and that he can call me if he wants to.”
     
    “Will do.”
     
    I felt two inches
shorter when I hung up the phone. On the plus side, I'd learned a valuable
lesson over the last two weeks which was that my family was in no way hindered
by my absence. If anything, I could probably get away with taking more breaks
for myself.
     
    I carried my
small suitcase to my room and headed to the bathroom to change the dressing on
my coral wound. I was only half way through my course of cheap antibiotics but
the jagged edges around the gash were already turning a light pink.
     
    The middle, on
the other hand, was still an angry red and had started to ooze puss like crazy,
but at least it was an improvement over the last few days. Plus, the change in
environment would likely accelerate the healing process. 
     
    As I cut some
fresh pieces of gauze, I couldn't help but wish that Jack was there to bandage
it professionally for me. As much as I felt qualified to talk trash about his
poor treatment of women, I couldn't fault his bedside manner or his ability to
make me feel better.
     
    And there it
was again, the ache in my chest I'd had since I refused to let him explain, the
nagging feeling that I should’ve given him a chance. 
     
    I mean, maybe
there was a good reason for his absence. It didn't make sense that he would
blow me off the way he had, especially after all the romantic things he'd said and
done. 
     
    I didn’t want
to believe that he’d only treated me well so that he could butter me up and
strip me down. Surely there was more to it than that.
     
    There had to
be. 
     
    Because no matter
how many times I told myself it was his loss, I still couldn’t shake the
feeling that it was mine, too.
     
     
     

Chapter
15: Jack
     
     
     
    It was like she never existed. 
     
    Or at least, I couldn't find her online with the little
information I had: her first name, her profession, the city she lived in.
     
    And that really pissed me off because that should have been
enough in this day and age. What’s more, it wasn’t fair. It didn’t accurately reflect
how well I knew her. 
     
    I knew her happy place was Provence and how her cheeks blushed
when she came. I knew that her feet were ticklish and that she had a small
constellation of freckles on her inner thigh that looked like the little
dipper. 
     
    But the internet wasn't giving up the information I needed. It
was happy to give me the phone numbers for over eight hundred Audrey's in the
Seattle area, but that wasn't much good to me considering I was looking for one
in particular. 
     
    I thought about hiring a private detective. I figured if I
waited until business hours on the West Coast, I could have one on the case
before nightfall. But I was in a hurry.
     
    The more time that passed before I had a chance to explain
everything, the greater the chances were that she’d fill her head with reasons
we weren't right for each other. And even if that was the case, I wanted us to
find that out organically, not because her creative mind had no choice but to
jump to conclusions.
     
    And finally it hit me. Matteo. 
     
    I didn't know his last name either, but at least he was closer
to home. At first I thought it was a long shot. The only thing I knew about him
was that he'd spent more than one night with Megan and that he was Italian.
     
    Fortunately, he was easy enough to track down. 
     
    Or rather, he was easy for Jin to track down once I asked for
his help. 
     
    I was in my fifth hotel on the main strip asking around for a
guy I didn't know when he called me back.
     
    "Mazzochetti," he said. 
     
    "What?"
     
    "That's his last name. He frequents the clubs