Free BWWM Interracial Romance 6: Her Protector by Elena Brown Page B

make sure there was nothing out that anyone couldn’t see, and made her way to the back entrance. She detoured to the front of the house, dragging her feet tiredly as she looked over the dining room. Everything was put away, everything was clean, and it was perfectly ready for the first arrivals in the morning. Adriana smiled to herself. She may be in dire straits, but it warmed her heart to know that she could depend on the hard core of staff members that had been with the restaurant when her father had been well.
    Adriana took a deep breath, rubbing at her eyes and gathering up the last of her energy. It wasn’t a long drive home, but she wanted to be alert for it. She went to the security system console close to the employee entrance and keyed in her code, waiting for the chirping beep that announced that it was timing down to armed. She opened the door and slipped through it quickly, slamming it shut and locking it behind her. It was a routine ingrained in her so thoroughly from before she had even taken over the business that Adriana didn’t even spare a single thought to look around as she moved from the door to her car. She didn’t hear the rasping grit of dirt under someone’s foot, the rustle of movement.
    “Hey! Hey you!” A dull, growling voice cut through her tired preoccupation and Adriana looked up in confusion. A dark figure came out of the shadows of the building, looking strangely menacing—Adriana’s heart started to pound and she reached into her purse for her phone.
    “What do you want?” she called back, moving closer to her car. If she could get in, if she could close the door behind her, she would have a measure of safety.
    “You’re that bitch. The one who’s fucking the cop.” The figure resolved into the form of a person, a little taller than Adriana. It wasn’t heavily muscled, but looked bulky in a dark sweatshirt and jeans, something covering its head. There was a long, heavy-looking tool in the person’s hand, the sight of which made Adriana’s body break out in a cold sweat.
    “Who are you? And what do you want with me?” Adriana swallowed against the convulsive tightening of her throat, feeling her mouth go dry.
    “You bitch. I’m going to go to prison because of you! Tell your monkey-screwing boyfriend I’m going to come after him next.” The man rushed forward unsteadily and Adriana fumbled for her keys, her heart racing as she struggled to unlock the door to her car. They fell from her hand and she dropped down to grab at them, wrestling to get her phone out of her purse in the same moment. She heard the man breathing heavily as he came closer, and knew that she had to make a choice—get into the car first, or dial to the police first. She dialed 911 and hit the send call icon, darting to the side to get away from the first swing of the man’s improvised bludgeon.
    She shrieked as he rebounded, turning to take another swing at her with what looked—in the darkness-like it might be a pry bar or a crowbar. The call connected and Adriana dashed to the front of her car, breathing heavily, feeling sluggish in spite of the adrenaline rushing in her blood, the pounding of her heart and the flurry of her mind. “This is Adriana Ellis,” she said, panting, as the operator came on. “I’m outside of Ellis American Cuisine in the downtown area, the employee parking lot, and a man is attacking me with some kind of crowbar.” She tried to dodge the next swing of the man’s weapon and let out a grunt as it just barely connected with her arm. The man rushed her and Adriana struggled to hold onto the phone, catching herself on the injured arm and wrenching her wrist as she tried to keep her feet underneath her. “Please send police right away, I can’t get into my car!” the woman on the other end of the line—Adriana couldn’t recognize her voice—said something about dispatching to her location, and then the phone fell from her slick hands.
    The man let out a roar of