Free 3 Days by Krista Madden Page A

stairs into the family room next door. Don’t notice the bag, don’t notice the bag ! There was a gap under the door of the closet that let the sunlight shine through, allowing me to see shadows moving along the floor.
    When the shadow of two legs eclipsed the light in front of me, I held my breath. My hands were shaking now, and my knees were getting weaker. Mentally, I ran through different ways to defend myself in the event that the Intruders would find me. Not one of them seemed practical. Suddenly, a shadow stopped directly in front of the closet door, stopping my heart. I heard the click of a gun’s hammer being set. Instantly, I was overcome with anger rather than panic. If they had a gun, there was a very real possibility that I was going to die. And if I was going to die, I wasn’t going to die without a fight. A surge of adrenaline coursed through me, and I ignored my heart’s dangerously quick pace. My knees near buckling, I stood slowly, and crouched enough to leap at my attacker. I saw the doorknob begin to turn, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight. It was the longest three seconds of my life before the door flew open, and I held my ground.

     

Chapter 22
    I felt an arm grab the shoulder of my shirt, pulling me out into the open. I kept my eyes shut, screaming, while the Intruder was wrapping their arms around me in restraint. My arms were pinned. With my back to them, I kicked in protest, my legs flailing in vain.
    “Kara?” Jared’s voice cut through my screeching, and I silenced myself, opening my eyes. Covered in sweat, with my hair matted to my face, I looked at Jared through the strands. Panting from my fit, I managed to choke out, “Jared?”
    He smiled, and lowered his hands, one of them gripping a small gun. With a half-hearted laugh, he said, “Holy crap, Kara! I could have shot you! What were you doing in the closet?” He sounded irritated.
    Relief washed over me like a rain storm. Someone I knew! I didn’t care what happened. I wasn’t going to be alone anymore. Staring, I took in every detail of his appearance. He had lost weight since I last saw him, cut his hair in a way that reminded me of a popular vampire heart throb. He looked almost handsome! I wanted to run up to him and give him a huge hug, but something held me back. It was then that I remembered I was still being restrained ! I tried to wiggle free, with no luck. Jared could see my frustration, then looked behind me and said, “Okay, dude, let her go.”
    My captor leaned in close enough for me to feel his breath on my ear, and replied in a low, hushed, tone, “Only if you promise not to toss me around like a rag doll.” My whole body went rigid, Blaine .
    I spun around so fast I was still dizzy when I locked my eyes on him. Like Jared, Blaine’s appearance had noticeable changes. He was leaner, muscular, and had gone through a growth spurt since the last time I had seen him. Now he was at least a foot taller than me as I strained my neck to look up at his face. His eyes were the same deep brown I had always remembered, but appeared more troubled, aged. He had a shadow of facial hair like it had been a couple of days since his last shave. And that made me instantly aware that it had been that many days since I had showered. His eyes lit up, and with a lazy grin, he said, “Well, Laquin, it took you long enough.” And with that, I wrapped my arms around him so tight it would have taken a crowbar to pry me off of him. Burying my face into his chest, I breathed him in and sighed. Refusing to let go, I pulled my head off of his chest and looked up, smiling. He wiped the hair off of my face and held my head between his two palms.
    “You said three days. I’m half a day early,” I retaliated, still shaking from my almost near-death experience.
    “In my opinion, you couldn’t have come soon enough. If I had to go one more hour listening to Blaine blubber on and on about ‘Kara, this, Kara, that,’ I would have used this