That did not just happen.
I drop the empty crossbow and rush to the window, sliding that shut too.
I try to look through the window, then remember it’s too dark.
I hustle back to the door and flip on the switch for the exterior light I completely forgot about two minutes ago, then go back to the window over the sink.
Maybe nothing really happened.
Light floods the yard, illuminating the man.
“Um.” I press my hands together.
In the middle of my yard, maybe twenty feet from my back door, is the stranger, clawing at the arrow protruding from his neck.
“Umm!” I say it a little louder.
Then he pitches forward.
“Umm!” My voice jumps an octave.
I flip off the light.
Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod…
I spin away from the view and run across my house to the front door.
I’m in a pair of short sleep shorts and a thin tank top, and I have to press a hand over my boobs to keep them from bouncing all over the place, but I don’t stop running for anything.
Not my shoes. Not my keys. Not anything. I just rip open my front door and run straight across my front lawn toward Hans’s house.
CHAPTER 61
Hans
The shower curtain flicks water at me as I shove it open to grab my towel off the rack on the wall.
I kept my distance after jumping out the back door of that bus, but there was no way I was going to leave her there without my protection. So I stayed an extra day too.
My flight home left twenty minutes after Cassandra’s, but with my lack of checked luggage and the speed of my driving, I made it home—truck parked, garage door closed—eight minutes before Cassandra’s parents pulled up to my neighbor’s house with their daughter in tow.
I braced myself for my girl to storm straight over, demanding an explanation. But that didn’t happen.
Maybe because her parents spent all day at her house.
Maybe I just imagined her gasping my name on the bus.
Maybe she didn’t put it together.
I have the towel over my head, squeezing water out of my hair, when I hear something.
I lower the towel and stand in stillness for a moment.
Then I hear it again. The sound of my name being shouted.
I’ve taken two steps when the knocking starts.
“Hans!” Cassandra’s voice is panicked. Scared.
I cut across the living room.
“Ha—” Her shout cuts off when I open the door.
CHAPTER 62
Cassie
“Ha—Holy shit!”
My gaze scans the bare skin in front of me, down to the towel wrapped low around Hans’s hips.
Hans opened the door practically naked, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
A large hand closes around my forearm, and he pulls me into his house, slamming the door behind me. But I can’t look away from his… body.
And all the scars.
“Cassandra,” he snaps. “What happened?”
I force my eyes up to his and swallow. “I think I killed someone.”
He doesn’t even flinch. “Explain.”
With nothing else to hold on to, I twist my fingers in the hem of my shirt. “I, um, I heard something in the backyard, after—after, um, I opened the window. And then—”
Hans frames my face with his warm hands. “Breathe, Butterfly.”
I stare into his dark gaze, appreciating his damp hair and the way a piece hangs across his forehead. It makes him feel normal.
I take a breath.
“I opened the back door to see.” His jaw works, but he stays quiet. “I was holding my, uh, crossbow. And when I turned the light on, there was—” My heart rate spikes. “There was a man running straight for me.”
“What man?” His voice is even.
“I didn’t recognize him. Hans…” I reach up and grab his wrists. “I shot him. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to pull the trigger. But he scared me and I stumbled. And I…”
“Where is he now?” His thumbs brush across my cheeks.
“My backyard,” I whisper. “I think he’s dead.”
“Did you call anyone yet?”
I shake my head. “I… I didn’t even think about that. I just ran over here.”
“Good girl.” Hans leans in and presses his lips against my forehead. Then he pulls back. “Do you trust me?”
I nod. Because I do.
He presses another kiss to my forehead. “Good. Come with me.”
Hans lets go of my cheeks to grab one of my hands, then pulls me with him to the door that leads to the basement.