A Hunter Within Read online

  “I understand. Hopefully I’ll be around if you ever do want to talk.” He smiled at me, and the light that glimmered in his eyes made me pull my own eyes away from his and to the ground immediately.

  “This is me.” I nodded toward my apartment complex.

  If I was more confident in dating, I would have almost convinced myself Seeley looked disappointed we were here already and that our evening was over. “Thanks for tonight, Parker,” he said, giving my arm a squeeze.

  I let out a breath quickly and quivered slightly at the contact. His touch radiated from the small spot he touched and ran everywhere. That small squeeze shot through my entire body, like he was waking me up to something I never knew. “Thanks for walking me home.” I shrugged his jacket off and handed it back to him. “Goodnight, Seeley.”

  “Goodnight.” His smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he slipped on his jacket and backed away. With a single nod, he disappeared into the night.

  CHAPTER 4

  My Sunday was shaping up to be just like most in my college career, which was a welcome reprieve after the excitement I’d had the past few days. I made myself a coffee and retreated to the sanctuary of my bedroom. I flipped open a book and lost myself for a few hours.

  It was only when I heard my stomach growl that I remembered I needed to eat and head to the library to finish up my latest paper. I grabbed a sandwich—turkey and cheese which was a staple food and pretty much what I survived on at the moment—as I ran out the door. I didn’t want to be out too late this evening, since I had to be at work the next day.

  The anxiety about returning to Falcone threatened me all day. While I was successful at pushing it down most of the day, I knew it wouldn’t stay at bay for good. I tried to tell myself I was sure it would be fine. No one knew I had seen the patient again Friday evening. But then, they hadn’t told me the truth when they said he had been brought back, either. What else were they hiding?

  Maybe I could do some digging secretly and find out more about what was really going on. I walked into the library with my head down, and then went to look up a few authors I wanted to pull up for the last few references on my paper that would be due later in the week. I walked directly into Henry.

  “Jules,” he started and I held my hand up.

  “Are you planning on apologizing?” I asked with my free hand on my hip.

  “Yes,” he said sheepishly. “I overreacted and I’m sorry.”

  I paused to make him sweat. Once he looked upset enough, I said, “You’re forgiven.” With eyes still narrowed at him, I added, “Do you want to talk about what that was all about?”

  “I meant what I said. I don’t get a good feeling the guy. But you’re a grown woman and can make your own decisions. I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t,” he said.

  “Thank you. I think you’d actually like him. He seems very nice. And protective like you.” I smiled and touched his arm. “Did you at least have fun when I left?”

  Henry rolled his eyes. “Nessa started acting like it was like a date, and after about the tenth hair flip, we left too. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea,” he admitted.

  I sighed. “Oh, Henry. Breaking all the girls’ hearts.”

  “Yeah, that will be the day,” he replied between his snorting. After a quick head shake he asked, “You staying awhile?”

  “Yep. I’ll be in my usual spot.”

  “Then I’ll bring you your usual drink. Plus I grabbed your jacket last night for you. You’re welcome.” He said, teasing me dramatically as he pushed his cart of books off to their respective shelves.

  I made my way to my secluded nook, enjoying the quiet before I jumped into my paper. Before I knew it, the room had darkened, and when I glanced up at the clock on the wall, it read nine thirty. Geez. I glanced down at my laptop and wrote my concluding paragraph. I pressed save and started packing up.

  “Sorry, I never made it back over here,” Henry said as he poked his head in.

  “That’s okay.” I smiled as I closed my oversized shoulder bag.

  “Coffee for the road?” He reached out holding a cup and my jacket in his hands.

  “I think I’m good. I’m just going to pass out. Back to work tomorrow for me, you know,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, at the corporate machine.” He wiggled his fingers on his free hand in my direction, and I scoffed. “Take it anyway, you might want it to warm you up. It’s cold outside.”

  I rolled my eyes but took the cup anyway. I had no intention of downing coffee this late at night, no matter how in love I was with the drink, but having something warm in my hands wouldn’t be an awful thing for my walk home. That was for sure.

  “See you later this week.” I waved and made my way across campus back home.

  After the events of the weekend, I was thankful for a normal day. I had nothing to worry about with ill-treated Falcone patients or attacks or…

  I stopped immediately, dropping my coffee as it splashed around the pavement at my feet. There was a girl my age lying on the pavement in the path in front of me, and she wasn’t moving. Her body was sprawled out, like she had been thrown down, with one arm by her side and the other over her head. I felt a scream rising in my throat that I quickly pushed back down. I had to act and help. I didn’t even know what was wrong yet, but it didn’t look good for the girl.

  I ran over to her as quickly as I could. As I turned her over, I saw blood covering her neck and gasped. I breathed in through my nose to try to remain calm as I inspected her neck to try to find where the blood was coming from. Then I reached into my pocket for my phone so I could call 911.

  Before I could place the call, my entire body was thrown backward, knocking me down and onto the pavement myself. I was scared out of my mind and aching all over as I turned around to see what had happened. The mystery girl was sitting up. She was looking around her as if she had simply taken a light stumble.

  Confused, I scurried up and went back over to her. My legs were shaking, so I knelt next to her slowly in an effort not to startle her further.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, holding out my hand.

  “Me?” She looked at me with wide eyes and then started laughing—a normal laugh, too—which made this whole thing even creepier. “I swear I am the clumsiest thing ever! I’m fine, doll. Don’t you worry yourself. I must have just tripped over my own two feet.” She smiled as she got up onto her feet without the help of my hand and brushed herself off.

  “It seemed pretty bad a minute ago,” I started to say, but she waved her hand at me.

  “Nonsense, I’m right as rain.”

  I watched her and stood as well. I noticed she definitely had a blood stain on her shirt collar. “I think you have some blood…” I pointed. “Do you think you need some help getting home?”

  She eyed me strangely and then pulled her collar out and giggled. “Blood? Why on earth would it be blood? It’s probably ketchup. I’m on my way home from a BBQ. I’ll be just fine getting myself back on my own. Thanks, though!” She brushed me off and headed the opposite way across the quad from me.

  I stood in place, dumbfounded a moment longer. In the four years I had been here, I’d never encountered anything other than a quiet, peaceful stroll home each evening. Now everything seemed to be a mess of violence, weirdness, and gore.

  What was happening around me? It was like I had suddenly been plucked from my boring, normal life and been placed in this alternate reality, where strange things seemed to occur as frequently as if they were ordinary. If the events from earlier in the weekend hadn’t required me to rush home when I was alone at night, this last encounter certainly sealed the deal. I swear she had been lying there unconscious. And how the heck did I get flung away from her like that?

  I looked around me once more and then kicked myself. I was no detective, and after everything that happened, I needed to get home safely.

  Sleep didn’t come easy for me, and it wasn’t until I focused on a pair of
dashing blue eyes that I was able to find any comfort at all.

  ***

  I yawned as I stared at the endless cells on the spreadsheet in front of me. My head was aching today, and everything blurred together. Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a headache, if ever. I even looked up headache remedies on my phone during the first break and tried pressing my fingers to my temples and on the bridge of my nose in an effort to help.

  “You okay, girl?” Angie poked her head over our low cubicle wall.

  “Yeah, just a headache.” I smiled, pulling my hands down from my face. “So, what are you working on today?” If anyone was going to give me anything I could use to figure out if other strange things were happening around here, it was Angie. She was one of the only people I met here who gossiped and didn’t realize she was doing it, unlike all the others who knew exactly what they were doing.

  “Oh, nothing too exciting. More samples and numbers and spreadsheets.” She grinned.

  “Wanna trade?” I asked. “I feel like I’ve been looking at these same samples all morning, and I need something fresh to keep me awake.” I wondered if it should bother me how easy this lie was coming out.

  “Sure!” She beamed, glancing around like she was doing something mischievous.

  I handed off my stack and saved my work so Angie could open it. Everything we did was out of shared folders and systems, which is why I was convinced it was no big deal that we switched work. I opened Angie’s spreadsheet and started flipping through what she had passed off to me. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

  I glanced toward the tabs at the bottom of the file, and my eyes went wide. Patient 624. That was the number that had been on the files I’d delivered to the lab my first week here. That number belonged to the patient who had attacked me, twice.

  I clicked on the tab, and over a month’s worth of data popped up. I wondered if I could print out the information without anyone knowing. I scrolled to the bottom and saw a new entry for this past Friday. Subject Success. Trial Complete.

  Subject success? That couldn’t be accurate. There was no way what that man had become was a success of anything. I clicked out of the tab and back in, just to be sure I hadn’t read that wrong.

  I heard the door to our cubicle open, and I jumped. I fumbled around, quickly glancing down at the papers in front of me, and opened the tab I was supposed to be entering my data into.

  “Ms. Parker?” My manager stood in the doorframe. “Is there a reason you’re accessing Ms. Marlow’s files today?”

  I tried to hide my surprise. Apparently it was a very good idea I didn’t hit print. They would definitely have known what it was I had been looking at.

  “We just thought we’d switch for fun. Try to see if we could get through our work more efficiently looking at new data,” I said, attempting to remain perfectly calm.

  “Next time, check with me before reassigning yourself work. Switch back. Now,” he ordered and slammed the door.

  Angie and I looked at each other.

  “Sorry. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble,” I said.

  “Don’t worry, he’s a softie. I ran into him at a bar last week, and he gave me his number.” She winked.

  I smiled toward Angie at her comment, but internally decided I’d have to be much more careful in my snooping.

  I was distracted the rest of the day and not sure who I could talk to or open up to. This was bad. I couldn’t understand how that man could be marked off as a success after everything that had happened. He had, after all, disappeared. The only thing I could come up with was maybe they wanted to cover their asses if anything came back on them, or if someone started looking for the patient. But even so, with the notes as they were, it would appear that the drug was successful, when clearly it was not. The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became.

  My phone buzzed. I saw Seeley’s name flash up on my screen, and my anxiety immediately faded.

  Seeley: Could I interest you in a date on Wednesday?

  Perhaps I could trust Seeley with this. He had seen the man after all, so he’d be understand why I was concerned. Maybe he could help me talk through what I should do. Especially being in management. I could ask him to approach it like I was a client.

  I responded immediately. A date? Sounds enticing. I could be interested. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about anyway.

  I stared at those three little dots on my screen, letting me know Seeley was answering as I bit at my nail and waited for his response to come through.

  Seeley: Of course. Is everything okay? Want to change this date to tonight?

  Why not. I’d just be worried until Wednesday anyway.

  I grinned, relieved that I could get some of this concern off my chest. My fingers flew over the keys as I quickly answered. If that works for you 

  Seeley: Pick you up at 6. Dress warm, Parker.

  I smiled at my screen. At least I had something to look forward to and hopefully distract me from the suspicions rising in my gut about what was happening behind the scenes here at Falcone.

  By the time I made it back to my apartment, it was already five thirty, which meant I was very late. Not only did I have a date to get ready for, but I really wanted to check over my paper one last time before submitting it. I know, who thinks about a paper before a date, right? The older I got, the more I realized that some things would just never change.

  I flopped onto my stomach with my computer as I scanned through everything. As always, I caught a few points I hadn’t captured that I’d wanted to make, but would need one more of my references to do it. I bit my cheek and glanced over at the clock. I still had some time, and I needed to call Henry quickly to pull a book for me.

  The phone rang a few times, and I impatiently started rocking my foot against my bed when there was no answer. When the voicemail beep echoed in my ear, I left a message.

  “Hey, Henry. Can you pull a book for me? I’ll text you the name now and come by tonight to grab it. I left something out of my paper. Thank you so much, and I’ll owe you one!”

  I quickly texted him the name and where I had found it, even though Henry was quicker at finding books than I was in that place. I just hated the idea of being a bother. And all with five minutes to spare, I thought to myself as I jumped off my bed.

  I stood at my closet staring blankly at the lack of variety in clothes I had to choose from. I picked a dark gray sweater and a pair of slim-fit jeans. Good enough. I threw on my jacket, zipping it up just as the doorbell to our apartment rang. I heard Abbey’s giddy, “Hello, Seeley” coming from down the hall and chuckled.

  “Hey!” I said as I exited my bedroom, heading down the hall to meet him.

  “Hey yourself.” He grinned. “Ready?”

  I nodded. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.” He smirked and turned to say bye to the girls.

  He walked me over to his car, and my jaw dropped. “You drive an Escalade?” I laughed. “It’s like a private security team is taking me somewhere.”

  “At least I know we’ll be safe.” His lips quirked, and he looked smug as he walked over to my side of the car and opened the door. I climbed in as he added, “Plus, I did save you twice already, so I’d say I’m pretty much like a personal body guard already.” He winked and closed the door.

  There was something about the whispered tone in his voice, combined with the unusual gesture of chivalry that made my stomach flutter. I might not be well versed in dating, but this was shaping up to be a pretty great one already.

  “What service!” I remarked when he opened his own door.

  We made small talk for a few miles as we drove. Then he turned into a mini-golf course.

  “I love, putt-putt!” I exclaimed. “Although, I can’t say that I’ve ever done it in the winter.”

  “Me neither. It’ll be a first for both of us then.”

  He let me out of my car, and we walked over to t
he building. I was surprised they were even open, but we got our golf balls and putters and headed to the course.

  I found myself staring at Seeley as he concentrated on the ball in front of him and his putting skills. His brow bone protruded over his eyes, giving him an ever-present serious look, but it completely vanished when he smiled. His look was playful, even when he was just smirking. His jaw and chin were defined and had little softness to them, and the muscles in his neck were apparent every time he turned his head to watch where he was putting toward.

  He looked up at me, his eyes still hidden underneath his dark brows, and he gave me a knowing grin. I blushed, realizing I had been caught checking him out. I cleared my throat and watched as he swiftly took a swing, sinking a hole in one, and then raised his eyebrows at me, daring me to follow suit.

  “Beginner’s luck,” I quipped and took my turn. A long turn in comparison to his, as it took me three swings to get my ball in the hole.

  We laughed and he teased me, and I was surprised to see how quickly I was growing comfortable in this man’s presence. I wasn’t used to being around many new people, or at least in social settings with people other than my roommates, Henry, and my aunt. I just didn’t have time or will to put myself out there like that. But Seeley made everything different.

  “If I sink this, you have to tell me what you’ve been thinking about so hard.” Seeley’s voice broke through my wandering thoughts.

  I laughed as I looked up to see he’d have to clear a windmill turnstile. “You’re never making that shot.”

  He shook his head, disapprovingly, at my statement. “Watch and learn, Parker.” He swung and I ran down the green, following the ball in awe as it landed directly into the hole.

  I dropped my putter to the ground and put my hands on my hips. “No way.”

  His laugh rang out, and it was the most beautiful sound—full of joy—and I couldn’t help joining in.

  “So, what were you thinking about?” he said, taking a seat on one of the benches on the course.