She sat out there until she felt a shiver race up her spine, then she slowly started making her way back inside. She had just stepped into the garden when another shiver raced through her, one that had nothing to do with the chill in the air. She’d felt this one so many times before that she knew instantly that she was being watched. Thinking it was another guest out for a walk, she glanced around.
Since spring had filled all the bushes with flowers and thick branches covered in green leaves, it was almost impossible to see through them to notice if someone was around. The pathways were the only clear way to see around her.
“Hello?” she called out. Instantly, she heard a low chuckle and tensed. “Who’s there?” she demanded, taking a step back. Another low chuckle sounded from somewhere in the fog. This one sounded a little closer than the last and was coming from another direction. It was as if she was surrounded.
“You thought you could hide from me, bitch?” The voice was so low, she had to strain to hear the words.
Before the last of the sentence was out, she was racing down the slick pathway. She skidded once on the wet pavement and landed on her hands and knees but didn’t stop to register the pain of her torn skin before she jumped up and rushed towards the back patio.
Taking the back stairs two at a time, she yanked open the door only to bump into a solid chest. She cried out and started fighting the arms that wrapped around her until she heard Calvin’s voice.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her, holding her still.
“Someone…” She looked up at him and he must have seen the fear in her eyes, because his arms tightened around her. “Someone was in the garden.”
Calvin’s eyebrows shot up. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, they… someone was there,” she repeated.
He frowned and looked at her face. “It is a public garden.” He shook his head.
“They…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “They said… things. And laughed at me and hid in the mist.”
Calvin glanced towards the doors and then around the lobby. “Gavin.” He motioned towards a man that Bella had seen behind the front desk a few times. “Take a stroll around the garden. Let me know who is out there.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Gavin grabbed a large umbrella and walked by them. “You might want to clean those cuts,” Gavin pointed out as he passed them.
Calvin’s eyes moved over her, and he gasped when he noticed her torn leggings and bleeding hands.
“You’re hurt.” His fingers tightened on her arms. Then he was lifting her in his arms and carrying her down the hallway.
At some point during her race out of the garden, her hood must have fallen, leaving her soaking-wet hair clinging to her face. She must look a mess.
The stinging in her knees and hands finally registered through the chill of her skin the moment he set her down on the edge of a large desk. She hadn’t even had time to enjoy the feeling of being in his arms since he’d rushed her up the stairs and down the hallway so quickly.
She’d been in this office plenty of times before. It was a larger office shared by her brother and Sarah.
After depositing her on the desktop, Calvin rushed around and opened the closet and came back with a white box and set it beside her.
“Here, let me take a look at these.” He pulled her hands gently into his own. He helped her remove her wet jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair. His dark head bent over her hands as he cleaned the grit from her skin.
She winced a few times and hissed at the pain, but each time he would still and gently blow on her skin, soothing the pain away.
“How did this happen?” he asked once the worst of the dirt was cleared away.
“I slipped on the wet pathway,” she admitted, feeling stupid. She was even questioning if she’d just imagined the voice or if someone had really been there. After all, it had been so light, she’d had to strain to hear the words on the breeze.
“Did you see who it was?” he asked her, his eyes on the cuts on her palms.
“No.” She closed her eyes and held in a groan.
“Hey.” He gently touched her thigh just above the tears in the light material. Her eyes opened and met his. She could see worry and fear behind them and relaxed slightly. “We’ll figure this out.” He gave her a slight smile.
“I’m not crazy.” She didn’t know why she said it, but just hearing her shaky voice say those words had her rolling her eyes. “Okay, that totally sounded nuts, but I didn’t imagine it. Someone laughed at me and said—”
Just then, there was a knock on the office door.
“Come in,” Calvin called out.
Gavin opened the door and stepped in. “The garden’s all clear. I couldn’t find anyone.” He held out a phone. “I found this on the path though.” He handed the phone to Calvin.
“My phone.” She reached for it. “I must have dropped it when I fell.”
Calvin handed it to her. “Thanks,” he said to Gavin, dismissing the man. Once they were alone in the office again, Calvin turned back towards her. “Let me take a look at your knees.”
He gently touched the ruined gray leggings and tried to peek through the slits to her marred skin. When it was apparent he wouldn’t be able to clean through the material, she nudged him aside and stood quickly, pulling off her boots and removing the leggings. She hissed when the material stuck to the blood dripping from the cuts. Sitting back down on the desk, she motioned to her knees.
“There, now you can work unhindered.” She was wearing a pair of pink-and-black striped boy short underwear underneath the thick gray leggings. Calvin had seen her in a skimpier outfit yesterday. Besides, she was squeamish when it came to cleaning up her wounds. There was no way she would be able to get all the dirt and pebbles out herself.
His eyes moved over her slowly, but when she held still, he started working on the cuts on her knees.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked when she winced for the tenth time.
“Yes, just don’t stop.” She closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the desk. Here, the pain was twice what it had been on her hands. Obviously, her knees had taken most of her weight when she’d fallen.
As he worked this time, she leaned back and tried to think of anything except the pain.
“Why would you think I wouldn’t believe you?” he asked as his hands worked. Her eyes opened and she looked down at him. He was watching her, his hands hovering over her skin, holding a bandage.
“No reason,” she started to say, but his eyebrows shot up, and she could tell he knew she was about to lie. Instead, she shrugged. “When I thought someone had followed me home one night, everyone thought I had just imagined it.” She sighed.
“No one believed you?” he asked, gently putting the bandage over the cuts on her right knee.
“No.” She shook her head. “They all said that I had just spooked myself.” She relaxed as he opened another bandage for her other knee. “I convinced myself that I had imagined it all.”
“Did you?”
She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head.
“No, I don’t think I did.” She shrugged.
“There,” he said, finishing putting the bandage on her knee. “It’s stopped bleeding.” He stood up and helped her down from the desk.