Chapter Three
Kat groaned as she woke to a horrible sound echoing through her place. Was that a fire alarm? She had a moment where she wondered if she was in school, if there was some fire drill?
No, wait, I’m an adult. I’m a long way past school.
The sound stopped, so Kat pulled her blanket over her head to avoid the daylight, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. The night before was a blur, but she did recall ordering enough food for a party of twenty, then trying to invite the delivery woman in to eat some when she realized how much food there was.
The rest of the night was blank.
A bang made her bolt upright, and it was accompanied by another.
Knocking? She pulled herself out of the bed, her head fuzzy as she tried to wake up. The glowing red of the digital clock above her desk read eight in the morning.
Who the hell has the audacity to show up at this ungodly time of the morning?
When she grasped the doorhandle, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind, she froze. Fear spread through her, a memory of waking up to some man grabbing her at Ell’s place, when she’d fought with everything she had and still lost.
It felt like a shadow behind her, reaching for her, breathing on her neck.
Kat let out a pathetic sound when the person on the other side hit the door again.
No. I will not be a coward.
Kat shook her head and undid the deadbolt, pulling the door open to find the last person she would have expected there.
It was like the past slapped her across the face, a sharp pain in her chest as she laid eyes on Bradley.
For one moment, she struggled to pull herself out of the memory—Bradley’s demanding lips, his strong hands, the way he always made her feel safe. He looked just as he had before, as if the years hadn’t touched him. He had his head shaved still—perfect for a man who didn’t give a damn about appearances. His skin held a deep tan from him working outside, and he had the sort of muscles a person got from hard daily work rather than a gym. Worse? Those brown eyes were so familiar, she nearly fell into them.
He woke her from the past when he didn’t wait for an invitation to enter, when he walked into her house without so much as a word, a bag over his shoulder.
Kat swallowed hard, then finally made herself speak. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t answer right away, dropping his bag by her couch before he peered around the living room. The way he used silence had always unnerved her, especially since she’d never learned to counter it.Silence was easily her biggest weakness.
“Just in the neighborhood?” Kat tried to use her old tone, one full of snark.
Bradley took that moment to stare directly at her, the weight of that gaze heavier than a 747. “You were the one who called me.”
“I did not.”
“Not a shock you don’t remember, since you were high off your fucking ass.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. A few clicks to the screen, then he turned it toward her.
Sure enough, there was her number in his recent calls.
I called him?Talk about taking a bad situation and making it far worse. Why was it that Kat seemed so skilled in doing exactly that?
“What did I say?” she asked, a nagging fear growing inside her. What if she had blurted out more than she should have?
“You said a hell of a lot.” His gaze dropped to her chest, making Kat take a step backward.
That answered the question, didn’t it? Bradley wasn’t looking with lust, but with knowledge. It meant Kat must have told him what had happened. A part of her was glad she didn’t remember it, but another hated that he knew.
It was worse for Bradley to know. The asshole had always been confident, sure of himself, so him finding out she’d been at the mercy of another, hurt and scarred by that person, seemed unreasonable.
Still, anger at the audacity of him to show up helped keep the shame at bay. “Well, you can’t hold what high me says against sober me. Thanks for coming, sorry for the inconvenience, you can leave.” She went to walk past him, her chin held high.
“Not so fast, Kat.” The tone took her back, the way he said her name so much like the one he’d used in the past, when he’d all but growled it into her ear.