His intention was not to chase after her like some thug who wanted to kill her. He knew that was exactly how it looked too. He looked like the murderers.
Ray watched her slip down the fire escape, and he rubbed his eyes, feeling the headache starting to form. “Damn it,” he muttered.
“Hold on!” he yelled, crawling out of the window himself. He started down the fire escape, “Just hold on a second. Please, I just want to talk to you.” He could feel the inner rumbles from his panther claiming that she was his.
“Go away,” she screamed, making her way to the ground level now. He was shocked at how fast she was moving.
“Wait!” he yelled, hating how his foot got stuck and how his legs wouldn’t move any faster to catch her. He’d watched her all afternoon, and she hardly looked like she got anywhere, but she was quick. She had fooled him.
She hit the ground and took off down the alleyway.
“Shit.” He jumped, not caring if he landed hard. He couldn’t lose her. He’d spent all damn afternoon following her, and it would be full dark soon.
All he wanted to do was fucking talk, but because he was a dumbass and didn’t just fucking knock a few more times, he made a mess. He landed hard on the ground, rolled, and quickly pushed up, taking off down the alley.
I told you to just let me out and she would have been too frightened to run like this.
She ran, taking a sudden turn onto the street. Ray followed, trying to get to her before she hit the open road. But it was too late. She was already several yards ahead of him.
She broke into the crowd, and the city noise filled the air. Horns blared, and people crowded on the sidewalk. The sound of shoes hitting the pavement was an assault on anyone’s senses. Ray threw his hands up and sighed, frustrated.
“That’s fucking great. Just fucking great.” He scanned the crowd, looking for her. Blonde hair, blue eyes, he told himself over and over. Look for blond hair and blue eyes.
So, maybe he shouldn’t have yelled at her to stop because, to be honest, no one would. He had broken into her room and spooked her. He needed to just stay in the shadows as he had earlier. Once she calmed down, he could talk to her.
He followed her, watching as she went down the road looking over her shoulder every ten seconds. Oddly, she didn’t stop to talk to anyone. She actually walked past a few police and didn’t stop.
He watched her swerve, going around corners and passing moving cars. Kids on bikes whizzed by her, and she didn’t seem to notice. He was impressed with how quick she was.
He also couldn’t stop thinking about how much he wanted to jump her, and he couldn’t get over the feeling. She smelled amazing, and the way she evaded him, jeez. It made Ray nuts. She attracted him in more than one way.
No way he would let himself get sidetracked by her scent or beauty. She is his job right now and nothing else. People die, they destroy lives, they wear a badge of the blood they took from their enemies. No where did she fit into his world.
She was also a gorgeous woman with bright eyes that could catch anyone’s attention and golden blond hair that shone in the sunlight. She was the kind of girl guys dreamed about.
Ray shook his head, needing to focus on the task at hand. If he lost her, he was in so much fucking trouble. He would get more than his ass handed to him.
He headed down the road after her telling himself to focus on her and her alone. She was missing now. He needed to question her so he could stop a war from breaking out.
He still remembered the call from Don and knew just how important talking to Augusta was. The Moretti’s were on the verge of war with the Fontana family. If the wrong person so much as glanced at another one wrong, bloodshed would start. They were trying to avoid that at all costs.
The murder had happened on Moretti’s turf, which meant they needed to find the killer and fast before the Fontana’s caught wind of what happened.
They didn’t need this to be the bullet that started a feud that could kill innocent people who had nothing to do with it.
Ray came around the corner and didn’t see Augusta at all. He scanned the crowd, coming up with nothing. He frowned, growing frustrated. He couldn’t go off smells because the fumes of the cars were getting in the way. He growled and marched forward. Sure, he knew she was heading straight, but there were so many buildings and streets that she could have slipped into.
Ray glanced around. Maybe someone had seen her.
“Excuse me.” Ray stopped an old man who was selling flowers out of a cart. “Have you seen a young woman, blond hair and blue eyes, around this height?” He held his hand up to the center of his chest. “She’s wearing a white blouse, looking like she might have been in a hurry. We were together and suddenly got split up in the crowd.”
The man nodded, smiling at Ray. “Maybe. I think I just saw a girl moving along in the crowd just a moment ago. She looked to be in a rush.”
“Yes,” Ray said, nodding, needing to add to his lie. “We were just heading to dinner with her parents. We didn’t realize just how crowded the streets were going to be today. We’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
He gave the man a smile. “Did you happen to see which direction she was headed? One second we were talking about the weather, and the next thing I knew, she wasn’t there anymore. I’d hate to show up late because I’m terrible with street names.”
The man gave him a gentle chuckle before he nodded. “I understand. She was headed that way.” He pointed north, and Ray gave the man a smile in return.