His Every Defense by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d even be back.
    Kallie played with her food, but she’d lost all appetite. Replaying the conversation, she had a hard time even knowing exactly what had made him suddenly so emotional. It was as though he couldn’t stand the fact that he was successful.
    It didn’t make any sense.
    A couple of minutes later, Hunter returned. He sat down, flashing a quick but superficial smile that she didn’t believe.
    “Are you okay?” she said.
    “Yeah. I think maybe something I ate disagreed with me, though.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and threw it on his plate. “I already settled the check. Are you ready to go home now?”
    “Back to Red and Nicole’s or—“
    He gave her a surprised look. “Of course not. Back with me.”
    “Oh.” A feeling of relief flooded her. “I thought maybe you wanted to get rid of me.
    “Not at all.” He grabbed her crutches from nearby and then walked slowly beside her as she made her way to the exit.
    Finally, they were back in his car and driving home. Kallie was kind of buzzed and tired from the wine and the conversation. As the car hummed, she lay back in her seat and relaxed. Soon, her eyelids were drooping, closing and opening.
    Flashes of the road, the car, then blackness. Then she opened her eyes a moment and glanced at Hunter, who looked at her and smiled kindly. And then her eyes closed once more.
    She was asleep for an unknown time, and then suddenly she was jerked awake by a sudden movement.
    Her eyes snapped open and she turned to find Hunter staring into his rearview mirror, and intense look on his face. His eyes were riveted by whatever it was he was seeing.
    “What’s going on?” she asked. “Something woke me up.”
    “Sorry. I just tried to lose whoever it is that’s following us.”
    Suddenly, Kallie was wide-awake and her senses were on high alert. She could feel the blood pounding in her ears. “Someone’s following us?”
    Hunter’s eyes were looking at the road one moment, than the rearview mirror the next, alternating. He sped up and the engine began to whine.
    “It appears that way,” he said sharply.
    “Maybe it’s a coincidence.”
    “I don’t think so.” He was steering mainly with his left hand. Suddenly, he used his right hand to press a button and a compartment opened up just above the glove compartment, as if by magic. Hunter’s hand then dove into the compartment and emerged holding a large, sleek gun.
    Kallie had never seen a handgun in real life.
    Back in Ohio, at one of Sean’s friend’s house, they’d had a shotgun and one of Sean’s buddies had tried to shoot a tin can off a fence post. The recoil from the shotgun had knocked him onto his behind and set everyone laughing.
    Even then, Kallie had wanted nothing to do with the thing.
    “Hunter, why do you have that gun?” she cried.
    “Because I might need to use it,” he said, watching the road. “We’ll see if this guy is serious or not.”
    “You’re scaring me,” she said.
    “I’m protecting you.”
    Kallie looked behind her, out the back windshield. What she saw was a tan SUV, probably five or six yards behind them.
    “Is it the car right behind us?”
    “Yup. I saw it on the drive to the restaurant, but I thought maybe I was imagining things. Being paranoid.”
    “Maybe you were.”
    He shook his head. “Then, when we started coming home, the exact same car was right behind us again. There’s no way it’s a coincidence now.”
    “Could it be Detective Phillips?”
    “I don’t think so.” He slowed down drastically, and the car slowed down behind them.
    Kallie was shaking. Any moment, she thought, shots would start ringing out and glass would shatter. She didn’t want to die out here. She didn’t want to be killed today.
    Hunter had his handgun at the ready. He slowed down to a complete stop on the right hand side of the road.
    The car behind them stopped as well and waited, as if malevolent, seeming to mock their fear and hesitation.
    “I’m