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

getting out,” Hunter said, starting to open his door.
    “No, please.” She grabbed his arm and tried to hold him back. “Please, I have a bad feeling. Don’t go out there.”
    The SUV was still sitting there, no movement at all. Its windows were tinted and so it was impossible to see who was in the car. It was like some evil futuristic machine, Kallie thought. Just looking at it made her feel ill.
    “Fine, let’s just go. I’m not playing anymore games,” he said, about to put his car in drive again.
    But suddenly the other vehicle roared to life, heading for them at a high rate of speed. “Shit!” Hunter yelled, throwing his arms over Kallie to protect her from the inevitable collision.
    However, the impact never came. At the last moment, the SUV swerved around them and shot by, pausing once to issue a loud series of beeps and then continuing down the road. Eventually, it disappeared out of sight.
    Kallie was shaking and crying, partly out of fear and partly out of relief. A moment later, Hunter put the gun back in its secret compartment.
    “Who was that?” she said.
    “I think we know who it was.”
    “Should we report it to the police?”
    He just laughed. “You know how that’ll go. They’ll probably think we’re making it all up because I’m trying to cover my own ass.”
    “This is awful. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life.”
    Hunter leaned across the seat and hugged her, kissing her forehead. He smelled like cologne and fresh soap. His warm, strong embrace enveloped her and made her feel safer.
    “You don’t have to look over your shoulder, Kallie. I’m going to take care of this. Just give me some time.”
    “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I have a terrible feeling. I feel like something horrible is about to happen.”
    “It’s not. They’re gone. Nobody’s going to hurt you again, as long as I’m here.”

    ***
    Over the next few days, things slowly returned to normal—or, as normal as anything ever could be, given the fact that Hunter was seemingly preoccupied with whatever he was writing in his study, and Kallie was left to her own devices.
    The fear that had been so strong and all pervasive when the strange car had followed them from the restaurant—slowly dwindled away to almost nothing.
    As the hours turned into days, it was the boredom that Kallie found most problematic. Boredom that was broken up only occasionally—once when Nicole and Red and baby Riley came for a short visit, and another time when Hunter emerged from his study long enough to cook dinner and watch a movie with her.
    But other than that, Kallie found herself with not much to do except watch TV
    and read the endless mountain of scripts that Hunter had given her access to.
    What had started off as a fun and exciting diversion, had now become something of a dreary routine. After a few days, Kallie was used to picking up a fresh new screenplay, grabbing her trusty pen, and going through page after page of drivel.
    She was starting to understand why Hunter had been avoiding this task for so long.
    Initially, reading these things had been interesting, different. Occasionally there would be a storyline that she found somewhat entertaining. But as time wore on, they all began blending into one another and the scripts themselves started to seem formulaic and trite and dull.
    Kallie started rolling her eyes, making comments about clichés in the margins, and writing searing commentary on the back page that told of all the wrong steps that had been made in the creation of such bland work.
    She was burning out.
    The problem was, there was not much else to do. Hunter was spending more and more time in his study, ostensibly writing—whatever it was, he certainly had no intention of telling Kallie what he was up to.
    He would emerge from time to time, after hours and hours in his cave, in order to make himself a cup of coffee, grab some water or take a bathroom break—perhaps