Lost and Found by Chris Van Hakes Read Free Book Online

max.”
    “Five! Miles!”
    “It makes me feel strong. But I promise I’m not going to torture you with a weekly run.”
    “You bet you aren’t!” she huffed. “I am not doing this again. You’re so speedy, too! At 5:30! AM! It’s too early!”
    “I’m a morning person.” I started up the steps, o nly to run into Oliver climbing the stairs half a flight ahead of us.
    He was wearing his doctors’ greens again, which stretched across his shoulders. He was rumpled and as his profile became visible as he ascended the open, winding staircase, I saw how hollowed out with exhaustion he was.
    “Oliver!” I said to his back. He turned slowly and then gave me the slightest nod, saying, “Skunk Girl.” Then he walked down the steps to us and touched the white spot on my forehead that I usually kept hidden with my bangs. Today my hair was pulled back in a headband.
    “Depigmentation,” he said, his hand clinical as it felt up into my hairline. “Vitiligo?” I nodded. “Fascinating. I thought you dyed your hair, but you’re really like this.”
    I winced. Then his eyes widened as something b ehind me caught his attention.
    I turned back to see Emily stretching and leaning on the wooden railing in her tight black Lululemon gear, her chest and neck glistening with sweat, wisps of light brown hair escaping in tendrils around her shoulders. I was a sweaty mess with plastered, damp hair, but she was a fantasy. “Who’s that?” he whispered.
    “Someone with a boyfriend,” I said.
    “So? I don’t mind boyfriends.”
    “I don’t believe that.”
    “I’m a terrible person. You know that.”
    “Sure.”
    He looked back at me and then asked again, “What’s her name, Skunk Girl?”
    Instead of answering him, I said, “Emily! Emily, my neighbor wants to meet you.”
    She ran up the stairs until she was at my back and then said, “Oh. You. We’ve already met.”
    “We have?” His voice was low and gruff, likely his mating call timbre. I rolled my eyes at his body going into seduction mode, even after he’d obv iously just come back from another night shift, his blue eyes bloodshot.
    “When my girl here moved in. You threw a phone at her, remember?” Emily gestured her thumb toward me. “What’d you call her? Skunk Girl? That’s really original.” Oliver frowned.
    Emily turned on the stairs and jogged back down sa ying, “I’ll see you later, Delaney. I hope you kick Jackass in the nuts!”
    When I heard the front door click, I pushed past him on the stairs, not saying a word, embarrassed Emily saw me being called Skunk Girl. “Delaney, wait. Wait. ” Oliver pounded the stairs until he’d caught up with me a few steps from the third floor. “I’m sorry. Again. Jesus.”
    I leaned against the door, out of breath from the fast jog up the stairs to escape Oliver. “It’s no big. Really.”
    “You sure?”
    “I’m sure.”
    He stuck out his lower lip and then said, “How come I keep se eing you so early in the morning?”
    I gestured to my running shorts and sweaty t-shirt and said, “She rlock, what do you think?”
    “But it’s still dark out.”
    “Don’t worry, there are no cars out. This is Prairie Glen, not L.A.”
    “Cars? What about maniacs and rapists?”
    I had to laugh. I shook my head. “Um, there are no maniacs and rapists running after me in the streets. I swear. I’m safe.”
    “No, listen, you have to be careful.”
    “Oliver…”
    He stood so close the toes of our shoes almost touched. “Delaney, you can’t run in the dark. It’s unsafe. Just like you can’t ride a bike in the dark without a light. I would have sworn you were the type of girl who followed every rule, but you really have no concern for your own safety,” he said.
    I felt his breath on me and said, “Apparently not.”
    “Well, don’t be an idiot. Don’t run in the dark,” he growled. He actually growled at me.
    “I’m not. Listen, it’s none of your business,” I said, and then I slammed