Page 106 of Finding Kenna
Shaking her head at her coworker’s antics, Kenna got back to work.
* * *
An hour later, Aleck couldn’t keep his eyes from Kenna as she moved around the restaurant. He’d spent almost every minute since his arrival thinking about what he wanted to do to her later that night, when they got back to her place.
“Glad to see things with you guys are working out so well,” Jag said from next to him.
Aleck forced his attention from Kenna to his friend. They were sitting at a table near the bar, shooting the shit, enjoying some downtime.
“She’s amazing,” Aleck said. “What’s up with you and Carly?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Jag shrugged. “Complicated.”
Pid snorted. “I think that’s the understatement of the century,” he muttered.
“I’m pissed because her ex has terrified her so much, she’s practically a recluse. The asshole even left a note on my car when I came to see if Carly was at work the other day. He’s escalating…and Carly still thinks if she ignores him, he’ll just go away.”
“Wait, what? A note?” Aleck asked, putting his glass down on the table a little too hard.
“Yeah. It just said, She’s mine. It wasn’t signed, but I know it was from him. Who else could it have been from?” Jag asked.
Aleck’s mind spun with the implications of Jag’s revelation. He couldn’t help but think about the note that had been left on his car. He’d assumed it had been from Kylo Braun. But what if it wasn’t? What if Shawn had left that one too?
He opened his mouth to tell Jag and Pid that he’d received a note as well, but just then, a strong gust of wind surged in from the beach, knocking over a mostly empty glass on a nearby table, and making the woman sitting there squeal in surprise.
The storm had moved in with a vengeance—and a shiver rolled through Aleck as the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He felt exactly as he did right before the shit hit the fan during a mission.
His gaze swept the restaurant, searching for Kenna. He needed eyes on her. To see for himself that she was all right. It wasn’t a feeling he could explain, but he knew without a doubt that danger was near. Way too fucking near.
* * *
The predicted storm had moved in and the staff at Duke’s was kept busy unfolding the plastic barriers around the perimeter of the restaurant. They closed them at night, but they were almost always kept unzipped while Duke’s was open. They’d waited a little too long, however, and currently the wind was whipping through the bar and restaurant, sending napkins flying and glasses crashing. Luckily, the dinner rush had come and gone, and the patrons sitting nearest the beach moved toward the interior of the dining area as the staff did their best to zip the barriers as quickly as possible.
Kenna had just zipped up the last plastic window when she heard a commotion behind her. The first thing she did was look toward the bar, where the guys were still sitting. Marshall was staring at her with an intense look on his face that she couldn’t interpret.
She had no time to wonder about it before a woman’s screech registered.
She turned toward the sound—and froze in shock at the scene that greeted her.
Striding quickly through the restaurant, straight for her, was Shawn. Carly’s ex.
And he did not look happy.
He was wearing a vest that looked a lot like the one she’d seen in Marshall’s picture from when he was deployed. It had just as many pockets—but what caught her attention was the large box strapped to the front.
There was a red light in the center that blinked on and off.
Even as he approached, Shawn reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a pistol. He stopped four feet from Kenna, pointed the gun straight at her face and growled, “Where’s Carly?”
For a split second, as cliché as it sounded, Kenna’s life flashed before her eyes.
As she looked down the barrel of that gun, she realized how much she wanted to live. She suddenly longed to call her parents; it had been too long since she’d talked to them. She wanted to spend another night with Marshall. A lifetime of nights. She wanted to travel. Get married. Have children.
“Where’s Carly?” Shawn barked again, stepping closer. Before she could even think of moving, he grabbed her upper arm, shoved the pistol against her temple, and began dragging her toward the bar.
Exactly where she wanted to go. Toward Marshall and his friends, who could hopefully take this asshole out just as they’d done before.
Kenna heard people screaming around her, almost falling over each other trying to get to the beach and away from the crazy man with a gun.
