Skate Cute by Melissa J. Roche

Author:Melissa J. Roche
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Published: 2022-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

The wind hit Kriss hard as soon as she opened the door, nearly yanking the screen door from her grasp before slamming it shut again behind her. The complete lunacy of what she was doing hit her only after she had scuttled across the back deck and down the wooden stairs and into the shadows of the lee side of the backyard shed.

The breath rushed in and out of her lungs as she huddled against the shed trying to convince herself that this wasn’t the dumbest idea ever. The house was at least a shelter from the wind, and probably her best shelter from anything else too. But the house wasn’t safe. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not for the whole week her parents were gone.

She had to do this.

When she had caught her breath, she stood up again and peered through the vertical wooden slats of the back fence at the gate. Nothing was moving on the street beyond. No sign of Shadow Man.

She unlatched the back gate, forced it open against the wind, and shut it as quietly as possible behind her. Then, hugging her laptop to her chest, she scooted along the sidewalk on Starr Avenue toward Glenn Street.

At last she made it onto the wide sidewalk under the streetlights and let herself relax a little. She’d have a much better chance of running away from anyone out here.

Her feet took her southward, of course, toward the rink and downtown. Toward the fire station. Her phone’s empty screen told her that Chase was still busy. He was probably still out on a call, or working with something else, but he deserved to know about her latest bout of insanity. And… he was her only hope, not to be all Star Wars dramatic or anything.

She tapped out a hasty message and sent it off, cringing at how bad the words sounded when she tried to explain herself. Running away from her house in the middle of the night, all because she had spooked over shadows. She told herself Chase would understand. After all, he had been the paranoid one at their last rink date.

The wind slapped against her clothes, and she hugged her laptop tighter against her chest. If only she had thought to bring more warmth protection than just her big gray hoodie—but it was the only thing she could find that would fit over her cast. The wind wasn’t all that cold, but it was strong, and it tugged at the seams of her clothes like it wanted to strip her bare, each gust chewing her up and spitting her back out again before whisking itself, laughing, on its way.

The distance down the hill from her house to the fire station felt like miles and miles, but soon enough the brick building was looming in front of her, light spilling from the window slats in its huge garage doors. She could see at least one empty spot behind one of the doors, and her heart sank a little.

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