Insidious(24)

Each step I backtracked, the figure advanced.

“Hello?” I called out shakily, just like all the dumbasses chased down and brutally murdered in every horror movie…ever.

It came as no surprise that I didn’t get a response. I whirled around and darted toward the stairs, practically falling down the dual flights as panic reduced my legs to shaky twigs. Footsteps echoed from the top of the stairwell just as I hit the bottom landing. The vast distance this person covered in such a short burst was ridiculous, and I outright screamed as I raced out into the ground floor hallway.

The light from the open gymnasium doors came into sight. Only a little further.

A large shadow suddenly loomed in the entrance just as I rounded the bend, and I smacked full force into a strong, bare chest. The individual didn’t budge, holding me in their grasp.

“Kat, what’s wrong?”

I instinctively shrieked back, still trying to wrestle away until I noticed the gel glove wraps protecting this person’s hands. My eyes snapped up as recognition landed with the voice.

Adam.

“What are you doing out here?” He looked over my shoulder, gazing up and down the hall.

“There’s someone in here,” I spat.

“Not surprising. The place is swarming with jocks,” my ex remarked.

“No, I think they were following me.”

“What are you talking about?” The look on my face must have said it all, because any hint of amusement fell from Adam’s face. He backed up and ushered me into the safety of the gym. “Where are they?”

“In the stairwell,” I muttered.

Before I had a chance to protest, he disappeared into the shadows of the hall.

“Thought that was you,” panted Mark, startling me from behind as he trotted over from off the court. “Sorry about tattling on you to Adam, but the way you zoomed through here, I wasn’t sure what was up and Coach wouldn’t let me leave.”

Adam reemerged from the hall not a moment later, shaking his head. “Nobody’s out there.” He slung the fresh towel hanging off his shoulder and unfolded it, ruffling it through his sweaty locks as he parked a seat on the bottom row of the bleachers still drawn out.

Mark exchanged a puzzled look between the two of us. “Oookay, what did I miss?”

“Nothing,” I quickly countered. “It’s nothing.”

Even amid my mental bedlam, my eyes couldn’t resist traveling over Adam’s taut frame. His bare, broad chest glistened with sweat, and the lighting overhead lay emphasis on the dips and contours of his chiseled body. The only clothes he donned were knee-length mesh shorts and shoes, and the sight made a field’s worth of butterflies flutter in my stomach.

The guy seriously looked like an MMA fighter, which wasn’t entirely off. Adam “dabbled,” as he put it, in mixed martial arts. I silently laughed at the thought. Not because he was bad at it. He was freakishly good, in fact. It was how he so offhandedly referred to “hobbies.” While others may dabble in, say, something like cooking or playing guitar, Adam oh so casually practiced the art of double-leg takedown body slams.

Mark smirked as he caught me stealing the long glance at my ex. Thankfully, Adam didn’t seem to notice as he removed the gel wraps from his bound hands, flexing his fingers stiffly. My guilty thoughts were interrupted by Coach blowing his whistle.

“Hey, McDowell! Get your ass back on the court. I didn’t recruit you so you could stand around lookin’ pretty.”

“That’s my cue,” laughed Mark, giving me a soft elbow to the arm. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

In Mark’s book, that didn’t exactly narrow things down. At all.

I shot my friend a testy glare as he trotted off humming, “Bow chicka wow wow,” with a rhythmic beat straight out of some generic 80’s porno.

That didn’t escape Adam’s attention as he finally looked up at me with slightly reddening cheeks. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

As much as I appreciated the offer, I hastily said, “No. It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” I wanted to kick myself for not taking him up on the kind gesture, but stubbornness ruled against the logical half of my brain. Even now, amid my frantic thoughts, I still didn’t want to have to depend on him.

My words came out a bit snippier than they should have, causing Adam’s soft smile to turn upside down. “I mean, you’re in the middle of practice. I don’t want to be a bother,” I clarified a bit more politely.

“It’s really no problem. Practice ended about a half hour ago. I was just in the weightlifting room getting a little extra time.” He looked up at me with those deep, soulful blue eyes of his, and it was all I could do to nod.