Page 161 of Hunt for You

Had she brought a weapon?

She was hardly a rule-follower, so I wouldn’t put it past her. But I guessed that she wouldn’t. She wanted to win by herself.

That was, if she wanted to win at all. I hadn’t liked the desperate tone of her messages. Like she wasn’t running towards me, but away from something else.

Someoneelse.

There was still so much I didn’t know about her.

I ground my teeth and sank lower behind the bushes as she gave a little shudder, a ripple of unease that traveled through her body, then shook her head and started walking briskly towards the trees.

Every hair on my body stood up, and some other parts of me too. This was it. It was happening. My instincts kicked in and I started moving, following her, still scanning to make certain she hadn’t been followed. But there were no signs as I followed slowly towards the trail that was closer to where she’d started. I’d known which path she’d take and wanted her ahead of me.

I smiled as I watched her look around for me, her face tight with tension. I scanned her beautiful body, wrapped in black tonight, which seemed fitting. I was glad she’d remembered.

Then she disappeared under the shadows of the trees, and the night seemed darker already.

The park would close in a few minutes. There were only a couple other cars here, and no sign of people. But I slunk through the bushes towards that trailhead, keeping myself out of sight just in case.

I liked that she had dressed in black and would be hard to see.

I hadn’t brought my phone. I wouldn’t use the trackers. I would make this an honest to Godhunt.

When I made it to the trail I kept low, darting between the trees alongside the path as quickly as I could while still keeping my steps quiet. I kept my breathing low, through an open mouth, but my body was alight, my pulse thrumming in my head.

It was happening.

It was finally happening.

She was here. And this was going to end once and for all.

Twenty minutes later my heart was thrumming, and I smiled into the dark, but she still eluded me.

I was having to watch my breathing so I wouldn’t give myself away. I knew I could move faster than her through this, and I knew the rough direction we were traveling. But I also knew she was clever and wouldn’t just walk to that clearing and wait for me.

She was making me stalk her, and my body thrilled with it.

The mask was an annoyance in the dark—the moonlight was bright tonight, but didn’t reach beneath the treetops.

Her request for me to remove it had made my heart thud in my chest.

She had no idea.

She was getting everything tonight. More than just my face.

Holyshit.

I paused in walking, listening hard, hitching up the small backpack I’d brought with a few items just in case. Including night vision goggles that would let me see, and could be set to heat sensor if I really couldn’t find her.

But I wanted to find her without all that. I wanted this to last.

A little voice in the back of my head said I was dragging it out to keep from reaching that final confrontation, but I pushed it aside.

I’d thought when she said she didn’t want to die that it was all over. That there was no more work for me to do. And under any other circumstances, it would have—

A twig snapped somewhere off to my right and I froze, smiling.

“There you are,” I breathed, grinning into the dark before creeping off in that direction as quickly as I could without giving away my own location. “I’m coming, Bridget. I’m coming for you.”