the room, and Piper hurried and unpacked then threw on a ratty pair of gray sweats and a Shotokan T-shirt with the tiger emblem on the front pocket. She’d been studying Shotokan karate since she was eighteen. Since Luke kicked her out of his life with one word. Run.
At twenty-nine, she’d worked hard and made it to the position of Shihan-Dai—fourth-degree black belt. She was still working toward professor of the art. But no amount of martial arts could fight off the past that seemed to be colliding with her present, choking her.
Piper slid into bed at 12:52 a.m. and stared at the clock until her eyes grew too heavy to hold open.
A creak pulled her from sleep.
Her eyes shot open as a cloth smothered her face.
A sickly sweet smell and taste filled her nose and mouth. She reached for the bulky hand and broke free. She gulped fresh air, but her head spun, and nausea swept over her.
He came at her again.
Couldn’t. Think. Clearly.
Piper punched him in the sternum, cutting off his air supply, and bounded out of bed, but whatever she’d inhaled had weakened her. Grabbing the lamp, she chucked it at him. It crashed into the wall behind the headboard. Barreling forward, the attacker tackled her to the floor near the bathroom. She reached up and grabbed his mask, pulling it from his face.
Not Chaz.
Drawing her knee up, she made contact with his groin, garnering a wail from him and giving her time to wiggle free.
Her head was still fuzzy and pounding, but she scrambled for the door. Needed a weapon. Her phone.
“Piper!” Harmony yelled.
The assailant turned toward the sound of Harmony’s voice and bolted. Piper raced across the bedroom, but she was off balance, shaky.
A door slammed.
Harmony stood midway on the stairs, a bat in hand. “What’s happening?”
Piper ran to the back door and turned the locks, panting. “It wasn’t Chaz.”
“Who wasn’t Chaz?”
“A man. Here. I saw his face.” Piper’s pulse hammered, dizziness flaring. “He put something over my mouth.” The rag. She rushed to the bedroom and retrieved it.
Harmony stood at the threshold. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Some kind of drug. Glad I wasn’t sound asleep.” Piper bent at the waist, her mouth watering. “Get me a plastic bag for this. I’m gonna be sick.” She scurried to the bathroom.
Harmony returned with the bag as Piper flushed the toilet. She dropped the rag inside the gallon-sized Ziploc.
Piper leaned against the wall, eyes burning. It wasn’t Chaz. But whoever came after her at the hospital wasn’t working alone. Someone drove the van. “Chaz could have sent someone to kidnap me.” He could be outside right now, waiting. Her stomach churned.
“Kidnap! Why?” Harmony paced the bathroom floor.
“Why else drug me?”
“If it was the same guy from the hospital, maybe he wised up and knew he couldn’t take you without evening the playing field.” She froze. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
Piper rinsed her mouth, her vision clearing and nausea subsiding. A few seconds longer and she’d have been out cold. “No. You’re right.”
“I’m not going to that conference, Piper. I can’t leave you.”
Piper’s temple throbbed. “Now more than ever, you need to. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”
Harmony’s eyes pooled with tears. “What about you? Will you go to the police now?”
Piper wasn’t sure. But one thing was clear. Whoever was after her wasn’t going to stop.
* * *
Piper sat on Harmony’s bed as she scrambled around in a frenzy trying to pack. It was almost 6:00 a.m. “I have to call Luke. He may not believe me, but...”
“I understand.” Harmony rifled through drawers, tossing random things in the suitcase. “You sure you don’t want me to stay?”
Piper folded what she’d dumped inside. “I’m sure.”
Harmony dug in a top drawer, undergarments falling out. “I don’t even know what I packed. I can’t think straight. This is a bad idea.” Her hands shook as she clawed through the items.
Piper placed her hand over Harmony’s. She had to be strong for her. “Let me. What do you need?”
“A scarf. I don’t even know. Black. Gray. Who cares?” Harmony collapsed on her bed, hands over her face. “I can’t go to a conference and concentrate when I know bad stuff is going down here.”
Piper calmly combed through the scarves and undergarments. “I’ll feel better knowing you’re out of this mess.” She paused. Wait. Something caught her eye, buried under the scarves. “Harmony, this is the guy! The guy in the house!”
Harmony’s face paled, and she grabbed the photos. “Are...are you sure?” She stared at them. “I should’ve burned these.”
“I’m positive. Who is this? Why are you in a photo with him?”
Harmony’s lip quivered, and then her eyes widened. “Oh no.”
“What?” Piper demanded.
“That’s Boone. Pipe, he must have mistaken you for me last night. You were in my bed.”
“But why?” Piper shook her head. Seemed too coincidental with the earlier attack.
Closing her eyes, Harmony groaned. “I dated him for, like, two seconds. Found out he was trouble, and I broke it off. Until now, he’s only called a few times and shown up at work. He was probably trying to scare me quiet, as if I’d ever rat him out.”
“Do you hear yourself? Guys don’t drug their ex-girlfriends to scare them. And rat him out for what?” What in the world was going on here? “We definitely have to call the police.”
Harmony shook her head. “No cops. Not about this.”
“Why?” Piper stared her down. “What did he do?”
“He robbed a convenience store six months ago, and I was with him.” She squeezed her eyes closed and shuddered. “I had no clue he was going to do it. I was in the car, but if I go to the cops with that story—with my past—they’ll never believe I wasn’t intentionally in on it. And you can be sure Boone won’t only come after me—again—he’ll falsely incriminate me. I can’t. You can’t.”
Another headache was forming. Harmony had never attracted a nice guy.
Neither had
