“I knew you were running the first time I saw you…"
Devon didn’t have a game plan when she decided to leave St. Louis on a Chicago-bound train for the summer. Just a reason. One she couldn’t share with anyone.
Not Hadley, her best friend from college, who lets her stay in the guest bedroom; no questions asked. Or Brennan, the bartender at the local restaurant they frequent, who she actively tries to avoid. Or Garrett, Hadley’s boyfriend, who befriends her when she has no one else to turn to.
"I just didn’t know what you were running from...."
Desperate to hide at all costs, Devon plunges into her new life in the city. Everyone around her starts to reveal sides of themselves Devon never expected. And just when she starts to get comfortable, her world flips upside down…
"...but I think all along you were running toward me."
4 lives.
All connected.
All with secrets that just keep following them.
All connected.
All with secrets that just keep following them.
*****
Sweat beaded on Devon’s temple, and she wiped it off her forehead and out of her eyes. The party had been going all night, and it was nice to loosen up and get lost in the music and dancing. She hadn’t partied in so long, and she couldn’t resist when Amy had actually invited her out. Either she was getting over her hatred for the new girl, or Devon had just been there long enough that she wasn’t considered the new girl any longer.
People were packed into the club shoulder to shoulder, many even closer than that. The music was ear-splittingly loud. Crazy lights traversed the warehouse-sized room, and they alternated to strobes slowing everything down to slow motion. She hadn’t had much to drink, but she was dizzy with dehydration and the energy in the room. Her tank top was sticking to her back, and she had long since pulled her hair up off of her neck into a ponytail.
God, I need another drink, she thought.
Her eyes moved around the room taking in as much as she could from her vantage point. It really only ended up being the two feet encircling her. Amy had to be somewhere inside the building. How had she lost track of her?
Well, she knew how. There were too many damn people in the place. It was easy to lose track of one person, especially when that person was as short as Amy. Still, she should have done better. She didn’t like being alone in dark places. Whether she was surrounded by people or in a back alleyway at night, she was still alone.
She craned her head to look for her, but was having no luck. It felt like more and more people were being crushed into the space. How was this in line with fire code? Surely the place would be shut down soon.
Walking in the direction of the bar, Devon tried to find Amy in the crowd. Seriously it was getting harder and harder to maneuver through. She was literally having to elbow people out of the way. This wasn’t okay, and it wasn’t fun. They shouldn’t let any more people in. Things could get out of control.
Devon looked up over the heads of people in front of her and sighed. It felt like she was never going to reach the bar, and there was a huge line anyway. She thought maybe the bathroom would be a better alternative…at least there she would have some privacy.
She turned to walk the other direction and slammed right into a meaty guy in front of her, who glared at her as she lost her balance and tumbled to the floor. Someone stepped on her hand as she tried to get up. Devon swore and hissed pulling her hand away from the ground where someone else could do the same thing. She stood as best she could, cradling her aching hand. It wasn’t easy pushing through people with one hand pressed between her breasts to keep from someone else smashing into it. All it did was cause people to unknowingly smash into other parts of her. She hadn’t made it more than a few feet toward the bathroom, and she had already been elbowed in the arm, gotten her foot stepped on, and been drunkenly body slammed knocking the breath out of her. The club was getting dangerous.
A space opened in the crowd, and she took advantage, rushing forward through the throng of people. It took her closer to the bathroom but not close enough. Then she felt it. Eyes on the back of her head. She didn’t even know how it was possible. There were hundreds of people in the place. No one could be focusing that intently on her, but she could swear that someone was watching her.
K.A. Linde graduated with her Masters in political science from the University of Georgia in 2012. She also has a bachelors in political science and philosophy. She wrote the Avoiding Series while struggling through advanced statistical modeling and writing her thesis. She enjoys dancing and writing novels that keep you guessing until the very end.
She currently resides in Georgia with her boyfriend and two puppies, Lucy and Riker.
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