Life, Liberty and Pursuit of a Honeybun

CHAPTER TWO-3

THEY RAN UNTIL THEY reached the trees. Then Alfric stopped and turned to look back the way they’d come. The woman beside him groaned as she lifted first one foot and then the other to examine them.

A long, dark car pulled up to the smoldering wreck of the woman’s car and two men climbed out. One of them leaned down to look inside what was left of the car and the other headed for Alfric’s Hummer.

Alfric saw the first goon lean over and pick something up from the ground. It looked like a purse. Then he trotted over to where the second goon was looking for Alfric’s body in and around the Hummer.

He swore softly as the two men straightened, had a short discussion, and then looked toward the tree line. Alfric turned to the young woman. “We need to get out of here.”

She had slid to the ground, with her back up against a tree, and was looking at her torn and bloodied feet.

Alfric cursed again and bent over her. “Where are your shoes?”

He hadn’t meant for the words to come out so harshly, but adrenaline had control of him and he knew they had only seconds to move or the two men would be on them.

She looked up, pain quickly replaced in her vibrant blue eyes by anger. “I kicked them off when I was trying to run from you! They weren’t exactly conducive to running in soft dirt and clumps of weeds.” She frowned at him. “If I’d known I’d be running for my life I’d have worn sneakers.”

Alfric forced himself to smile, though his blood pressure was somewhere up around his ears. “They would have looked great with that dress.”

She grimaced a half smile at him.

Alfric looked at her feet and frowned. “You’ll never fit in my shoes, your feet are too small. He reached down and pulled off his shoes and then his socks, dragging the soft socks up over her feet. “That will help a little. We’ll try to avoid sharp stuff.”

The woman just looked confused. Alfric slid his bare feet back into his soft loafers and grabbed her hand. “Come on. They’ll be coming after us here. We need to keep moving.”

She made a soft sound of reluctance but Alfric ignored her as he pulled her toward the edge of the trees again. Sure enough, the two goons were jogging toward them. Alfric’s blue gaze swept the horizon and then he nodded. “Let’s go!

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