Read Taken In by the Pack: Second Chances for Free Online

way over to the crowd, around the fire that was roaring to life.
     
    Angie quickly spotted Josh, and waved emphatically to get his attention. When he spotted her, and took in her outfit, I could see him suppressing shock and laughter. He managed well enough, and if Angie had noticed the effort, she didn’t acknowledge it. She ran over (how in the world was she running on the soft dirt in heels?!) and threw her arms around his neck in an exuberant hug.
     
    “Thank you so much for inviting us, Josh!” she gushed. He laughed and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
     
    “Well, I couldn’t very well not. But it was my pleasure.” He lifted a hand, waving at me. I gave him a small, somewhat tight smile in return. There was something odd there, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I nodded to the red-headed guy that had been with Josh when he invited us. I couldn’t remember if I had heard his name or not.
     
    Angie seemed happy enough trying to hang all over Josh, who didn’t seem to mind, so I looked around the rest of the crowd, and our surroundings. There were several knots of people around the perimeter of the large firepit. It was really a very lovely spot, on a hill overlooking a long valley, verdant green meadows studded with trees and the occasional building. Of course, it was too dark to make out more than the vague outlines, with sunset little more than a memory and the moon at three quarters, but I’d been here before, and a vague outline was enough for my mind to fill in the details.
     
    I made my way slowly around the fire, smiling and greeting those people I recognized.
     
    As I reached the far side, I noticed a large knot of people, about a dozen or a few more, who were just far enough from the fire that they were mostly shrouded in flickering shadows. There was something rougher, wilder almost, about this group in comparison to the rest of the largely college-student crowd. I thought this group must have been the owners of the few motorcycles I saw; they definitely had a feel that reminded me of nothing so much as a motorcycle gang.
     
    As I looked the group over, I recognized three faces very well indeed.
     
    One of the young men in the group that I recognized was our host, Troy, whose family owned this farm, and a great deal of the woods around it, as well. I knew him somewhat well, I’d come here for other gatherings and trail rides and the like. It seemed odd that the generally good-natured college boy was hanging out with such a rough-seeming crowd.
     
    The second face that was all too familiar, was Bryson, standing several inches taller than any of the others. I was stunned to see him here again, in the last place I would have expected him. In that moment, I couldn’t have told you if it was delight, fury, or fear that made my heart rate spike when I saw him.
     
    With the third face I recognized, however, I was nearly overwhelmed by a combination of both fury and fear. Adrenaline coursed through my body with every rapid, pounding heartbeat.
     
    It was Mr. Mutton Chops himself, the man who had been following me. Standing right there next to Bryson as if they were the best of friends. The parallels between Bryson’s behavior, following me to the coffee shop and then to Applebee’s, and the older man’s the next day, reared up and slapped me in the face. How had I not made the connection before?
     
    Abruptly, I was so outraged I could barely see straight, completely drowning out any fear.
     
     
    ❖ ❖ ❖

 
     
    Apparently, Angie had not simply stayed to hang on Josh; she was suddenly at my side, taking my arm and pulling back on it slightly.
     
    “Adalyn, what is it? What’s wrong?” I’m sure even someone who didn’t know me at all could recognize my anger for what it was; it was no issue at all for my friend.
     
    I jerked my chin at the group. “Bryson. And the guy who was following me,” I muttered through clenched teeth. “All effing buddy-buddy.”
     
    She looked in that