Guilty By Association

Chapter 6 - Nighttime Security

Chapter 6 – Nighttime Security

 

Kelsey was exhausted when Alex finally pulled to a stop in front of her house. Her eyes scanned the streets for any suspicious vehicles. The adrenaline was still running strong in her system, but a pestering thought wouldn’t escape her mind.

They’d tried to kill her.

Kelsey didn’t have any enemies. Nobody hated her enough to get her killed. She barely associated with anyone. That meant one thing and Kelsey didn’t like it at all.

Whoever attacked Kelsey didn’t know they were attacking Kelsey. They thought they were attacking Kara. Kelsey didn’t like the idea of anyone attacking Kara, either. If it weren’t for Alex, Kelsey would probably be dead right now.

“Thank you.” Kelsey said, after a few minutes. She could feel the tears threatening to escape and she wanted to get away as soon as possible.

“Kelsey, wait.” Alex said as soon as she opened the door. She turned to Alex with a guarded expression. Her heart was racing and she felt horrible. “Are you okay?” He asked, concerned.

Kelsey nodded, not trusting herself enough to say something.

“You’re not in any danger, okay?” Alex tried assuring her. “I’m going to wait outside your house tonight, okay? If anything goes wrong, I’ll be here.”

“That’s not needed.” Kelsey said. “They weren’t trying to kill me.”

“They were trying to kill Kara.” Alex spoke. His eyes were still watchful. Kelsey knew it was the truth, but hearing it come from someone else’s mouth just made it more difficult to cope with. “They tried to kill you because they thought you were Kara. If they follow you here, thinking that you’re Kara…” His voice trailed off, as if he couldn’t think about finishing that sentence. “You’re my responsibility, Kelsey. I got you into this mess.”

“Nobody got me into anything.” Kelsey spoke up. “Don’t you get it, Alex? Kara’s my sister. If I’m suddenly involved, it’s because I want to be. In fact, I’ll be grateful to you for getting me involved and for saving my life today.”

“Okay.” Alex’s voice was calm. Serene. “Just remember. I’ll be here.”

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The first thing Kelsey did upon returning to her room was change back into Kelsey. She put on her sweats and tied her hair up before removing her contacts and then, working on scrubbing her make-up off. Once she was satisfied, she slipped on her glasses.

The way Alex had looked at her when he saw her today was still in her mind. He looked at her like she was an angel and that bothered her. Today, he wasn’t looking at Kelsey, he was looking at Kara and Kelsey knew he liked what he saw.

Kelsey had told herself she wasn’t going to allow herself to get involved with him any further when he’d touched her back, not because she didn’t like it. In fact, it was the opposite. Kelsey relished the way his fingers had felt on her skin. She liked it, and she didn’t want to like it. There was no denying it, now. Kelsey was attracted to Alex. He’d saved her life.

Now, he was waiting outside her house.

Kelsey made her way to her living room and piled a bunch of papers on the coffee table. She grabbed a color pen and started going through the first paper. Before she was even halfway done, she was already in front of the window, peeking through the blinds.

Sure enough, Alex’s car was parked in front of the house across the street from her house. Kelsey felt a smile forming on her face. She remembered the way Alex had yanked her out of harm’s way, hiding her behind him, ready to shoot whoever had attacked her.