The 9 by Madalyn Morgan (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

it – and froze again. He was on one side of the car, Ena was on the other. With a few feet between them, Ena had no choice but to make a run for it now.

Easing herself up from a kneeling position to sitting on her haunches, ready to make her escape, Ena heard voices in the distance. Not allowing herself to be distracted, but hoping that her stalker was, Ena sprang up and fled from behind the car. Launching herself over the low wall, she landed between it and a door. With fear pounding in her ears, she waited for the footsteps to begin again. When they didn’t, she reached up and tried the door. It was locked.

She was about to run to the next hut when she was grabbed from behind and pushed into the doorway. She opened her mouth to scream, but a mouth firmly covering hers, stifled any sound she attempted to make.

She tried to move, to wriggle free, but the man had her pinned against the door with his body and was gripping her arms at her side. She thought about kneeing him in the groin, but his legs were between hers. She couldn’t move.

She heard footsteps again, but this time they walked past. The man who was kissing her had saved her from whoever had been following her. He loosened the grip on her arms and lifted his face from hers. ‘Quiet,’ he whispered.

‘Henry?’

‘Don’t speak. He may be hanging about.’ They stood in silence listening for the sound of footsteps. They didn’t have to wait long. At first they seemed near, but they soon receded into the distance. Eventually they couldn’t hear anything at all.

With his head bent down as if he were still kissing her, Henry said, ‘I think he’s gone, but he may be lying in wait. Look round me, see if you can see him.’

‘I can’t see anything, because I can’t see past you.’

‘Right. Hang on, I’m going to lift you up. When I do, moan a bit, or giggle. Pretend you’re enjoying it and have a look around.’ Ena didn’t have time to say anything before Henry had lifted her up. With her legs round his waist, she began making similar noises to those she’d heard the girl make when she first left the dance. Embarrassed and feeling very stupid, Ena whispered, ‘You can put me down now.’

‘What?’ Henry whispered.

‘Put me down!’ she hissed, boxing him on the shoulder.

Henry lowered her to the ground. ‘Well?’

‘I couldn’t see him. I think he must have given up and gone into the dance.’ She shivered. ‘Do you think he knows me, was watching me in the dance, and waiting for me to leave?’ she said, her voice trembling.

‘No. He had no way of knowing you’d leave on your own. I’m sure he was just chancing his arm for a kiss and a cuddle.’

‘Which reminds me. Thank you for, er…’

‘Kissing you?’

‘Almost suffocating me,’ Ena retorted. ‘But no, seriously--’

‘It was my pleasure.’ Henry’s voice sounded hoarse. ‘Not many men would disturb a couple canoodling in the shadows.’

‘No.’ Ena felt tearful. ‘Oh God,’ she cried, ‘What would have happened if you hadn’t left the dance when you did?’

‘Don’t think about that now. Come on, I’ll walk you to the station.’

Before leaving the car park, Henry retrieved Ena’s suitcase and handbag from under the first car. Insisting on carrying the case, he handed Ena her bag. Her legs felt like jelly. She stumbled and went over on the side of her shoe. ‘Hang onto me,’ Henry said. Ena leant into him. She held him round the waist and he put his free arm round her.

At the entrance to the station, Ena stopped walking. ‘I’m not catching the train.’ Henry looked baffled. ‘I’m booked in at the hotel,’ she said, pointing to the Station Hotel a little further along the street. ‘It was a last minute thing. I’ve been working all hours, most Saturdays and some Sundays. Anyway, Mr Silcott, insisted I stayed overnight on expenses,’ she lied. ‘I didn’t tell you earlier because I thought it best not to say anything in front of Freda. She’s been working long hours too, but he didn’t offer to treat her to the hotel. Anyway, I didn’t think it was fair to say anything.’ Ena felt the colour creeping up her neck to her cheeks and laughed nervously. ‘She’d probably have thought I’d planned it to--’

‘To what?’

Ena laughed, again. ‘Oh, I don’t know... To get you back to my room and trap you in some way! But I didn’t plan it, so she’d be wrong.’

Henry walked Ena to the hotel. ‘I fancy a drink,’ he said, opening the door. ‘I promised Freda I would travel to Northampton with her, but I can’t face going back to the dance. And I am not going to hang about the station for three quarters of an hour. Would you keep me company?’

‘Yes. I could do with a drink, I’m still shaking.’ Ena followed Henry through the lobby to reception and asked for the key to her room.

A minute later, they were in the hotel’s lounge. At the bar, Henry smiled and raised his eyebrows. ‘How about a brandy, calm your nerves?’

Ena wrinkled her nose. ‘Gin and tonic will be fine. Better not mix them.’

Henry waited at the bar to order the drinks while Ena, taking her case, looked for somewhere to sit. There were no free tables. On the far wall, tucked away in an alcove, she spotted a leather Chesterfield and made for it. She sat down, putting her case on the floor and her handbag next to it by her feet. She gasped with shock. Her shoes were scuffed at the front where she had crawled around behind the cars in the car park, the heels were caked in mud, her