Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series Two#7) by Tim O'Rourke

another reason, was there?” she snapped, her long, black hair falling about the sides of her pale face. “What was it, another woman?”
    Was there another woman? How the fuck should I know. I wasn’t responsible for this other Potter. “No, there wasn’t another woman,” I said, looking straight back at her. “There could never be another woman like you, Kiera.”
    “Oh, my God,” Kiera breathed out loud. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
    “Believe what?” I said, noticing the thousands and thousands of newspaper cuttings tacked to her apartment walls. This Kiera wasn’t so different to the Kiera I knew.
    “You think you can waltz back into my life, pay me a few cheap compliments, and I’d fall straight back into your arms,” she said, her eyes wide with disbelief.
    “I’m not here to pay you cheap compliments…” I started.
    “So why are you here, Potter?” she demanded, tapping her foot restlessly on the carpet.
    That was a good question… but how did I answer it? I couldn’t tell her the truth. “Erm… Erm…” I said, struggling to find an answer.
    “You’re so full of shit, Potter,” Kiera said angrily. She reached down, took hold of the sleeve of my long black coat, and yanked me from her armchair.
    “Look, I’m sorry…” I mumbled, my brain still racing to find the right words.
    “It’s too late for sorry,” Kiera said, shoving me towards the front door of her apartment. She yanked it open. Staring out into the hall and not at me, she added, “Don’t ever break in to my home again, Potter, or I’ll have you arrested, even if I have to do it myself.”
    I stepped out into the hall, and even before I’d had the chance to turn around and look back at her, Kiera had slammed the door shut behind me.
    “Well, that couldn’t have gone any better,” I said under my breath, heading down the hall and out of the apartment block.
    I stepped out onto the street. It was night and there was a fine drizzle in the air. Pulling the collar of my coat up around my neck, I headed into the darkness. I knew I couldn’t go too far from Kiera’s apartment block if I were to try and catch the photographer. I would have to stay close by and keep watch on the apartment. But where could I hide? There were plenty of trees in the street, but if Lilly Blu thought I was going to hang out in a tree, she was sorely mistaken. I knew I was something close to a bat – but that was just taking the fucking piss. Then, in the light of an overhead streetlamp, I saw a narrow alleyway set between two houses across the street from Kiera’s apartment. I headed across the road into the alleyway. With the drizzle becoming a steady downpour, I leant against the rain-soaked wall and watched Kiera’s apartment block. I hoped the photographer put in an appearance sooner rather than later.
    I took one of the cigarette packets I had stolen from the machine at the campsite from my coat pocket. I poked a smoke between my lips and tried to light it. Within seconds, the cigarette was little more than a soggy white stick as it soaked up the falling rain. I tossed it to the ground. This mission was turning to shit with every passing minute.
    From my hiding place, I peered up at Kiera’s window. I saw the lamp light she had switched on go out. Was she going to bed? I wondered. Then, the front door opened, and Kiera appeared in the doorway. She was now wearing blue jeans, white T-shirt, and a waist-length black jacket. Kiera pulled the front door closed behind her and ran through the rain to a little red Mini parked at the kerb. I watched Kiera climb inside, turn on the headlamps, then start the engine. The car pulled away from the kerb and disappeared into the night.
    Where was she going? I wondered. I reminded myself that whatever the Kiera in this pushed world did had nothing to do with me. She wasn’t my Kiera. But still, I was more than curious to know where she was going and what she was going to do when she got