Read Online Stepping Up To Love (Lakeside Porches 1) by Katie O'Boyle - Free Book Online Page A

she finished, two campus security officers burst into the library.
    One officer went after Kristof, who was exiting through an emergency door at the end of the darkened reading room. The other officer planted himself at Manda’s side. He told her, “Tony Pinelli told me to yell at you for not registering your cell phone number with security. He’s on his way in, and he’s steamed.”
    Manda groaned, “Wait until he finds out I don’t own a cell phone.”
    “Ma’am, no offense, but you have to be insane to be a victim of stalking and not own a cell phone.”
    “That would be correct, yes,” Manda said humbly. If she could spend money on olives and burgers and fries, she could spend money on a cheap cell phone. What was she thinking? That was one more piece of evidence that alcohol had crippled her commonsense. Maybe she could still work an accounting problem at competitive speed, but her judgment was faulty.
    “Are you aware you’re bleeding?” the security officer asked her.
    Manda noticed the students had backed away from her. The librarian pointed to the shoulder of her fleece jacket. The light blue fleece was sliced through and stained with her blood.
    Manda investigated her skin under the three layers of clothing and registered the searing pain where the knife had penetrated all three layers and broken the skin on her shoulder. She felt the blood drain from her face and told herself to sit on the floor.
    The officer yakked, “It’s probably a superficial cut, but it’s going to bleed until we can get something on it, and we need to keep you here until the police arrive.”
    Sitting wasn’t working. Manda felt like she was going to pass out. She lay flat on her back on the floor to stop the dizziness.
    The officer rambled on, “They’ll take your statement and then we’ll get you some treatment.”
    Manda watched everything around her blur. Voices faded. Someone crouched down beside her, and she heard Tony say, “I’ve got her. Wake up, honey.”
    She looked up at him gratefully.
    Tony told his colleague, “Your partner has Kristof in custody for assault and for violating the Order of Protection. Kristof took a header off the stairs in the dark and sprained an ankle. He’s out of commission at least for tonight, but we can expect him to talk his way out of custody before noon tomorrow.”
    Tony shook his head and told Manda, “The guy is connected. Let’s see that cut.”
    Manda opened her jacket and showed him the slice on her shoulder. The wad of tissues the librarian had given her was soaked with blood.
    Tony pressed a clean handkerchief to the wound and made a call to the nearest Urgent Care facility. “Put some pressure on that for me, honey. The police just came. I need you to give them a very brief statement. Then I’m going to carry you out to the truck, and we’re going for a ride.”
    She nodded and did as he said. While she was telling the police her side of what happened, she could hear the two students giving two entirely different stories. One said Kristof was a student offering to help carry her books. The other knew it was Kristof but insisted he had been helping Manda with her work when she freaked and started yelling at him.
    If she were paranoid, Manda would say Kristof knew her habits, had planned the attack, and had chosen a night these two students were on duty and would mislead the authorities and discredit her. But that was insane, wasn’t it?
    The librarian had only seen a bleeding, wild-eyed Manda descend on the front desk and did not know what incident had transpired between Manda and her alleged attacker. And so the authorities had contradictory information about the incident. Even though Manda was bleeding, her story seemed not to be credible in some eyes. But she was sober, and she was clear about what happened.
    Help had arrived in time. This time. What about next time? She gave into tears. God, I did my best, and so did the police, but I couldn’t keep myself