“You don’t have to explain everything,” she says, her voice softer now. “He likes you. I can tell.”
My stomach flips. “He… does?”
“Please,” she mutters. “The man’s been unbearable since he got back from vacation. Broody. Irritable. Snapping at people who don’t deserve it. That only happens when something gets under his skin.”
Heat creeps up my neck. “I’m not trying to cause trouble.”
“You aren’t.” She glances at me. “You’re the first good thing I’ve seen him tangled up in for a long time.”
My heart squeezes. “I don’t know what I am to him. Or what he wants from?—”
A car swerves into our lane.
“Jesus,” Tiffany mutters, honking once and maneuvering around it.
It doesn’t move.
It slows.
Then speeds up.
Then slows again.
“Okay…” Tiffany frowns. “What the hell is this person doing?”
A cold ripple moves through my spine.
The car in front of us—the blue sedan—has tinted windows. Too dark. Too familiar.
No.
No, it can’t be.
“He’s following us,” I whisper before I can stop myself.
“Who?” Tiffany says sharply.
I stare at the sedan. My breath shortens. My palms sweat.
“It can’t be?—”
But it is.
Even before the car suddenly jumps forward, cutting us off so aggressively Tiffany slams the brakes— I know.
My blood turns to ice.
“Hold on!” Tiffany shoutss.
The sedan screeches sideways, blocking the entire road. There’s nowhere to go—ditches on either side, a steep drop beyond that.
“Back up,” I choke out. “We have to back up—Tiff?—”
She throws the Jeep into reverse?—
—but another car appears behind us.
Black SUV. Dark windows. Creeping forward like it’s waiting.
