Imove.
I flip the sign to CLOSED.
I don’t explain. I don’t call out to Doris. I don’t tell anyoneanything.
My hands shut down the truck with frantic, jerky motions. My body is already halfway out the truck before my brain catches up.
Then I’m walking.
Then I’mrunning.
I can hear my own footsteps too loud on the pavement. I can hear my breath, sharp and panicked.
I can feel eyes on me, confused, but I don’t stop.
I get to my rental room, and my hands fumble the key so badly I almost drop it.
The door swings open and I stumble inside.
I lock it.
I press my back to the door and slide down to the floor, phone still clutched in my hand like it’s a weapon pointed at my throat.
He found me.
Chapter 2
Viper
Iwakeupthinkingabout coffee.
That’s the problem.
Because I don’t drink it for the caffeine anymore.
I sit up in the room I keep at the clubhouse and stare at my boots on the floor, letting the day settle into my bones.
Road Captain.
Rules.
Routes.
Security.
The list never ends.
Neither does the image of a curvy girl in an oversized hoodie, freckles dusting her nose, pretending she doesn’t notice me while watching me like it’s instinct.
I don’t deserve her. That doesn’t stop me.
Voices carry through the clubhouse before I’m even dressed. Low. Familiar. The kind of sound that means the day’s already rolling, ready or not.
I pull on jeans. Boots. Shirt. Grab my cut off the hook and shrug it on as I head down the hall.
The smell hits halfway to the bar.
Coffee.
