“New or used?”
“New.” Her brow furrowed as she looked at me, and although I already knew what I was going to find, I circled the truck, examining each tire with Sunny quiet on my heels.
“What’s going on?” She asked, concern evident in her voice. “Why are all the tires low?”
“Someone tampered with your tires.”
“What?”Her eyes rounded. “This isridiculous.I didn’t kill the pastor’s son. You mean to tell me that redneck from Frank’s Bar keyed my car and ruined my new tires? Unbelievable. He’s got another thing coming because I’m not going to put up with?—”
“Sunny, this wasn’t done last night.”
“What—how do you know that?”
I leaned in closer, to triple-confirm. “Each tire valve has been punctured. Same spot, every one. The tires have been losing air for days.”
“Days?”
“That’s my best guess.”
“But I haven’t been anywhere long enough for someone to do it.”
Aside from your house,I thought, but didn’t say it. My mind was racing.
“Leave your truck here. Don’t touch anything. I’ll get it towed and taken care of—and also get that scratch fixed like I told you I would before you ran away from me.”
“No way. I live just a few more miles down the road. I can?—”
“Leave it.It’ll be taken care of. I need to make a call. Get in my Jeep.”
“No, I?—”
“Sunny. I’m not doing this.Get. In.”
Two minutes later, I slid behind the wheel. “Buckle up.”
I fired up the engine, took one last look at the truck, then pulled onto the dirt road. My call wasn’t to the station, or to Colson, it was to Phoenix Steele, oldest brother and CEO of Steele Shadows Security—someone I trusted with my life, because right now, I didn’t know who to trust. Colson wanted me locked in a padded room, Darby was following me for reasons I had yet to figure out, and the Chief of Police wanted my badge. My list of people to call for favors was running short.
Phoenix promised to have one of his mechanic buddies pick up her truck within the hour and have new tires on it by morning, no questions asked. New paint would be another story though. He’d also promised to wear gloves, avoid each valve as much as he could, and bag up all four tires so I could have them scanned for Kenzo Rees’s fingertips first thing in the morning.
The evening air tore through the open Jeep, hot and restless, like something was coming for us and couldn’t get there fast enough. We rumbled deeper into the woods, the gravel kicking up beneath the tires like gunfire.
I glanced at Sunny.
She hadn’t said a word since we’d left her truck on the side of the road. Not one. Her body was still, shoulders stiff, jaw locked tight. Her curls whipped across her face, those wild strands catching on her lips, and still… nothing. She didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. Just stared straight ahead, her green eyes darkened with fury.
Not fear.
Fury.
And that pissed me off. My hands squeezed around thesteering wheel. I didn’t want Sunny to be fearless. I wanted her to be scared. Fear was a good thing. It kept people from making stupid, irrational decisions. I assumed Sunny didn’t know her former boyfriend had been recently released from prison because she would have connected those dots like I had—her attack, Seagrave’s murder, the missing scroll—and Kenzo Rees.
He was out. And I was almost certain he was coming for her.
The thought made something coil in my chest. Not just protectiveness—possession. I didn’t want anyone touching her. Looking at her. Thinking about hurting her. Not again.
Not ever.
It was him. I knew it in my gut.
