I had to get back to the main drag even if it was further from my car.
This was where the home field advantage came into play. No one knew the ins and outs of this town as well as my cousins and I did. We’d endlessly roamed these streets as teenagers. We knew every back alley, every cut-through in the woods.
I ran down the alley behind a Chinese restaurant, knowing that at the other end, there was a small gap in the gate that I was (hopefully) still small enough to slip through.
And that would put me right back on the main street. Close to Redemption, actually. As much as I didn’t want to run in there, breathless and panicked, and have everyone make a huge deal out of this, it was an option.
I was just up to the gate when I heard footsteps slapping the ground behind me.
My heartbeat doubled as I said a prayer and pushed my body into the gap.
Okay.
Yeah.
It definitely pinched a little tighter than it had when I was sixteen. The old metal scraped against my chest. The brick wall scratched across my ass.
But when I sucked in a deep breath, I managed to wedge myself through just as a hand grabbed at my wrist.
I yanked free and ran, not wanting to risk the guy also fitting through the gate. I needed every second of advantage I had.
I ran to the corner and chanced one look back.
When I ran right into a brick wall.
Well, it might as well have been.
He was as big and tall and firm as one.
My air was knocked from my chest.
“Oh!” I yelped a second before panic set in.
Was it one of the guys?
A hand went around me, making me violently yank back. Then immediately stumbled.
“Hey, what’s up?” a familiar voice asked as the hand grabbed my wrist to keep me from falling on my ass.
Even as my mind placed the voice, my head angled up.
And there he was.
Perish.
The way relief washed through me made tears prick my eyes.
I tried to rapidly blink them away, but Perish was watching me too closely. He saw them.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice rough even as his hand pulled me closer.
“It’s nothing,” I insisted.
“You’re out of breath.”
“It was just some stupid drunk guys,” I said, trying to wave it off. But the words only made Perish get even tenser.
“Where?” he growled.
