“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” I waved goodbye. “Don’t wait up.” I slipped out the front door and glanced across the street. Rafe’s car was gone, and I gave a sigh of relief. Obviously he figured I was in for the night. I gave the front walk and the sidewalk a long look just to check for possible murderers, then walked with purpose down the driveway to the back of the house.
I felt six inches taller in my boots. Kick-ass. In control. Like I could conquer the world.
Then I saw the front tire of my Vespa was flat.Seriously?I crouched down to check for a nail. I’d probably run over something in the street. Except there was a long slash in the tire. That hadn’t been caused by a nail. I straightened, my heart hammering.Okay, Vic, take a breath.I thought about what Rafe had told me, that another of Grace’s employees had her tires slashed a few months ago, but that had to be a coincidence. I’d been doing this job for less than a week. It was probably just drunken vandalism. We were surrounded by bars and nightclubs, and sometimes people got a little too merry after hours.
I slipped off my backpack and reached for my phone. I’d call for a ride, that was all, and deal with the repairs tomorrow. But my phone slipped through my fingers as a shadow appeared in the driveway.
“Penny?”
The shadow didn’t answer. My mouth went dry. My phone lay on the ground, and I couldn’t even tell my knees to bend so I could pick it up. There was only one way in and out of the narrow driveway, and that way was now blocked. Assaults didn’t happen often in this neighborhood, but they did happen. Just last week the widow who lived around the corner was mugged in broad daylight. And there’d been a series of break-ins a few months ago, kids looking for drug money. Maybe the slash in my tire was deliberate after all.
A figure walked toward me. I didn’t have a weapon. I couldn’t get my boot off fast enough to drive the heel of it through the stranger’s eye. My keys were deep in my purse, not between my fingers with the pointy ends out like they should’ve been. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.
I was done for.
8
“I figuredyou might go somewhere tonight.”
“Rafe?” Relief coursed through me, nearly knocking me to my knees.
He walked into the light cast by a single bulb over the back door. “I leave for ten minutes to get coffee and this is what I come back to.”
I glanced at the paper cup in his hand, white and oversized with a red graphic design on one side. I didn’t recognize it. “Where’s that from?”
He glanced at the cup as if confused. “Jive Hive. Over on Broad. And stop changing the subject. Why didn’t you tell me you were going out?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to tell you every time I left the house.”
He gave me a look.
“Ididn’t.” I crossed my arms. “Anyway, my tire’s flat, so I’m calling an Uber.”
“Or I could drive you to wherever you’re going.”
“That’s okay.” Rafe unsettled me. I couldn’t imagine sitting in a car next to him, even for a few short blocks.
“Victoria.”
“You know, you’re the only person who calls me that besides my parents.”
I could see his eyes roll even in the dim light. “Would you like me to call you something else?”
“No. Forget it. It doesn’t matter.” We were work associates, nothing more. He’d been hired to babysit me; what did I care what he called me? I tried to walk by him, but there wasn’t enough room. I ran into him instead, which was pretty much the same as running into a brick wall. “Could I maybe get by?”
He shifted just enough for me to pass, then followed me back down the driveway. I could hear his heavy steps, feel his enormous presence, just a few feet behind me. By the time we got to the front yard he was close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck.
Finally I turned around. “I guess you’re coming with me?”
He grunted.
“Or am I grounded?”
“For Christ’s sake. You’re not in middle school. No, you’re not grounded. Yes, I’m coming with you. And like I said, I’ll drive you. That way I can make sure you get there and back safely.” From anyone else the words might’ve sounded kind. From Rafe they just sounded like I was interrupting his nighttime reading.
“Where to?” he asked as we got into the Cadillac.
