I never would've seen it if not for dropping my keys, but I am almost completely certain it is not a necessary part of the vehicle. It looks like a…
Oh my god.
It's a fucking tracking device.
Atticus.
My face heats.
He swore there weren't any other devices I needed to know about. He fuckingsworeto me.
And it shouldn't hurt, because isn't this what I expected? Didn't I choose to believe him against my better judgement? But this presses on that still healing wound until it aches and bleeds.
I shiver and something clicks in my mind. And then I'mheragain. The girl I saw in the rearview mirror—the one who picked up the gun.
The one who is fuckingdonebeing walked on.
Knowing the motherfucker is watching me through the apartment cameras, I trudge to the driver's side and throw my basket into the back seat, too hot all over to even think about putting the jacket on now.
I asked him if there were any other tracking devices I needed to know about. Iaskedhim and he said no.
It's not like my driving routes from my apartment to class, to takeout windows, and the grocery store are all that personal, but it's the fucking principle of the thing.
I heave hot air through my nose as I start the ignition and back out of the parking space with fire burning in the pit of my stomach. I should go over there and bite his fucking head off.
My fists tighten on the steering wheel, but then I smile, because I'm not going to do that.
And maybe it's the adrenaline or that other more terrifying version of me in the driver's seat, but I think I know exactly how I want to get even.
19
HERE LIES ATTICUS’S SANITY
ATTICUS
"Where are you going, Trouble?"
I watch as her car takes a right at the lights instead of the left that would've led her here.
She had the basket when she left, right?
I click over the footage of her leaving the apartment with her laundry and frown. She's probably going to get takeout first. If she turns left at the lights ahead of where she's at now, I'll know it'll be for a quick pit stop at Chick-fil-A.
But she goes straight instead.
"The fuck?"
When she turns down a road that's flagged on my map as a road closure zone, something sinks in my gut. Her car stops for a beat, and I sigh with relief. She probably took a wrong turn.
But my guts are still twisting when her car starts to move again and I wait for it to stop glitching and show that she's coming back. Because she can't be continuing down this road how it looks on the map.
They're building a new bypass for the highway there, but it's not finished. I know because I drive past it every fucking time I drive into town. But does she know that? Did she not notice?
I grab the monitor as if I can will her little blue dot to turn around.
"Fuck!"
I snatch up the phone and dial the number for the burner I gave her.
