“The black van at the end of your driveway is mine. Passenger side is facing your house. I’ll protect you, but get in and lock the door as fast as you can. Got it?”
He nods and takes another step closer. There are so many questions in his eyes, yet he doesn’t ask a single one of them. It makes my stomach knot. I don’t deserve his trust.
“Ready when you are,” he says.
I open the door, and we head out. I stay to his left, shielding Evan from view. But as soon as the other car begins to move, I nudge him.
“Now. Run!”
Tires squeal down the street as we throw open the doors and climb in. Evan locks his door just as I asked. The moment I hit the push start, the engine roars to life. Thrusting it into gear, I slam my foot into the gas pedal. We make it about fifty feet before something rams into the van from behind.
“Shit! Hold on.” Loose gravel kicks up as we fishtail around a corner.
The sedan swerves to follow as we fly down the residential street, blinding me with its high beams. Just as I’m about to turn left, a truck pulls out in front of me, forcing me to cut the wheel in the opposite direction. The driver lays on their horn, the noise slicing through the quiet night like a tornado siren.
I punch the gas, pushing my van to the limit while keeping a close eye on the side mirror. “Fuck! He’s still tailing me.”
Evan points to the sign up ahead. “Take that street. We’ll go through the new part of the subdivision and cut across to the highway on the other side.”
I do as he says, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. Evan grabs the handle above the window and mutters a curse under his breath. I cannot lose control. I can’t. I did not go through the effort of staying away from him these last ten months only to end up killing him in some stupid car accident.
Dammit! Why did I have to check in on him? I never wanted to pull him into this sadistic game of cat and mouse, especially when he has no way of defending himself.
Why couldn’t I have just stayed away?
A flash of Evan bleeding out reminds me it really doesn’t matter; he could’ve died anyway. Now it’s up to me to make sure that doesn’t become his fate.
I make every turn Evan suggests, trusting him to know all the possible exits through the subdivision. I had no idea it’d gotten so large, or that there was now an elementary school in the center of it. Good thing it’s the middle of the night—there are no kids to worry about.
“Do you see the Dodge up there?” Evan points to a white truck just down the road. “The exit is just past it. Turn right to get out of the subdivision. That street will take you straight to the highway.”
With every corner, the sedan seems to fall further and further behind. When we pull onto the highway, we both hold our breath and look in the mirrors.
“I don’t see them,” Evan says after a minute. “Do you?”
“No, but we need to keep going.”
Evan huffs and throws me a look that says, “Ya think?”
I almost laugh. Some things never change.
After about twenty miles, I finally relax. “I think we lost him.”
“Good,” he says. But his voice is still tense, his body rigid.
I glance over at him. “You okay?”
“Me? Oh, I’m great,” he deadpans. “In fact, I should probably thank you.”
I raise a brow. “Thank me?”
“Yeah. I’ve always wanted to go on a high-speed chase. Now that I have, I can cross it off my bucket list.”
I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but the joke falls too close to home. Bucket lists are for people who are thinking about death, and I can’t handle that. Not today. Not ever. It’s the whole reason I’ve stayed away so long. To keep him alive.
Evan finally lets go of the Oh Shit Handle and shakes his hand out, rubbing the palm against his pants. He’s trying to put on a brave face, but I can see the tension in his eyes. The underlying fear. The curiosity of what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.
I watch as he takes in my messy living space, more cozy than cramped in the low light. “Holy shit. Have you been living in this thing? There’s a bed and everything.”
