“No,” she says. “I wasn’t speeding, so I don’t have any idea.”
It’s hard to hear over the sound of the wind and passing cars, but I can hear him when he says, “I’m going to need you to step out of the vehicle.”
“Is there something wrong?” she asks.
“Step out of the vehicle.”
My heart is beating so hard it feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest.
“Brinley,” I call out. “Brinley, where are you?”
I hear her door open and shut. The call goes faint for a second, and I lift my phone out of fear that it got disconnected.
Quickly, I shift over to my messages and type out a text to Reed.
Me: Can you track her location?
The typing bubbles appear almost immediately.
Reed: I’ll try.
Talon: Why don’t you have it already?
I stare at it, something hot spreading through my chest.
Me: Shut up.
Reed replies, asking me to give him a few, and I adjust the phone again to press it to my ear.
I can hear voices still but not clearly. The officer speaks, and Brinley answers him.
“Brinley,” I shout even though I know she can’t hear me.
It’s just the sound of the wind and traffic passing by, and the heavy sound of my breathing filling the silence.
This time, when I try to call out for her, her name dies in my throat.
Because right now, there’s nothing I can do but listen.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Brinley
I don’t hang up when he tells me to step out of the car. I set my phone on the passenger seat, like I’m just clearing space.
I leave the door open when I stand, hoping he can still hear me.
“Is there a problem?” I ask when I glance at him.
There’s something familiar about the way he looks, and I’m trying to gauge whether I know him or if I’ve seen him before. He doesn’t answer right away. He just looks at me like he’s already decided something.
“You were drifting,” he says finally.
“No, I wasn’t.”
He shrugs a little, like that part doesn’t matter.
He looks down at my license and registration.
