Oh my God, I’m going to vomit. I’ve waited my entire life for someone to call me a good girl, and it ends up being Chad Whitlock.
I straighten my spine. “Are we done?”
“Yes.” He winks again and salutes me. “We’re very done. Now go scurrying into your corner and hide.”
The second I snap the door shut, I lock the deadbolt and message Jake.
Me: When you get the chance, stop by. Please.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Jake
The second I receive Emily’s text; I pull over to the side of the street and put the cruiser in park. The hairs on the back of my neck stand as I hit re-dial. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. The baby is fine. I handled it. Everything is okay.”
“Em, you don’t ask for help, and you said please, so what’s going on?”
“Fine.” She gives a half-hearted laugh in response which eases a fraction of my anxiety. This is the woman who wears a cape around her neck and can do everything on her own. “When I came back to town, I saw Chad driving his car.”
“Thanks for the tip. I’ll be on the lookout for him.” This won’t get him off the streets, but it’ll give me another excuse to be in his business. Maybe I can annoy him into leaving town.
“That’s not everything.”
“Spill it.” Trying to get information out of this woman is like pulling teeth.
“He followed me.”
“Shit.” There goes my heart again. That piece of shit needs off the streets. “Where did he go after you pulled into your parking lot?”
“That’s the thing. He followed me into the parking lot.”
“Is he still there?” I grip the gearshift, prepared to do something I don’t ever do–talk on the phone while driving a cruiser.
“No. Well….” She pauses for a second and then says, “He’s gone. When I got out of the car, he came up and stopped me.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“You don’t have to. I’m fine. I just wanted you to know.”
I twist the knob to drive. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Now is not the time to tell her how much those words turn me on. “I’m getting off the phone. Call me if he shows up or anything happens between now and the time I knock on the door. Be sure to look into the peephole before answering.”
“I will.” The phone clicks in my ear.
The desire to go to his place and arrest him for being a dickhead is intense, but at this point, I don’t have anything on him. And the need to check on Emily to ensure she’s truly fine and not feeding me full of shit overpowers every other instinct. Just because she says she’s fine doesn’t mean anything.
After one block of going the speed limit, I flip on the siren and step on the gas. There are no signs of Chad or his vehicle as I race through the streets with one eye on the sidewalks and crosswalks, scanning for anything that might jump out in front of me.
Mira waves from her front porch and Dominic nods from his mother’s flowerbed with his trigger finger still activating thewatering hose. I’ll apologize for blowing them off the next time I see them.
Four minutes and ten seconds later, I knock on Emily’s door.
“Just a second.” The sound of footsteps rushing across the floor is followed by a thump against the door. She’s looking through the peephole. Good girl.
