“Stay down,” I ordered.
He ducked. “Are they shooting at us?” His voice was laced with disbelief. He turned his face toward me, lips parted. I had to ignore him in favor of keeping us alive.
“Take the next right,” came Marley’s voice.
I did. The street was almost deserted. The only advantage we seemed to have over the guys following us was our tight cornering.
“Another right,” she instructed after a minute.
This street was wholly residential, the houses spaced out with tall grass and trees between them, more than a few boarded up or falling down. And no traffic to separate us from our tail.
“How is this any better?”
“Just keep going.”
“There are kids playing on the side of the road, for fuck’s sake.”
“Keep going. I’ve got you.”
Making a frustrated noise, I kept up my speed, hoping to hell no one stepped in front of the car. I wouldn’t have time to stop.
“Next right.”
“I don’t see how this is going to—”
“Next right!”
“Fine,” I gritted. The tires squealed as I took the next right.
“Immediate right.”
“It’s a back alley.”
“I know. Circle the building, come out the other side.”
Gravel sprayed behind us as I made the sharp turn. It was an abandoned service station, two garage doors boarded up, the white paint chipping off every surface.
The distance was short enough that the SUV hadn’t followed us, overshooting the garage.
“This next bit is going to be tricky.”
“Perfect.”
“Think of it as one of those Humvee training exercises,” Alina’s voice cut in, way too cheerful for this situation.
“Not helpful.” And the Fiat was the exact opposite of a Humvee.
“If you do it right, you’ll be able to lose them,” Marley promised.
“Fine.” I followed her instructions, circling on our route. Each minute that ticked by made my shoulders climb toward my ears. I kept looking in the rear-view mirror, waiting for Cliff to reappear.
Marley’s instructions took us past the same garage we’d driven around earlier. Farther along, we stopped behind an abandoned house, the overgrowth of trees hiding us completely from every angle. I shifted into park and let out a long breath, keeping my gaze trained on the house in front of us, not wanting to acknowledge my traumatized passenger.
After being chased for so long, sitting still made my skin itch, like I should be doing something,anything, besides staring out my windshield at a decrepit back door and leafy bushes. The sensation of being scrutinized crept over my body. I glanced at Landon. He stared at me with an intensity that created shivers across my skin. Shit, he was angry. He had every right to be. I didn’t blame him. Adjusting my hands on the steering wheel, I returned my gaze to the house, its blue paint frozen in a perpetual descent. Wooden steps hung off the foundation at a forty-five-degree angle.
I would have given anything to be somewhere else, to not have him look at me like that. I’d been his personal assistant, fallen in love, then betrayed him. After all this time, he’d somehow found out that it hadn’t just been me running from our relationship.
“How?” I asked, not sure what I specifically needed to know, and very much aware of my two friends listening in. How did he find me? How did he discover the truth about my theft? How could he sit beside me without shouting his head off? He could take his pick.
