I was about to call 911.
I didn’t want you to think I abandoned you.
I had so much to tell her, including about the missing girl, assuming she hadn’t already heard, but before we could meet up, I needed to look through the footage on the SD card. There was one particular event I didn’t want anyone else to see. Including Paisley.
Did you hear about the missing girl?
What?!?! No.
It was on the news tonight.
I can’t believe it.
Her name is Sienna Michaels.
Are you shitting me?
She graduated last year from Public.
It’s happening again.
20
MADDOX
Iwaited until she was inside before I pulled away from the curb. I headed back to the church to keep an eye on Mason and make sure he didn’t turn Raven Night into something even uglier than it already was. My head was still buzzing with Hales, and how one kiss turned into something I didn’t want.
God, maybe Mason is right.
Maybe I just needed to hook up with someone else to forget about Kaylor, which I tried in the past and failed, but perhaps the problem had been that they’d been the wrong girls. Maybe I just needed to find the right one, someone who made me feel things other than lust.
As I pulled out of Hales’s driveway, I spotted a car sitting across the street. The lights were off, but a bloom of smoke gathered behind the car, indicating the engine was running.
It was late, but it didn’t make an idling car unusual. I’m sure it was nothing, yet I got this weird feeling in the pit of my gut. I was already fucking on edge.
I slowed as I passed by, my foot easing off the gas. The window was down just enough for me to see inside, a gap ofmaybe three inches. I couldn’t get a good look at the driver, but there was definitely someone inside, a baseball cap pulled low over his face. He didn’t glance at me as I rolled by but stared across the street at Hales’s house.
What the fuck?
I drove another half block, my mind racing faster than my engine. This wasn’t my problem.Shewasn’t mine to worry about. And I couldn’t be sure the carwassomething to be concerned with, despite my instincts warning me otherwise.
It wouldn’t hurt to check out. Nothing but a few minutes of my time.
Fuck it.
I cranked the wheel hard to the left, whipped the Jeep around in a tight U-turn, and rolled back up the street, pulling directly behind the car with my headlights flooding his back bumper. I waited a moment to see if they would move, but the asshole revved his engine.
Was this guy for fucking real?
Enough of the macho bullshit, I reached for the handle and pushed the door open. I had only one foot on the ground when the car peeled out, tires screaming against asphalt, rubber burning. The vehicle shot forward, fishtailing slightly as the driver overcorrected.
“Shit!” I jumped back inside, slamming the door hard as I shifted into drive and punched the gas. The acceleration pressed me back into my seat, but I stayed on his ass, speeding through the neighborhood to the main road. He ran the first light, blowing through without even slowing.
So did I.
My Jeep surged through the empty intersection, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered how lucky we were that it was so late and there was no cross traffic, but this wasn’t the first time I’d used the streets as a racetrack.
The streetlights blurred past, streaking into lines as my speed climbed. I stayed on his ass, close enough to read his plates but only catching the first three letters before he swerved again, his car moving erratically. He definitely wasn’t used to being chased. Amateur.
