“Name badges. They were all wearing them. And they invited us both to the bar. But you must’ve missed that too.”
After a beat of silence, Dani looked over at him. “Did I lose you again?” She was about to say more, but his eyes narrowed at something in his rearview mirror.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I think someone is following us.”
She craned her neck to look behind them. Michael switched lanes. Sure enough, a dark-gray Ford truck three cars back did too. Michael took a quick right turn. The truck did the same and gained on them.
“He’s still on our tail.” The glare of the sun on the truck’s windshield prevented Dani from seeing the face, but the dusty old truck was sure familiar.
Another left turn and he was right on them.
“What is this guy doing?” Michael mumbled.
“I don’t know, but you’d better floor it.”
“I am.”
Michael sped up and wound through the suburban streets, but the truck stayed on them. “He’s definitely following us.”
The road climbed in elevation. They were hitting the foothills outside of town. The SUV engine rumbled up the road.
“Hold tight.” Michael adjusted his grip on the wheel.
Trees blurred as they flew past. Dani braced herself with an arm on the dashboard. Michael maneuvered the car well, but as they went into a sharp curve, the truck sped forward and cut them off, shoving them completely off the road.
Dani screamed as they slid down the mountain.
Nine
His heart might’ve stopped completely, but it looked like all those practice hours on the driver’s course—and probably his instinct to survive—were about to pay off. Michael managed to steer the car into a patch of brush that helped them decelerate as they slid down the sharp incline. The wheels finally gained purchase, grinding against the rocky terrain. He brought the car to a stop on a dirt road. A few silent beats, and his pulse came back to life as dust settled all around them.
How had they not rolled? The question beat around his brain until Dani released a long, shaky breath.
“You okay?” he asked.
Dani looked at him from the passenger seat, eyes wide, one fist gripping the door handle, the other the center console. She released her hold and shook out her hands. “I’m fine.”
She pushed the bangs off her forehead and frowned. “But I’m going to kill him when I find him.”
“Him? You know who ran us off the road?” The question of how they’d survived quickly dissolved from his focus.
“Colter McCord. My ex-boyfriend. I’m pretty sure that was his truck.”
“I see why you broke up with him. What’s his deal?”
“I have no clue.” She paused. “But what guy did you notice back at RWM? The one you said was ogling me.”
“He was tall, over six one. Thin. He had long brown hair.”
“Did he have a tattoo of a leopard on his forearm?”
“That’s him.”
“Then Colter is who you saw. He was friends with the guy I mentioned. Matt Dempsy. They must both work there now. We knew each other in high school but didn’t date until I was back home from college one summer. But that was years ago. I don’t know why he would run us off the road.”
“That was no little love tap. He tried to kill us. Has he always been this unstable?”
