Page 22

“Busy night tonight,” I said, glancing down the street toward the bowling alley. “Must be a tournament or something. Hopefully one day, we can go bowling. And you will try not to judge your mother too hard for being absolutely crummy at it even with the bumpers on, okay?”

“Ooh,” Lainey agreed.

“You and me against the world, babe,” I said, kissing the side of her head as I opened the door to the convenience store.

The fluorescent lights in the store stabbed at my eyes as I walked down the aisles, trying to see if there was anything else that was calling to me before I made my way back to the freezer section.

I couldn’t tell you what it was that made me look over—if I saw a flash, if there was just some gut instinct.

But that quick glance over my shoulder?

That might have been what saved our lives.

I looked out the plate glass window and saw them.

Two men.

Familiar suits.

Looking for something.

Someone.

Me.

I ducked down below one of the aisles, duck walking away as they moved into the store. The little ding-dong of the door sensor had my heartbeat tripping into overdrive.

My blood whooshed through my ears, making it hard to hear as I desperately tried to listen for footsteps, to know where they were, if they were right on top of us or not.

I paused, cursing the song that I’d been singing to Lainey just a moment before. Back before our whole world threatened to shatter.

“Gotta be around here somewhere,” a voice said, making my belly flip.

“Bathroom?” the other asked.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing how close I was to said bathroom.

Shit, shit, shit.

I crouch-walked away from the sound of the voices, hoping they were coming from the other end of the aisle.

My shoulder brushed a snack-sized chip bag, making it slide in slow motion toward the floor.

There was no time to look to see if they saw me or not.

I lifted up slightly, walking ducked instead of crouched, in case I needed to quickly break into a run.

I was choking on my heart as I moved around the end cap.

One quick glance said there was no one on the next aisle, so I moved down it a few feet, praying I couldn’t be seen as the men moved down the aisle I’d just moved away from, heading right for the bathrooms.

My breath was coming in frantic huffs.

I glanced up.

Right into the eyes of the man behind the counter. Who had to have been watching me as I passed him.

His head turned toward the bathrooms, then to me.

He jerked his head quickly toward the door.

I didn’t stop to think.

Or even thank him.

I just stood and ran like hell.

The ding-dong was unavoidable as I flew out the door.

All I could do was pray they didn’t hear, that they were still in the bathroom, that they couldn’t see me bolting down the sidewalk in the dark.

But as Lainey let out a cry, that hope was dashed.

“There!” a man yelled.

Damnit.

I swallowed down the whimper growing in my throat.

I’d outrun them once before.

I could do it again.

I had to do it again.

At least this time I was running toward my car.

My keychain was still looped around my finger, and I reached for it with my fingertips as I clutched Lainey to my chest.

It wasn’t that far.

I’d turned the corner toward the side street.

Another half a block, that was it.

Though I swore I could hear them gaining on me, practically breathing down my neck.

My legs burned, and Lainey suddenly felt like she weighed fifty pounds as I forced my body to go faster, to put more space between us.

Twenty more yards.

Ten.

Five.

I bleeped the locks.

Then flew at the passenger seat just behind the driver, ripping the door open, throwing us inside, slamming it, and bleeping the locks.

I didn’t look.

I couldn’t.

I just dropped a now-screaming Lainey into her seat.

My hands were shaking so hard that I was having trouble pushing her clasp into place, then shoving the metal clips into the buckle.

The car lurched as one of the men reached for the door so hard that the car jostled.

I wasn’t proud of the noise that escaped me then—half cry, half scream.

There was no time to tighten Lainey’s buckles down.

But if this was going to end in some sort of high-speed chase—and possible accident—I couldn’t risk not tightening her.

As I fumbled with that, the damn keys slid off my finger, clattering down into the wheel well.

“Damnit,” I whimpered, leaning down, feeling around in the dark, my stomach sloshing so hard I was sure I’d be sick all over them before I grabbed them.

A hand slammed into the window.

Once.

Twice.

Five times.

“Stop, stop, stop,” I whimpered.

My fingers finally closed around the chain.

Grabbing it, I crawled between the center console, dropping down into the driver’s seat and stabbing the key into the ignition.

“Get the fucking car,” I heard the man yell from right outside my window.

I saw a flash of metal, and my heart sank as I threw the car into reverse, knowing this was the end, that it was a gun, that he was going to shoot me right through the window, kill me right in front of my daughter.

Something slammed into the corner of the window, making it spiderweb crack.

A cry escaped me as I slammed my foot into the gas.

The car shook wildly as I went up onto the curb, then the sidewalk.

“Shh. Shh,” I called to Lainey, whose blood-curdling screams were making it hard to think, to focus.

My whole body was shaking as my sweaty hand shifted back into drive.

And then there he was.

Right in front of the car.

Staring at me with victorious eyes.

Thinking he’d won.

But he hadn’t won.

And I’d never felt more kindred to Coast as I did right that second.

Because I was driving a weapon.

And I was going to drive it right over the bastard who was threatening me and my baby.

If he died, he died.

I saw his smirk die as he saw the car lurch forward.

He threw his body to the side.

Mostly out of the way.

But I still felt a slam as my car collided with some part of him.

I didn’t know what.

I didn’t care.

All I cared about was that he was out of my way.

There was no time for relief, for a feeling of victory, though.

Because his friend had gone to get the car.

And the absolute last thing I needed was a car chase through the roads of Golden freaking Glades.

One of the several perks to my job, though, was that I knew every single street around the area like the back of my hand.

So I flew down the street, refusing to look in the rearview, to see if I was being followed, knowing that if I was, I would panic, I would make mistakes.

I forced myself to focus, to avoid the next side street because it ended in a dead end. Then the next one too because it only looped back to the same street once again.

The third road was the sweet spot, cutting down out of sight from the side street, then spitting us out on the main drag out of the area.

My hands slipped on the wheel, making me wipe my sweaty palms on my shorts one by one.

“Shh, baby, shh,” I called to the hysterical Lainey. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

She had to be.

I turned down another street, knowing it ran parallel to the main road and that I could cut back at any time, but it would be more rural, so I could be sure if someone was following me.

What did I do?

Did I drive to the closest police station? Tell them I was being followed?

But what then?

Admit that I’d run one of them over?

What if I’d hurt him?

Killed him?

Could I go to jail? That was vehicular manslaughter, wasn’t it? Did judges even care about extenuating circumstances? Lord knew I wouldn’t be able to afford a lawyer to plead my case. I’d be stuck with an overworked, underpaid public defender who just wanted to clear his desk.

I couldn’t take that chance.

If the guy was dead, he was dead. What good would telling anyone about it be?

I moved up and down several streets, and when no headlights came up behind me, I slowed my pace so I didn’t get pulled over. Then reached over to turn on Lainey’s favorite music. That didn’t make my ears feel like they were bleeding or anything. But at least it calmed her crying.

As I sat at a red light, I tried to figure out where I was going.

Back to the motel?

My mind flashed back to that same room, but with all my belongings strewn about, every drawer overturned.

What if that hadn’t been a robbery?

What if someone had been looking for me?

And when they hadn’t found me, tried to find any evidence of who I was?

I didn’t keep any documents in the motel rooms, though. It was out of pure paranoia about someone breaking in or the staff taking it.

I had a small safety deposit box where I kept our important documents and a little bit of cash. Just in case.

They wouldn’t have found a single thing with my name on it. Let alone anything else about me.

But if that had been them, they knew where I lived. Maybe they’d just been biding their time to catch me alone again. And thanks to Coast, I hadn’t been for days.

Something niggled at me until it surfaced fully.

Just an hour or so ago.

Standing in the lot of the motel talking to Carter.

He’d looked at something over my shoulder and had gotten tense.

Could it have been them?

Watching me?

Following me?

Waiting for a chance to sneak up on me?

If either instance could have been them, then there was no way for me to go back to the motel.

Brooke and Tasha were there. Along with their kids. I couldn’t bring a dangerous situation there. A possible shoot-out at a place with paper-thin walls.

I couldn’t afford to go anywhere else for the night. It just wasn’t an option.

Which only left me one place.

Somewhere I really, really didn’t want to have to go.

But for Lainey?

I could endure it.

I had to.

“Want to go meet your father, Lainey?”