Page 43 of Hunt Me

“You’re not dying,” I said, laughing. I absolutely hated the Door Dash runs. The tips had allowed me a little freedom, but you never knew what craziness was being requested. Callie loved it.

“I’ll owe you big time.”

I grabbed my towel. “What is the run?”

“Don’t worry. He’s a regular. Always orders pizza from Sal’s and has me deliver.”

“Don’t most pizza places have a delivery service?”

She shrugged, which meant she wasn’t telling me everything. “His house is a little further out. They won’t deliver to him.”

“Callie.”

“Come on. He’ll get pissed if I ask someone else, but you’re my sister. I think he’s very private and it’s obvious he’s rich as sin. You should see his house.”

“You’ve been in his house.”

“The entrance foyer. I also think he’s a bit lonely.”

“Wait a minute. Does he come onto you?”

“Not really. At least since we started talking and I shared I had a boyfriend. He’s a nice, rich guy and tips extremely well.” She was practically jumping up and down. “Please, sis. Jason asked me to meet him at a fancy restaurant and everything. Then we’re going dancing afterward. Isn’t that so awesome?”

All I’d wanted was a quiet night to regroup. However, I’d never been able to say no to my baby sister. “Ugh. I cannot believe I’m letting you talk me into this. I’ll do it.”

CHAPTER 11

Bristol

I was sweaty and smelled bad.

My body was sore from the extreme workout.

I’d yet to wolf down a scrap of food since I’d been embroiled in rage and feeling sorry for myself. And I was craving an entire bottle of wine.

Plus, I was running low on gas, my sister’s concern Mr. Pavel didn’t like his food arriving either late or cold taken to heart. I’d also been forced to wait an extra ten minutes for the hot and crispy pizza to be ready due to a little fire in the kitchen. My luck wasn’t getting any better. The entire time my stomach had rumbled and I’d been ready to take a bite out of the cardboard box holding the steamy, delicious-smelling pizza.

Maybe Mr. Richy-Rich would provide a decent tip. At least that was something that could brighten my day.

My sister owed me more than just one favor. Picking up a hot pizza with all the toppings from Sal’s Pizzeria was fine since the tiny store was only a couple of miles from the apartment, but the housing development where the customer lived was on the other side of Vegas.

In the rich section of town.

Driving with the scents making my mouth water had been sheer torture.

An unforgivable sin.

I only hoped Callie was right and the man was a huge tipper. At least I knew he wasn’t one of the nuts I’d encountered.

The closer I came to the development, the larger homes had become, now including massive estates protected behind stone walls and massive gargoyles. Every community was protected, several of them the size of small cities complete with their own zip code and police departments.

As I pulled in through the gate, I was surprised there were no guards on duty. Maybe the feature was meant as a decorative deterrent and nothing else.

At least the area was well lit. I moved through the quiet streets, finally making the last turn. The man’s home was nestled in the curve on a cul-de-sac, the house set back from the road. I parked on the street, quickly jumping out and grabbing the pizza. I didn’t care how grand the neighborhood was; I locked the doors, shoving the key fob to my Cruze into my jeans pocket.

As I walked down the long dark driveway, a strange sense of the creepy-crawlies caused me to look over my shoulder a couple of times. Thank God for the almost full moon. At least I wasn’ttripping over my feet. I was surprised Mr. Pavel hadn’t left the outside light on.

There was no reason to be nervous, yet as I headed toward the front door, the sensations grew stronger. I was on the stoop before I realized the door was open by a couple of inches. I heard sounds coming from inside.