29. Theo
TWENTY-NINE
THEO
I waited until Piper finally put the SUV into gear and eased out onto the road before I did the same, pulling my truck right behind the white SUV that Silas had sold me.
Nah.
It wasn’t a rental, but I was pretty sure Piper would have actually lost her shit had I told her my intention.
Thing was, I didn’t like the idea of her driving her old car again. Didn’t like the idea of her behind the wheel or Nelly in the passenger seat or Finn strapped in the back.
Not after that accident.
Sure, Silas was good.
But good just wasn’t fucking good enough when it came to them.
I scraped a palm over my face like it might stand the chance of breaking up the thirst the woman incited in me.
Mouth parched with the bare taste I got of her last night.
Had no clue how she had me so fucked up. Hands itching to reach out and take more than I could.
Body aching to sate the need she evoked.
And if that’s all it was?
Need?
Lust?
Attraction?
That’d be cool. I could handle the deal I proposed last night.
Some orgasms dashed with a little help until she got on her feet. Until she felt confident that she could stand on her own. Until she overcame whatever fear had her trapped.
But it was the longing that had been kindled way down deep that was the real fuckin’ problem.
Heart keen on something it couldn’t keep. That same heart I’d always believed was dead.
And now it found it the prudent time to spark to life?
Maybe it was all just part of the penalty.
Torment meted because of my sins and selfishness.
My chest squeezed in a vise.
I deserved every bit of that torment.
And still, I was chasing it down as I followed Piper through our small town.
The storm was picking up gusto as the wind began to scourge and the snow began to pelt.
Piper made the first right and then another onto Culberry, basically making a U out of 9 th street to wind back around in the direction of The Sanctuary.
People rushed with the storm, their heads ducked between their shoulders as they hurried to their cars that were parked along the main drag.
The road was packed at this time of evening, and headlights speared through the darkness that had quickly fallen. Christmas lights that were strung up on the eaves of the trendy buildings twinkled with the approaching holiday.
My chest squeezed at the thought of Finn. How damn excited he’d been when I came in with that tree. Wanted to put that same look on his face time and again.
I followed along behind Piper, who apparently had discovered the items I stashed in the backseat considering she was headed directly for the motel.
The sky was a heavy, gloomy gray above us, though the snow sparkled and danced beneath the streetlamps.
I didn’t know what it was that drew my attention to the opposite side of the road.
Why a single set of headlights could pilfer my attention and send adrenaline sloshing through my veins when I couldn’t make out anything other than that.
Instinct, I guess.
That thing that had kept me alive for all these years.
But I could sense it.
Evil suddenly crawled like sludge through the air.
Sour and overripe.
My gaze snapped to the left as a vehicle passed me coming the other direction.
It was a large, blacked-out SUV.
Alarm tripped my guts into mayhem.
I was almost certain it was the same one I’d seen creeping through the small lot at the motel last weekend.
One that had instantly set my nerves into overdrive.
I warred, wanting to stay right next to Piper, hating the idea of letting her out of my sight for even a second.
But I needed to remember my duty.
My duty to Alicia and Lucy.
Gritting my teeth, I waited for the next car to pass then flipped a U in the middle of the road. A single car separated me and the SUV, its taillights bright in my eyes.
Spikes of agitation impaled my flesh, and I struggled to peer around the car, both attempting to make out if the license plate on the SUV was the same and looking for the chance to get around the middle car, but the traffic was thick.
“Fuck,” I hissed.
Sweat slicked my skin, and aggression pulsed and pounded through my bloodstream, vying for a way out.
I edged closer, getting right up to the bumper of the middle car, ready to make the jump whenever there was a break in traffic coming from the other direction.
Dude was likely cussing me out for the way I was driving, but he had no clue what could be riding on this.
Had no idea that so often people’s lives did hang in the balance.
As we approached the next intersection, the light switched to yellow.
Brake lights flashed on the car in front of me while the SUV went blazing through.
Dread whipped through my insides.
“No, no, no,” I shouted, and I whipped to the left, knowing I had to take action.
A horn blared, and lights glared into my windshield as another car made a right from the intersecting street and came straight at me.
I jerked the steering wheel back to the right, and my tires squealed as I whipped back behind the car just as the one in the other lane sped by, still laying on its horn.
“Shit.” It was a haggard, frustrated breath.
My knee bounced a million miles a minute while I waited for the light to turn green, hands drenched as I gripped the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping me from ditching my truck and trying to catch up to the fucker on foot.
“Come on, come on, come on.”
What felt like an hour later but was less than two minutes, it finally switched, and I accelerated, though I took it slower that time.
My attention glided from right to left, searching for any sign of the SUV, guessing if they knew I was tailing them, they’d likely have ducked into a dark corner to keep themselves hidden.
My heart battered at my ribs as I searched, peering into the shadows of the narrow roads that cut between buildings and into the parking lots sitting in front of the businesses.
I drove toward the south end of town, passing a ton of shops.
River of Ink, the tattoo shop that River owned, a tea shop, the historic hotel on the corner. I inched by Kane’s, the parking lot just beginning to fill with people coming in to unwind after work.
I made it all the way to where the road narrowed and began to twist up the mountain on the opposite end of town.
Irritation buzzed through my senses.
Asshole was nowhere to be found.
I let go of a disgusted chuckle.
It wasn’t like I had any proof there was even a reason to be hunting someone down.
It wasn’t like seeing a car twice in this small town was some kind of smoking gun. My gut the only thing telling me something was amiss. Thing was, my gut was usually right.
Same way as I hadn’t been able to drop the feeling that someone had been out on the motel’s property early this morning.
Releasing a heavy exhale, I gave up, turned around, and started back in the opposite direction.
Far too anxious to get back and check on things. To make sure Alicia and Lucy were safe and whole.
Get proof that I was just being paranoid.
But it was more than that.
I felt drawn.
An urge I couldn’t resist.
Aching to get back to Unit B.
Piper’s face bold and bright in my mind.
This woman who’d unknowingly become a beacon.