39. Eli
thirty-nine
Eli
I turn onto Highway One and head north. We are on our way up the coast to my parents’ house. They live on the other side of the canyon, but I wanted to give Callie a little ocean view to help calm her nerves. She loves the water, and anything I can do to help her mood, I’m going to do.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as she nervously twirls her dad’s ring.
“Are you excited about dinner?” I run my thumb over her knuckles.
Callie hums as she stares out the window at the ocean. She’s been extra quiet today. Not that I blame her. Seeing her father’s murderer’s picture was a lot to handle.
We had a long talk about everything this morning. Callie explained how she’s seen the man in her head for years, but it felt like a figment of her imagination because the police could never find him. Now, he has a name and a connection to her life, and it’s overwhelming.
I let her in on my hunch about the cupcakes and Mason’s investigation, trying to connect Novak to the scene. I also suggested we turn everything we know over to the police, which did not go over well. Callie thinks the evidence we have is circumstantial at best. She’s probably right, but I hate the idea of that monster walking around free. I want him and Silla behind bars, where they belong.
Which is why dinner with my parents will be a pleasant distraction for both of us.
“My mom is going to fawn all over you, and my dad will probably tease you. It’s how he shows love.” When I told Callie she had nothing to worry about, I meant it. Karen and Mark Miller are the most supportive parents and most welcoming people I know.
“So, he’s a lot like you, then?” she asks.
I bark a laugh. “Yeah, princess.”
Her responding smile reaches her eyes, making my heart skip a beat. She looks like a golden angel beside me as the California sun sits over the ocean.
Callie is wearing a cream-colored jumpsuit, and her hair lies over her shoulders in waves. She looks fucking stunning. Sexy and sweet. I can’t wait to peel those pants off her tonight.
“I’m excited. I’ve never brought a woman home for them to meet,” I confess.
Callie perks her head up like I knew she would. “How is that possible? You’re thirty-five.” Her shock should offend me, but she’s right.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m just surprised.”
“Why are you surprised? I’ve been married to my job for as long as I can remember, and the relationships I had were casual. And I’ve been secretly obsessed with a particular blonde.” I give her a sexy wink, and I can hear her swoon as I turn my eyes back to the road.
“Am I allowed to love and hate that statement?” she asks.
I glance at her face as she pouts and scrunches up her nose. I smirk at how fucking cute she looks jealous, overlooking the fact that I’ve been into her for longer than I want to admit.
“You can feel however you want. I don’t enjoy thinking about you and other men.”
“There was only one before you.” She tightens her grip on my hand.
“I know,” I grouse. Chad fucking James-Mitchell. They met on a movie set, and he was her first boyfriend. She loves those pretty boys with long hair.
“He was nothing compared to you. I thought I knew what love was, but I didn’t. What I feel for you can’t be explained. It’s all consuming. I miss you when you’re not around. For the longest time, I thought it was a crush, but it was so much more than that. I love you, with every particle in my body, Eli.”
“If we weren’t late to my parents’ house, I’d pull the car over and show you just how much I love you right back.”
Callie chuckles. “So dirty.”
“What can I say? You do it for me.” I blow her a kiss and watch the color in her cheeks darken. We drive for another mile or two before I ask about her day. “How was your visit with your mom?”
While I was at the office this afternoon, she went to visit her mother at the group home with Boone, whom I owe big time. When I reached out to him for a security hook-up, he offered to do the job instead. I hired him on the spot. I’ve known Boone for years, and I trust him. He refuses to let me pay him, so I’ve made some calls to get him some more stunt work. My friend has shown up for me these last couple of weeks, and I want to repay his loyalty.
Glancing in my rearview mirror, I catch a black SUV swerving into the oncoming traffic lane and cutting someone off. Fuck, people are crazy. This is a two-lane highway.
I shake off the scene behind me and keep driving, listening to Callie.
“It was good. I felt like she was close to saying something again,” she says with a noticeably happy lilt in her voice.
I wonder if getting rid of Silla might help Diana.
“Did you tell her about what’s going on?”
She sighs. “No. She’s making slow progress, and I don’t want her going backward.”
Raising Callie’s hand to my mouth, I kiss the back of it. “I understand.”
A horn blares behind me, drawing my attention. I see the same SUV speed up, swerve, and cut off another car, which brings it two cars behind me. Thankfully, the turn for the highway through the canyon approaches, so I merge right to go east.
My stomach lurches as the SUV, with a steel reinforced bumper, merges onto the highway right behind me and speeds up.
Is the car following me?
Pressing down on the accelerator, I speed up, heading for the turnout just ahead so I can let this person behind me pass. I grip the steering wheel tight as a sheen of sweat breaks out across my forehead.
I glance over to ensure Callie is buckled in, then press down harder as the SUV catches up and nudges my bumper.
Callie yelps at the bump. “Oh my gosh, what was that?”
Keeping my voice as calm as I can, so as not to scare her, I say, “The car behind us hit our bumper. I’m going to pull over at the turnout. Don’t look back. Just stay facing forward.”
She nods in agreement, and I let out a breath, grateful that she doesn’t argue with me. My gut says this car is targeting us. I speed up, and as I suspected, so does the SUV.
Fuck.
What do I do? The glare of the sun makes it impossible for me to see the driver. I speed up again and hope I can see some of the license plate details before we slow for the curve about half a mile ahead.
I hit the hands-free button. “Call Mason.”
“Hey.”
“Mason, don’t talk, just listen. I’m in the car with Callie. We are in the canyon, and an SUV is following behind us. It’s already tapped us. I need you to call the police, tell them where I’m at, and write this license plate for me.”
“On it.”
“4BSV.”
The car speeds up and hits us again, harder, pitching us forward with a jerk. Callie screams. The sound pierces my ears and makes my heart rate spike.
“Eli,” Mason shouts.
I ignore him. I need to calm my girl down and get the rest of the license plate.
The car jerks as I hit a pothole, going way too fast on the two-lane highway, and Callie screams again.
“Cal, I need you to breathe. It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you. I just need everyone to stay calm.” I hope Mason understands that I need him to calm down as well.
She squeaks out an, “Okay,” but I can hear her terrified, labored breaths beside me as I speed up.
The SUV stays on my ass, making it hard for me to see the last few numbers. Hitting the gas a little harder than I should, I move ahead, allowing myself to see the numbers.
“424. Did you get that Mase?”
“Got it. 4BSV424. Emery is on the line with the police, and I’m tracking your phone now.”
“Thank you.”
“Eli,” Callie whispers.
I don’t dare look at her, keeping my eyes trained on the car behind us as it speeds up to catch us.
“Yeah, princess?”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. Just stay facing forward and don’t put your hands out if we crash. Keep them tucked to your side, okay?”
My brother mumbles, “Fuck,” along with another string of curses, but I keep my focus on Callie and trying to get us out of this situation.
“Arms to my side,” she repeats as her breathing sharpens.
I want to console her, but right now, I need to get us out of this fucking mess. I’ve blown past the turnout, and there is too much oncoming traffic for me to flip a U-turn.
The yellow signs to my right warn me of the upcoming curve, just as the SUV rams my bumper, ripping it off with a crunch and sending my rear tires fishtailing. Screeching tires and the smell of burned rubber fill the cab.
Mason is shouting, Callie is screaming, and all I can think to do is let the car drift and correct itself. I loosen my grip on the steering wheel, but the car never has time to even out as the SUV behind me hits me again.
“Fuck!”
“Eli!”
“Eli!”
Sunlight bounces from the windshield behind me and off the rearview mirror, blinding me as I take the curve. I’m going too fast into a right-handed bend in the road. Adrenaline courses through me as I run through various scenarios and outcomes.
Double fuck.
All I can do is try to spin the car enough to make sure I take the brunt of the hit if the car behind me rams us again.
Fuck it.
“Sit back, Cal, and brace yourself, but don’t tense up. Mason…” I call out my brother’s name over the line. I don’t have to say anything for him to understand.
“First responders are on the way. I’m headed to the airport now.”
“Eli, no!” I ignore Callie’s shouts and take a deep breath. If this maneuver keeps her safe, then it’s my best bet and I’ll take it.
Recalling every car chase I’ve ever seen, I pull the hand-brake and slam my foot on the brake at the same time, and turn the wheel as hard as I can to the right as I hit the sharpest part of the turn.
It all happens in the blink of an eye.
Horns blare. Tires screech. Callie screams.
I spin the car off to the side, doing a one-eighty. As suspected, the black SUV steers toward the driver’s side door. I close my eyes and relax, ready to absorb the impact.
Metal crunches. Glass shatters. Airbags pop.
A burning, blinding pain rips across my face and chest as my body jerks sideways. My seat belt tugs me back into my seat, and my head collides with the side of the car. Searing pain to the side of my head has my ears ringing and a thick, sticky liquid drips down the side of my face, blocking my view. My head slumps toward the passenger side, where Callie is strapped safely into her seat. Relief floods my system.
Callie is safe.
She looks scared, her eyes are wild, and her chest is heaving, but she otherwise looks perfect. No blood or broken bones, at least none that I can see.
Callie reaches for me as she shouts, but she sounds more like Charlie Brown’s mom, whomping away, making it hard for me to understand her. I want to assure her I’m fine, but the words won’t come out. Smoke and the taste of burned rubber coat my tongue, making it hard to swallow. The pain in my chest gets sharper, and my breaths get shorter.
What the fuck is happening?
Before I can figure out what’s going on, the darkness blurring the edges of my vision swallows me whole and everything turns black.