I held my breath, waiting for the car to prove that it wasn’t following me. But it didn’t. The vehicle stayed with me all the way to the grocery store.
Every story my parents had ever told me about women being stalked, kidnapped, murdered, or worse raced through my head all at once. I was convinced now that this person, whoever it was, was after me with cruel intentions.
Heart racing and mouth dry, I ran into the store. People, I needed to be around people. They wouldn’t take me in front of a crowd. Kidnappers like their women stupid and weak and most importantly, alone.
Inside, I stood where I wouldn’t be seen from outside, but I could still see out the window. I watched the truck—a big green thing which might have been an SUV or a truck with a shell—hesitate for a moment, then continue on its way. A shaky breath of relief turned into a full-body shudder.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but you’re a hazard.”
“What?” I turned to face the voice, which belonged to a dark-haired teenager with an overwhelming gothic aesthetic in spite of her bright yellow uniform. She shot a pointed glance at the floor by my feet. I’d managed to create a rather large puddle.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I was just—sorry.”
She rolled her eyes and slammed a wet floor sign down beside me. Embarrassed, I slinked out of the store again. From beneath the awning, I watched the road, waiting. Maybe they’d just circled around. The truck wasn’t in the parking lot, which had been my greatest concern. I can make it to my road before they get back, I told myself. Adrenaline was making my head light. Channeling it into my legs, I bolted across the parking lot, dodging puddles—half of which hid ankle-killing potholes—until I met the trees on the other side.
My heart thundered in my ears and I laughed breathlessly. I must have looked ridiculous, and there was no need. The streets were completely empty now, and the rain showed no signs of letting up. If the truck had turned down a side street, there was a good chance it was stuck. Buzzing with the thrill of the real or imagined near-miss, I cut through the trees to the gravel road beyond.
I walked on that high until I came to that secret little hollow which was invisible from the road on one side and the trailers on the other. Then my heart dropped to my shoes. The truck was there, sitting sideways across the road with its lights off, blocking my path. I froze. I couldn’t get around it; there was a sheer drop on one side of the road, and trees too thick to get through on the other. I would have to go back, but to where? I had no idea who this was, or how patient they would be. It didn’t matter, I’d figure it out on the fly. I took one step backward, then screamed. As soon as I’d moved, the truck’s headlights had switched on. I turned to run, but the mud beneath the gravel made it slippery. My ankle twisted beneath me and I fell.
“Daisy!”
Kash? Seriously?
Ignoring my body’s objections, I pushed myself hard to my feet. The lights were back on and the pain in my ankle cleared my head. As the damn truck rolled closer to me, I recognized it. I crossed my arms and glared, waiting for it to roll to a stop beside me. The passenger window jerked down.
Kash sat behind the wheel, shock and concern all over his face.
“Kash, you ass! You scared the living hell out of me!”
“Yell my name a little louder, I don’t think your dad heard you. What’s wrong? You said to meet you here.”
“I didn’t say you should stalk me the whole way here!” I yanked the door open and stormed inside, dripping with mud and twigs and god knows what else. I crossed my arms and glared at him, freezing and furious—and relieved.
“I was going to offer you a ride, but I figured you wouldn’t want to be seen getting in the car with me—”
“Oh, like some big truck following me wouldn’t get more attention than me climbing into somebody’s cab in the middle of a rainstorm.”
“You looked right at me, I thought you knew it was me in here!”
“I couldn’t see you through the damn window in the rain, Kash.”
Realization crossed his face, making him wince. “Oh. I thought... oh. Okay.”
I stared. “No, no, finish that. You thought what?”
He was concentrating hard on moving the truck through the downpour. “I thought you saw me and decided not to flag me down. I was leaving it up to you.”
I was shivering too hard to answer, so I just shook my head. Sure, that made sense—if you didn’t know Kash. He took orders just fine, but he had never been one to sit around waiting for them. He used to push Hunter to make decisions, some of them maybe a little bit faster than he should have. His passive behavior made me want to pick a fight with him, but those shivers kept breaking up my thoughts before they could turn into words.
He glanced at me and frowned. “I’ll flip around up here. You should get changed before you freeze.”
“Freezing isn’t the worst way to go,” I said through chattering teeth. “I’ll just turn the heater on. I’ll be fine, really.”
“Don’t touch that!” Quickly, his hand shot out and he grabbed my hand, holding it tight. The warmth of his
