Then it was over, and he vanished into the back, followed by his musicians. I felt sorry for the house band when they had to resume playing. Who’d want to follow a world-class act like that?
Ten minutes later my phone vibrated, and I eyed the screen with a tight smile. I turned to Sarah and Kate, who’d returned once Jared’s set had ended.
“Jared wants me to hang out till he leaves, so I won’t need a ride.”
Sarah winked at me. “You mean you won’t need a ride from Robert.”
I ignored the innuendo. “What did you think?”
“He’s awesome, of course,” Sarah said.
“Very impressive,” Serena agreed.
“Tons of talent,” Kate said, pulling Robert closer. “He’s going to be even bigger with these new songs. I liked them all.”
“He told me he’s recording the new album somewhere around here,” I said. “He seems really excited by it.”
Robert smiled. “Must be nice to have it all. Voice, looks, tunes, and now a movie, too.”
Kate looked at his profile. “It’s not like you got the short end.”
He laughed. “You have a point.”
The house band finished their second set, and my phone signaled that I had another message. Jared.
Meet me at the stage door so we can get out of here.
I said goodbye to my roommates and worked my way through the now packed house to the stage, where two beefy security men were guarding the backstage door. I gave them my name and told them I was there for Jared, and one of them disappeared backstage and rematerialized a few moments later. He gave me a curt nod, and I pushed past them and into a narrow hall that smelled like old socks and stale beer.
Jared was waiting for me at the street exit, as calm as though he’d been napping. I walked to him and he smiled. “Thanks for coming. Sorry again about last night.”
My mouth was suddenly dry. “It wasn’t your fault, Jared. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
He gazed into my eyes, and I felt a wave of calm wash away the anxiety I’d been feeling only moments before. I stood transfixed until he nodded at the door. He held up a gloved hand. “You ready?”
“Yes.”
I took his hand, and he twisted the knob and pushed it open. The exit let out into an alley that stank of garbage and rot. We hurried to the street, and after peering around the corner to confirm there were no fans lying in wait, he led me along the sidewalk and then crossed to his car.
We were nearly to the Porsche when a roar of exhaust sounded from the nearby intersection and a pair of headlights careened toward us. I froze where I was standing, and just as the steel bumper of a sixties muscle car was a nanosecond from crushing us both, Jared pulled me out of its path.
The car tore along the driver’s side door and accelerated away, swerving to avoid an oncoming truck before it rounded the corner and disappeared with a squeal of tires. It all happened so fast I must have been in shock, my heart skipping erratically as Jared cradled me by the curb. After what seemed like a minute, he slowly unwrapped his arms from around me, still staring at the intersection, his expression hard.
“Oh, Jared…your Porsche…” I whispered, taking an unsteady step away from him.
The muscle car had ripped through the metal of the door, leaving a long scar from the handle to the front fender.
“You could have been killed,” he said, his voice a hiss.
“You too,” I said, my voice shaky. “We have to call the police.”
He walked to the driver’s side door and tried the handle, which opened after a hard pull. He glanced at me and slid behind the wheel. “Get in.”
“But…”
“Lacey, please. Hurry. They may come back.”
I blinked uncomprehendingly. “What?”
“Get in,” he repeated, and something in his tone drove me to action. I hurried to the passenger side and climbed in, and he started the engine and pulled his door shut with such force the entire chassis shook.
He raced away from the bar with his lights off, and only turned them on when he was two intersections away. He stuck to back streets, and after crossing a bridge, he stopped behind a closed filling station and twisted to look at me. “Stay in the car. I need to check something.”
Jared returned a minute later, eyes blazing. “Doesn’t look like the frame’s damaged. That’s something, I guess.”
Something suddenly occurred to me. “You said they may come back?”
He sat in the driver’s seat and stared through the windshield as though in a trance. “Did I?”
“Yes. What did you mean? How do you know? Who is ‘they’?”
Another long pause. He held up a small metal disk and studied it. “First thing we need to do is lose this,” he said, and tossed it into the road.
“Who are you afraid of, Jared? What’s this all about?”
His mouth hardened into a thin line. “I’m not afraid of anyone. I’m afraid for you. That was too close.”
My heart was racing now, adrenaline coursing through my veins. “Jared, I want to go home.”
He turned and fixed me with a hypnotic stare. “That might not be possible anymore.”
My throat felt tight. “You’re scaring me.”
He smiled, but the effect wasn’t convincing. “I’m sorry, Lacey. First I work up the courage to kiss you, and you run off like…” He smiled again. “Like I bit you. And now this. It can’t have been a good couple of days for you.”
“You? You worked up the courage?” I repeated incredulously.
He sighed and put the car into gear. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know, Lacey. But after this, well, I suppose you have a right to know everything.” After another sidelong glance at me, he gunned the engine. The little coupe leapt onto the road like a scared
