Torch (Take It Off #1)(31)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Strange, I thought and pulled out. About four houses down in the opposite direction, the BMW pulled out onto the road and followed me.

Call me crazy, but this probably wasn’t good.

My grip on the steering wheel tightened; my knuckles turned white. I told myself to calm down, that it was probably someone just driving to wherever they had to be. But that didn’t stop me from compulsively checking the rearview mirror to see if they were still there every three seconds.

They were.

It was a man, if I wasn’t mistaken. He had very short hair and sunglasses on his face. I couldn’t make out anything more, and I needed to keep my attention on driving. I thought about calling Holt, but then I remembered I didn’t get a new cell phone yet.

I came to a rather large intersection and figured this would be the place he would turn. He would go right toward the more congested area with the shops and restaurants, and I would go left toward the firehouse.

But that isn’t how it happened.

I turned and so did he, getting bolder and moving right up behind me. He trailed so close behind that when I looked in the rearview, I couldn’t see his front bumper. Nerves cramped my stomach and I fidgeted in my seat. Sweat slicked my palms, making the steering wheel slippery as I drove.

Almost there.

The man following along behind me laid on his horn. I jumped and one of the phone books slid off the stack. I sat up as high and straight as I could and scooted to the edge of the seat, pressing down on the gas a little more. The large engine responded immediately and I shot forward.

The BMW shot forward as well.

When I looked in the rearview, I noted he wasn’t only tailgating me and laying on his horn, but now he had his arm out the window, shaking it at me.

His arm was covered in dark fabric.

Panic took over.

The fire station came into view, and I put the pedal to the metal. The truck ripped up the street, the tires peeling against the road and kicking up a little smoke. I didn’t care. I kept going, driving as fast as I could. I almost overshot the parking lot, but I slammed on the brakes, jerked the wheel, and drove up over the curb. I skidded to a stop in the center lane, not in a parking spot and not giving two shits.

I shoved open the door as one of the men came around a giant fire engine, confusion on his face. I jumped to the ground, stumbling a bit, my wrist taking some of the fall, and I cried out.

The BMW pulled into the lot behind me, the car screeching to a halt. The driver’s door opened so the man could climb out.

“Help me!” I cried, pushing up and rushing toward the fireman. “That man is chasing me!”

I dashed forward and he caught me by the shoulders, his gaze sharpening on the other man behind me.

“He tried to run me off the road!”

Other men were spilling out of the garage now, assessing the situation and forming a circle around me.

“Katie,” the man yelled, and I turned, looking around at the guys surrounding me. My pursuer was an older man with broad shoulders and a tan.

“Oh my God, he knows my name,” I told the man still gripping my shoulders. His dark eyes narrowed on my face and his mouth pulled into a grim line.

“He won’t get near you,” he promised.

The man rushed forward and I shrieked.

He was intercepted by several very angry firefighters. He tried to push through them, still intent on getting to me. I heard him speak but didn’t hear his words.

And then one of the men drove his fist into the man’s face and he crumpled to the ground.

My entire body slumped with relief.

The loud bang of a door swinging open and hitting a wall made me jump and look toward the firehouse. Heavy footsteps pounded inside the garage, drawing closer as Holt yelled my name.

When I caught a glimpse of him, my entire body gave a great sigh. The men around me parted, giving him a path directly to me. He stopped just shy of yanking me into his arms, his eyes sweeping over every inch of me before settling on my face.

“I didn’t wreck your truck,” I said, trying to sound anything other than completely terrified.

And then I was in his arms. My face buried against the strength of his chest.

Finally, I was safe.

16

“Shouldn’t we have stayed?” I asked him, glancing out the rear window as we drove away from the fire station.

“If we stayed, I would have killed him.”

“Oh. Well, I guess it’s good we left, then.”

“Do you want to explain to me why I want to kill that guy back there?”

I told him exactly what happened, leaving out the part about almost getting run over at Target. I figured it wouldn’t help his murderous tendencies.

Look at me, joking about murder. It really just wasn’t funny.

“He knew my name,” I whispered. I think that was the part that bothered me the most.

Holt held out his arm and I slid across the seat and fit myself into his side. A few minutes later, we arrived back at his house and that made me think of something else.

“He knows where we live.” And that took something away from me that I didn’t even realize I had. Security. The walls of this house made me feel protected, made me feel like I didn’t have to be scared all the time.

“If anybody wants in that house, Katie, they’re gonna have to go through me.”

That didn’t make me feel better. It made me feel worse. I didn’t want any kind of harm to come to him while he tried to protect me.

Inside, I retreated to the bathroom to wipe my face with a cool rag and calm my tattered nerves. Holt was in the kitchen scrounging through the cupboards and that’s when I realized I hadn’t gone grocery shopping.

“I forgot to get something for dinner,” I said from the edge of the room.

“Want to go out?”

“Sure.” It would be better than sitting around here and waiting for something bad to happen. “I’m just going to shower really fast.” I thought maybe it would help wash away some of the crazy I was involved in today.

Holt nodded and kept scrounging around for a snack. I remembered the power bars I bought and went to get them out of the sack I had dumped on the bed and ignored.

“Here,” I said, handing over the two boxes. I was hoping he didn’t notice how the boxes were mashed and mangled looking.

“What the hell happened to these?”

“I dropped them,” I mumbled and turned to flee into the shower.

“What happened to your knee, Katie?” The edge in his voice stopped me in my tracks.

“My knee?” I asked innocently.