Page 29 (1/2)

I waited for the ding that would tell ain I sighed, dialed down asped "Oh od, I don’t knoho else to turn to I can’t reach Marcus, and there’s someone outside of my house and--"

"Whoa, wait! Sofia, slon Marcus is in Lafayette What the hell is going on?"

I heard her take a shuddering breath "I think I’ sounds outside my house"

"Have you called the cops?" I asked

"Yes!" she wailed "I called them, and two cops came and they checked around the house and they said they didn’t see anything But ten ain I…I think soulped "And they’re succeeding I knoe barely know each other, but is there any way you could…coht with unchecked annoyance

"Please," she said, voice cracking "I know it’s stupid, but I’d feel so much safer if…if you could come by for a bit The cops won’t stay but…"

But I’m a zombie and hard to kill and could actually offer a bit of security I sighed "Okay" Shit When did I becood, thank you thank you! I live in Breckenridge Estates I’ll text you the address"

I racked my brain for where the hell that was Oh yeah, it was a new subdivision out off Highway 1790 "Okay, I’ for you Honk when you pull up, okay?" she said "I don’t even want to peek out theat this point"

I bit back a frustrated sigh "Sure See you soon" And then I disconnected before I could be pulled into st

But is it really paranoia? I had to wonder There was definitely so on And if I had to be honest with myself, my dislike of her stemmed mostly from our encounter at Pietro’s…and, if I really had to continue being honest with myself, from h I didn’t believe for a second that the tere anything more than friends Didn’t matter I envied their closeness, however platonic it was

I h to do since there wasn’t hway 1790 ran fro stretch in the h woods and swamp that I affectionately called Buive-a-shit days, I used to co to its top speed--which eso up, but was pretty damn lame in my Honda

I didn’t stick strictly to the speed lio ood thing when I saw so in the road ahead of me Unfortunately I was still allint of spikes

I slammed on the brakes out of pure instinct, but I was already too close for that to do any good A second later the road spikes ripped throughthat I felt as much as heard, quickly replaced by the shriek ofthe side ofwheel and pulled the car over to the side of the road, gasping raggedly in reaction What the fuck? Why would police spikes be out here with no cop car in sight? No cop car ht and erass on either side before it turned into scrub marsh and scattered trees A perfect aet the hell out of there, and my only option was to run for it and hope to lose whoever was after onna suck

My purse was god-only-knehere on the floor, along with my phone I automatically reached for the water bottle of brain s as I re Clive and hadn’t replaced it I was still pretty tanked up, but it sure would have been nice to have so I was about to burn up a whole lot

Bolting out of the car, I took off at a sprint for the woods on the other side of the highway I heard a gunshot and bit back a screech of panic as I increasedpain ininto an aard tuhts whirled frantically as I stuain He’s finally come back to finishpace of someone who knows that they don’t need to run their prey down Soain, landing heavily on hway shoulder Pain flared briefly, but then it faded to a dull sense of pressure even as everything around reyscale monotone I could still see and hear and s was abruptly dialed back to the absolute basics This gunshot wound was obviously a lot worse, and ht noanted to screas, because once ot chopped off it wouldn’t ain and resu jog