Or run.
In the end it didn’t feel like a choice. I slipped my phone in my bag and ran.
And then I knew I hadn’t imagined the man was following me because he ran too, our footsteps slapping the pavement in time with one another as I made my way past houses with peeling paint and overgrown lawns, their porches dark.
Night had fallen, and I tried to remember the route I’d seen on my maps app, the route that would take me home.
I just needed to get back to the pink Victorian where Beck would be in the kitchen and Noah would be coming in from the garden and Dane would be staring at his computer trying to pretend he was a giant asshole.
Then I would be safe.
The man’s footsteps were falling faster than mine, his pace quicker, and I heard him closing the distance between us, getting closer… closer. The urge to ditch my bag was overwhelming but I didn’t dare to slow down even long enough to do that.
I thought about Harold. Had he known someone was following him in the gardens? Had he seen the man who had killed him? And was it this same man chasing me through the back streets of Blackwell Hollow?
I hit a corner and read the sign as I ran past: Larkspur Lane.
I thought I recognized it from the map I’d pulled up on my phone, and I hung a left, praying I was right.
And then, up ahead, I spotted the mailbox that matched Aunt Evelyn’s house.
My house.
I pumped my legs faster, turning into the driveway and racing for the porch, not daring to look back to see if the man had stopped following.
Racing up the porch stairs, I fumbled with the front door and pushed into the house, practically falling on the floor before Dane, stepping off the staircase, caught me in his arms.
“What the…?”
39
BECK
My heart was still racingwhen Avery finished telling us about the guy who’d chased her home from Lena’s. I was torn between the impulse to pull her into my arms and never let her go and the desire to stalk the streets until I found the motherfucker.
I stayed put because Avery needed us but my murderous rage was still there, simmering under the surface, so I kept myself busy by making her a cup of tea while she told us everything she could remember about the guy.
And apparently I wasn’t alone in my fury because as soon as Avery was done, Dane pushed back from the island fast enough that the chair wobbled.
He stalked toward the hall.
“Where are you going?” Avery asked after him.
“To find the fucker who chased you,” Dane said without stopping.
Avery sprang off her chair and went after him, grabbing his arm. “No… stop.” Dane tried to keep walking, pulling her along, but she finally tugged hard enough on his arm that he stopped walking. “Please… I want… I want you to stay with me.”
Dane’s brow furrowed like he didn’t understand. “Beck and Noah are here.”
“I want you,” she said. “I want all of you.”
My heart stuttered in my chest, like an old record with a scratch. I knew she probably just meant right now — she wanted us to stay with her right now — but I couldn’t help wanting to read more into the words.
Dane relaxed a little, then nodded and let her lead him back into the kitchen.
It was like watching a little girl lead a wild bull suddenly turned docile, and I wondered what kind of magic Avery possessed that allowed her to do that to Dane.
Wondered what kind of hold she had over him.