The light turns green, so I have no choice but to keep driving.
He’s so ridiculous. He doesn’t even know what he’s saying. He’s not using logic; he’s not listening. He’s purely emotional, and I can’t reason with someone like that.
There’s a right turn coming up, so I move over to that lane and hit my blinker, noticing that the black SUV behind me does the same. Frowning, I study it in my rearview mirror. The windshield is blacked out—all the windows are actually—so I can’t see the driver.
I’m supposed to take a left now, but something in me thinks better of it. Instead, I merge onto the freeway, heading in the opposite direction to my house.
The SUV does the same.
I sit up a little higher, and when I get the chance, I take a gap, jumping across all the freeway lanes to the very left. But the SUV does the same, maneuvering easily so it’s right behind me once more.
My stomach turns and my heart begins hammering in my chest. I’m making this up. It has to be just a coincidence.
I hit my blinker then merge two lanes to the right, and for a moment, I think that’s the end of it. Until the SUV takes a gap and is right behind me once more.
Fear seizes me, and I quickly dial Kolter. The phone rings twice as I sit there drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, my gaze bouncing between the road and my rearview mirror until he answers.
“Hey, Peaches. I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you?—”
“I think I’m being followed,” I cut in.
The phone goes quiet, and for a moment I think I’ve lost him.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I was driving back to Mom’s, and then I noticed this SUV was following me. So I got on the freeway and switched lanes, but he kept getting right behind me. I don’t know if I accidently cut him off. I was on the phone with Nick, and I was distracted. Maybe I did. I just?—”
“Shh, shh, deep breaths, Peaches. I need you to slow down and focus, alright?” Kolter says, cutting off my rambling.
The line sounds a little muffled before a motorcycle fires up in the background.
“Okay, where are you right this second?”
“I-I’m on I-5. Coming up to exit 162.”
“Okay, what lane are you in?” Kolter asks, the sound of his motorcycle revving echoing in the background.
“Second to the far right,” I say, looking in the mirror again.
“Take the exit. Quick,” he instructs.
Without indicating, I whip the wheel hard, taking the exit at the very last minute. I watch my rearview mirror closely, and when I see the SUV do the same, full-on terror takes hold of me.
“No,” I say nervously.
“What’s happening, Peaches?”
“He got off too. Where do I go? What do I do?”
“Listen to me,” he says. “They know that you see them. Just keep as much distance as you can. I’ve got your location. I’m two minutes out. Just hang a right and go straight.”
I nod to myself and do as he says.
“Wait, how do you have my location? We’ve never shared locations before?”
He scoffs. “Like I’m not going to know where my girl is at all times?”
“Creepy and kinda sweet,” I mutter, attempting to lighten the terrifying mood.