“Not yet. He got in a car. I’ve been following him. I can stop him any time and pick him up; he’s got no idea I’m on his tail.”
“No,” I said. “Follow him to wherever he ends up. Don’t lose him, don’t engage unless you have to.”
This had to be Jordan, and if it was, I might have inadvertently found Clem if he was following her. Was he a danger to her, the source of her jumpiness? Or what if it was a set-up, fully orchestrated by her to bring me and my family to my knees?
The guard sent me his coordinates, and I set off in that direction with my team on my tail, keeping an eye on my phone for updates. This could be a dead end, the loser Jordan giving up and going home for the night. Or he could be leading me to Clem.
Who might greet him with open arms.
Did I hope she might be with him just so I knew where she was? Her betrayal, if that’s what this was, would be a blow I might not recover from, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting Clem back where she belonged.
With me.
Chapter 37 - Clem
I remained still and silent, only the ragged sound of my breathing filling the motel room. The weight of defeat was heavier than Jordie’s foot pressing down on my back. After a few muttered words I couldn’t make out since my panicked heartbeat was deafening me, he raised his foot, and I rolled over, scrambling away from him like a crab.
My back hit the hard edge of the bed, the musty smell of the ancient bedspread filling my nose. Anger and hatred welled up in me as I watched him pace, still muttering to himself, wild-eyed and pale. The moment his back was turned, I launched myself up and past him. My hand hit the doorknob, jamming my wrist painfully, and I scrabbled at the chain.
Searing pain ripped through my head as Jordie jerked me back by my hair. The baseball cap was long gone, maybe fallen off in the tussle outside by the vending machines. He whirled me around, his hand raised. I flinched, closing my eyes and bracing myself.
Nothing happened, and he dropped his grip on my hair. When I opened my eyes, his hand was at his side, his fingers clenching and unclenching.
“Damn it, Clem,” he wailed, sounding like a petulant child. “You know I hate it when you make me do this.”
I said nothing and tried to hide my disgust. It was like no time had passed, and I hadn’t experienced those months of freedom. He huffed when I didn’t rush to apologize like in the old days. Something had changed. Some part of me was stronger now.
“How did you find me?” I asked, shocked to hear how calm I sounded. “I would have seen if you followed me.”
His hand whipped up, and I blinked, dipping my head, but he only reached behind me and dug down under my new sweatshirt, yanking something from the collar of my blouse.
“Air tracker,” he said proudly, holding out a tiny plastic clip. “I didn’t need to follow you. I just waited for you to stop running.”
My mind raced backward to the pharmacy. When did he put it on me? I thought I had been hyper vigilant, but he’d still managed to get that thing on me somehow. Here I thought it wasn’t safe to spend the night. It hadn’t been safe to stop at all.
I looked at the door, not in another attempt at escape, but because, in my exhaustion, I was wishing that Rurik would kick it down, wielding one of those guns from the picture. I almost laughed, but couldn’t muster even a hint of a smile.
“Do you think that’s normal?” I asked.
What wasn’t normal was trying to reason with Jordie when he had that manic glint in his eyes, or when his hands were still forming into fists at his side, ready at any moment to lash out at me.
“I’d do anything for you, and you know it,” he said, resuming his pacing. Three steps in one direction, three steps back, his eyes never leaving me. “I’m here to help you, don’t you get it?”
He puffed up his chest, telling me how he tracked me down. I shouldn’t have used Aunt Gigi’s last name; I should have picked one at random. “I had to sell everything I owned to get out of here,” he grumbled, then changed his tune when I shrugged. “It was worth it, though, and I’ve got a new way to make money now. We’re going to be fine. We’re going to get away from that guy.”
“I don’t need your help,” I spat. “There’s no we.” I couldn’t stop myself. “And I bought everything you had, anyway.”
He didn’t like me reminding him of that, although his overblown pride or the way his gamer buddies teased him about being a kept man never got him off his butt to get a job. His eyes narrowed to red-rimmed slits, and his restraint snapped. His hand flew up, and the smack sent my head rocketing back.
I covered my face, staggering back, knowing there’d be more. Who in the hell was this guy to hunt me down, put a tracker on me like I was a toddler, and then hit me whenever I said something he didn’t want to hear? Did he think I was still the broken, cowering girl he’d made me into?
No, the fuck I wasn’t. Thanks to my brief taste of freedom, the success I had earned, all the praise and encouragement I’d received from Rurik, I had put myself back together again. At least enough to throw myself at Jordie and rake my fingernails down his face. No more cowering and waiting for the blows to end. Now I was going to unleash some of my own.
I kneed him in the balls, but he was ready for it, and had my wrists before I could pull my hand back to punch him. Tossing my head forward like I’d seen in drunken brawls in action movies, I cracked him in the chin hard enough to see stars.
All I had to do was get out of this room. Make it ten feet and get that chain off, get out in the hall, and run. All while screaming my head off. I started the screaming early as I wrenched one arm out of his grip and grabbed a handful of his greasy hair.
“Knock it off,” he hissed, shoving me backward.