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I pressed my hand across my mouth to keep from screaming.
“Zoe. What’s wrong?” The question made me yelp, even jumping slightly.
When I looked back at Maddox, I couldn’t speak.
He slammed the two cups of ice cream on the table, grabbing my wrist and pulling me against him, shielding my body with his. “What happened? Talk to me.”
“I thought… I mean…”
“Baby. Calm down and talk to me.”
“It might not have been anything. I heard a man laugh and it scared me. I thought I saw someone dressed in black.”
He grabbed my hand, leading me away from the store and into the street.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I noticed he’d slipped his hand around to his back. That’s when I realized he had a gun hiding under his shirt. Why hadn’t I noticed it before? Oh, my God. This was real. This was…
“We’re going back to the house. Did you see anything about what he looked like?”
“No, and I might have been imagining it.”
Way to go. Several lies down, more to come?
My inner voice barked at me, but she was right. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him what had occurred in New York. He’d go ballistic.
“I doubt you were.” He took long strides in the direction where he’d parked the Jeep, constantly sweeping the area. It was difficult to keep up with him even with the fear and adrenaline rush.
“Why? Did you see something?”
He didn’t answer. I hated when he got into his brooding, security man phase.
“You did. Didn’t you?”
“I’m always on the lookout, Zoe. I have to be. That’s what will keep us alive. This isn’t a game.”
“I never said it was.”
“Then don’t act like it. Stay right with me. I mean it.” He found a shortcut through a group of buildings and away from the crowd. When he came to a crossroad, he stopped short, throwing out his hand to keep me from moving onto the perpendicular sidewalk.
Just watching him peering around the corner created a wave of terror that was suffocating, my throat threatening to close.
“Fuck,” he hissed, raking his hand through his hair. “Come on.” He guided me across the street to an alley, constantly looking.
I still felt the man’s hands on me. I couldn’t have been imagining that. There was no way. What had the bastard been trying to do, terrify me? Send a warning that he was on the island? I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the Jeep, but he remained tense, all but pushing me into the passenger seat.
Maddox jumped over the hood of the vehicle and into the driver’s seat, starting the engine seconds later. He took off from the parking spot with such acceleration that the tires squealed. When he jerked out his weapon, placing it on his lap, I cringed all over again.
“Is he here?”
“I don’t know, Zoe. But I need to make a few phone calls and find out. We may need to leave the island quickly.”
“And go where?”
He exhaled, twisting his hand around the steering wheel. “I’m not sure.”
I slunk down in the seat, struggling with the paralyzing fear.
Every few seconds, he checked the rearview mirror, which did nothing but make me even more nervous. Now I was the one who couldn’t wait to get to the safety and sanctity of the house. His house.
