Page 6 of Torin

I round the side of the building and crouch beside the cracked concrete planter. Dead flowers spill over the edge in brittle clumps.

I plunge my fingers into cold dirt, feeling leaves, wet soil, beer caps, then, metal.

Relief rushes through me.

I close my hand around the keys and pull them out.

At first, I can’t see the truck among the trees. Then its outline emerges from the darkness.

I hurry over. The door unlocks on the first try. I climb inside and pull it shut behind me.

It smells of coffee, leather and the stupid old pine air freshener dangling from the mirror.

Home.

For a moment, I just sit there gripping the steering wheel, taking some deep breaths.

Then I shove the keys into the ignition.

The engine turns once, twice.

Come on.

It catches with a low growl.

I freeze, staring through the windshield toward the clubhouse. Music and laughter spill from the building. Somebody revs a motorcycle somewhere near the front lot.

Nobody’s coming for me.

Yet.

I ease the truck into reverse, wincing at every crunch of gravel under the tires. I roll out from behind the workshop, then headlights sweep across the yard.

Shit.

I duck instinctively as the beams slide over the workshop wall.

A pickup crawls along, country music blasting through its open windows.

It keeps going.

I wait until its taillights disappear.

Then I straighten, put the truck in drive and turn toward the access road—a pale strip of dirt winding into the mountains.

I press down on the gas.

2

Hannah

The music still drifts through the trees behind me. Then the road bends west, the clubhouse disappears, and there’s nothing behind me but the red glow of my taillights on the road.

I keep waiting for Cade’s truck to come tearing around the last bend. For my phone to start ringing. For a line of motorcycles to appear ahead and force me off the road.

Instead, the road stretches empty, pale beneath my headlights.

My hands ache from gripping the steering wheel so tight. I flex them one at a time, keeping my eyes on the road.