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The truck had been tailing them since they’d pulled out of the parking lot at the doctor’s office. He did not have a good feeling about this. Not at all.
“Maybe now is the time to talk,” Cleo said tentatively. “I found something earlier—”
“Can this wait?” His gaze strayed to the rearview mirror. The pickup was closing in fast.
“I think it’s waited long enough.”
“Hold on!”
He swerved over into the fast lane and accelerated. The pickup did the same. Definitely not a good sign.
“What are you doing?” Cleo screeched. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I think we’re being followed. Our exit is just ahead.”
He didn’t bother with his turn signal. Instead he waited until the last moment then swerved over through the slow lane and onto the exit ramp. Horns blared. Jax kept going.
The pickup followed.
He just had to keep Cleo safe. He’d do anything for her. And in this particular moment, he didn’t have time to contemplate exactly how deep that feeling went.
“Grab the phone from my pocket and call Detective Jones.”
Any other time he might have gotten a cheap thrill out of Cleo fishing around in his pants pocket, but his attention was on more important matters. He had no idea what the thug behind him had in mind and he didn’t want to find out.
Cleo quickly found the saved number on the phone and spoke with the detective. She disconnected the call. “He said to head for the house. He already has units in the area.”
“Good.”
A loud thump and they lunged forward, restrained by the safety belts. The SUV shuddered. The pickup had hit them from behind and Jax wasn’t giving the creep a chance to do it again. Jax tramped on the accelerator. The SUV rapidly gained speed, putting distance between them. He sure hoped Detective Jones was right about the nearby units.
Cleo reached out and squeezed his leg. In that moment he acknowledged something that he’d been fighting for so long—he loved her. And he would do anything to keep her safe and happy.
More determined than ever to get them to safety, he turned right toward their gated community. And that was when he spotted the nail strips on the road and was able to cut the wheel and avoid them. Fortunately the truck behind them didn’t have the luxury of time and hit the strips, blowing out the tires.
Jax slowed to a stop and threw the SUV in Park. He glanced out the side window in time to see the police arrest the thug.
Cleo took off her seat belt and shimmied over next to him to peer out the side window. “Is it really over?”
“Let’s hope so.”
Instead of throwing her arms around him and kissing him, she settled back in her seat. “It’s about time.”
What a strange reaction. Ever since they left for the doctor’s office it was as if a wall had gone up between them. And he didn’t like it. Not one little bit. But until he knew what the problem was, he couldn’t fix it.
* * *
Jax entered the house smiling. It had certainly been a day for good news. First Cleo’s doctor’s appointment and now the police had made an arrest. At last, their problems were truly over.
“Cleo.” He glanced around the living room. No sign of her.
He moved to the family room. She wasn’t there, either, but he noticed her sketch pad on the coffee table and Charlie curled up on the couch. Something told him that she hadn’t been gone long, because where Cleo was, Charlie wasn’t far behind.
Next he checked the kitchen. It was empty, too.
“Cleo!”
When she didn’t answer, he started to worry. Maybe she’d fallen. She’d been getting around with ease, but she did have a habit of pushing her limits. He took the steps two at a time.
