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Chapter 7
I get to Willa’s and open the door to Harper, who is aiming a gun at me. The fear in her eyes pulls me straight to her. I’ve seen the look before when I arrive at a woman’s home during an escort. It fuels me, filling me with the strength I know she needs to get through what’s coming next.
I’m not sure what happened here. Whatever it was, shut Harper down.
I stop a foot away from her, noting the tendons pulsating in her slender neck. Her eyes remain locked with mine.
“Are you okay?”
Her head drops slightly.
“Okay. Good.” I raise my hand and place it on the barrel. Holding her eyes to mine, I slowly push the gun downward. Damn, her eyes. They’re unique, mirroring her transcendent character. With each encounter, this woman confounds me.
“Now”—I take a breath—“tell me what happened.”
She snaps out of it with a string of blinks. “Amanda’s attacker showed up. He had a knife. He threatened me, but with the help of Fred, I told the asshole to leave, and he left. When the door opened, I-I thought you were him.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.” I glance around. “Who’s Fred?”
“Fred.” She lifts the gun and eases my worry with a grin.
I chuckle. She named her gun Fred. It doesn’t surprise me. This woman probably has a name for her car, doormat, and plants.
I hold out my hand. “How about you give me Fred?”
“Not happening.” She puts the gun in the back of her pants. “And I’m sorry you had to come, but I’m okay now.” Her eyes analyze the door. “You can leave.”
I chuckle again. “At this point, that’s not an option.” I knife a hand through my hair, cataloging everything in the room. “I don’t understand how he found you.”
“Joel,” she says. “His name is Joel.”
“I don’t give a fuck what his name is.” I drop my aggravated hand. “He’s a piece of shit who hurts women.”
Her eyebrows rise. Her lips turn down. “Okay.”
“And that piece of shit” —I snarl— “didn’t follow me to the drop-off last night. I would’ve known.” I search her face. “You had no contact with him?”
“No,” she says, a bit on the defensive side.
I scratch my head, trying to figure out how he found her. “Where’s Amanda?”
“I put her on a bus to Tallahassee. She has family there.”
“You had no contact with him— wait.” I tilt my head back, searching the ambiguous expression on her face. “You didn’t use your personal cell to make any calls to Amanda, did you?”
Her lips press together.
“Fuck!” I clench my hand, recalling the laptops and computer shit at Amanda’s place. Then there’s her leaving her phone behind. It all makes sense now. “He’s a hacker.”
Her head knocks back. “A hacker?”
“Yeah, someone who—”
She waves a hand. “I know what a hacker is!”
“Well, you repeated it like—”
She holds up her palm, cutting me off once more. “I was processing what you said. Shit!” A frown flushes her face. “That’s how he found me!”
