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“To hell with this maniac.”
Reaching forward, he slid my fork back into my numb hand. Jay took my glass, and poured me more wine.
“He’s temporary,” Tyler assured me. “We’re not.”
His words lifted my spirit. A pair of reassuring nods from the other two almost made me smile.
“He’ll never win, Jenna,” added Jay. “He’ll never beat us.”
I wanted to believe. I wanted to hope. I’d just seen so much of Elijah, that—
“And when we’re through with him,” added Luca, his tone ominous, “he’ll never, ever bother you again.”
God, was there anything I wanted more thanthat!?Now I did smile, reaching out to clasp the strong hands reaching out on either side of me. My heart still hurt though. It felt heavy with the weight of a growing, nagging uncertainty.
How long can they really take this?
Forty-Four
JENNA
Running was something I’d picked up in Texas, and with good reason. For one, the sidewalks were pristine and beautiful. Even the streets were wholly undamaged by the change in seasons, whereas up here they were either cracked by the snowplow, or potholed through the distribution of rock salt.
I hadn’t run in a while, but lately I was feeling restless. So when the first real break in the weather coincided with my one day off, I threw on my running shoes and hit the pavement.
And so I ran. I ran down through salt-smeared streets, through the middle of town, and out onto main street. I ran past the corner piles of solidified ice, pushed there by the snowplows, and over the shiny puddles and rivulets of melting snow.
I ran for a long, long time, without any destination in mind. No clear reason for running in the first place, other than to clear my restless mind and fill my lungs with Montana’s endless supply of crisp, clean air.
It wasn’t until I was on the other side of town that I realized I was being followed.
The person wore a hooded sweat-shirt, making it difficult to gauge size. But it was definitely a man. And definitely abigman, judging simply by the length of his stride.
I took a few random turns that I wouldn’t normally, but of course the man followed suit. Nothing could be that easy. Especially these days.
Fuck.
Anger surged through me, obliterating the peace and serenity I’d gathered during my run. I wanted to turn around and confront the guy. I wanted to run back to main street and straight into the nearest bar, where I was pretty sure I could gather a gang of half-drunk locals to surge out into the street and kick my follower’s ass.
Instead, I kept on going in the direction of familiarity.
My follower hadn’t closed the distance between us, which was strangely unnerving. It was almost like he didn’t want the confrontation either, but only wanted to scare or frighten me. Still, when I sped up to get rid of him, he increased his pace. For two whole blocks I poured on the speed, yet when I looked back again I noticed the man was no closer — or further away — than he was before.
Eventually I entered the guys’ neighborhood, which felt even more comfortable than mine. I’d run miles by now. I was finally getting tired. If I could keep going, there were only a few blocks left between me and the safety of Tyler and Luca’s arms. The two of them were home, working out in the basement. They’d set up quite a home gym in the past few days, filled with a mish-mosh of weights and equipment they’d acquired through someone Jay knew, because Jay knew everybody.
Wait… weren’t they going out?
My body was wracked with an involuntary shiver. Even though I was sweating.
Didn’t they say they had to meet the expediter Tyler hired, to help with the permits?
All of a sudden I couldn’t remember. I could be running to an empty house, with no one there to protect me. The door could be closed and locked, although I’d been given a key. And my keys…
My keys were back at my apartment, right where I’d left them.
Oh my God!
I never ran with my keys. Not since losing them one summer, and having to retrace my steps for hours to find them.
