AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Austin’s gaze flashes to mine through the screen, his face turning white. “Fuck, Aspen. I’m out of town,” he rushes out, a clear panic in his tone as he throws himself to his feet. “I can’t—where are you?”
Aspen responds, and his stare shoots to mine again, my keys already in my hand, waiting for the fucking signal. “What’s going on?” I demand.
Austin listens to whatever his sister is saying, his horror and fear increasing tenfold. “Izaac’s gonna come and find you, okay? Stay hidden. Don’t fucking move.”
“What. The fuck. Is. Happening?” I growl, now on my feet, itching to fucking run.
“Someone’s following her. She’s hiding in the hedges outside some house, but she doesn’t know where she is.”
“I’m on my way.”
I fly out the door, not bothering to disconnect the Zoom call as I hear Austin trying to soothe my girl in the background. “He’s on his way,” he tells her. “He’ll call you from the car, but don’t hang up my call until his is coming through. You understand me, Aspen? It’s gonna be okay. He’s coming for you. Izaac’s not going to let anything happen to you.”
I barely catch the end of his sentence when I storm through my front door, not wasting a fucking second to lock up behind me. If someone wants to ransack my home and steal every fucking possession I have, then let ’em at it. I don’t fucking care. All that matters is getting to Aspen and making sure she’s okay.
Fuck. If anything happens to her . . .
Reaching my Escalade, I quickly unlock it before yanking the door open with such force, I almost pull the whole fucking door right off its hinges, then before I even get the chance to blink, I’m in the driver’s seat and flying down my long driveway.
I can only assume Aspen is somewhere near her college campus, so I take a right and head that way as I bring up her name on my phone and hit call. It connects through my Bluetooth system, and before the first ring has even ended, her voice fills my speakers.
“Izaac?” she whispers, her voice shaking and so full of fear, it cripples me.
“I’m on my way, baby. I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I promise her. “Where are you?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” she says in that same shaky tone, clearly on the verge of tears. Her voice is so quiet, I have to strain to hear, but I listen to every fucking word, desperately wishing I could take her far away. “I was walking home from a bar when I saw some asshole following me, so I turned down some random road and started running. I’m hiding in some bushes outside someone’s house, but he knows I’m here somewhere. He’s looking for me, Izaac. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Okay, can you pin your location?”
“I—” there’s a slight pause, and when her voice comes again, the raw panic almost guts me. “I don’t know how. I’ve never done it before.”
“It’s alright. Just hang in there, Birdy. I’ll find you,” I soothe, trying to keep her calm. “Where were you walking from?”
Terror pounds in my chest, each vicious beat of my heart threatening to take me down at just the thought of what could happen to her, and I try to push my Escalade faster, never having felt this kind of raw desperation in my life.
“J . . . J . . . Joe’s Bar,” she stumbles out. “It’s close to campus.”
I nod, knowing it well. Austin and I used to spend way too many late nights there during our college years, and from her apartment complex, it would have been a short walk. Though I don’t know why the fuck she would have been walking at this time of night. She knows better than to put herself at risk like that, but it’s not something we need to discuss right now. All that matters is getting to her before he does. “Okay. Good. What else can you give me?”
“Umm . . . I think I turned down the first street after reaching the residential area. I just . . . I don’t know how far down I am or—”
I hear the panic enter her tone, and I quickly work to try and calm her, needing her to think straight in case she needs to act. “That’s okay. Tell me what you see. What kind of bushes are you in?”
“There’s . . .” she pauses, hopefully trying to take it in and find some kind of landmarks that will help me find her. “There’s a house across the street. Its windows are boarded up, and the grass is overgrown. It’s the only lamppost on the street that’s not working.”
“And you’re directly opposite it?”
“Yes,” she says. “In the bushes behind a white picket fence.”
“That’s good, Birdy. Can you tell me how close he is?” I ask. “Do you have time to get to the door of the house and knock?”
There’s silence for a minute. “I . . . I’m not sure,” she tells me. “I don’t think anyone is here. There’s no car in the driveway, and the mailbox looks like it hasn’t been checked in a while. I don’t know if I can risk getting to the door and waiting for someone to answer it without him finding me.”
“Then stay put. Don’t try to move,” I tell her. “You’re safer where you are. Do you have your handbag? Is there anything sharp you could use as a weapon?”
“Ummm . . .” I hear as she starts scrambling, the task seeming to give her something to concentrate on, putting a little more confidence into her tone. “A pen or umm . . . my keys.”
“Perfect, baby. I want you to put your bag down and hold on to that pen. Until I get there, that’s your lifeline, and if that guy finds you, you’re going to use it. Do you understand me? You do whatever you have to do to get away. Plunge it into his throat. His eye. Anywhere that’s going to drop him.”
