Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(27)

“Need to get downstairs,” I told her, voice rough.

She nodded.

For the first time since I’d known this girl, no smart reply came from her mouth. I didn’t wait for her to form one.

I flew for the door.

My own life raft.

Because I was right.

This girl was a wave getting ready to take me under.

And I didn’t think she’d ever let me up for air.





11





Nikki





It was close to five p.m. when I bounded down the three flights of stairs and out the big metal door into the back-parking lot.

Humidity smacked me in the face, and I was hit with the overpowering scent of honeysuckle that wafted through the dense air.

I jogged across the lot to where I’d parked my car after Ollie had taken me back to my apartment to pick it up yesterday afternoon.

I knew I shouldn’t find comfort in staying with him. But I wouldn’t lie to myself.

I did.

I wouldn’t have been able to sleep last night had I been staying at my apartment, fearful Caleb might return.

All I wanted was to lay low.

Hide out.

Just for a little while.

Until things between him and Brenna cooled down.

Of course, I had to admit I hadn’t slept all that well knowing Ollie was once again just a room away.

A wall and a million miles separating us.

But after the evening we’d spent together, it’d felt as if part of that chasm was being erased.

Drawn.

That magnet that would live forever pulling us together.

It was a bad idea to get close to him. I knew it. Of course, I knew it. But sometimes life made it hard to pretend he hadn’t once been the most important person in my life.

Anxious to head to my sister’s house, I clicked the fob and started to pull open the driver’s side door.

Then I froze.

My stomach plummeted to the ground.

The hairs at the nape of my neck lifted on end, and the sweat that was already threatening to gather beaded across my forehead and neck, trickling down my back in a slow slide of dread.

Another note.

It was folded neatly and tucked beneath the wiper.

He’d found me.

Oh God, he’d found me.

I gulped around the rush of terror that glided through my body.

Followed me more likely.

From Brenna’s description, he was manipulative in the worst of ways. Yanking her one direction then the other until she thought she was going insane.

Warily, my attention darted around the area, searching beneath the towering trees that lifted to the blue, blue sky, across the line of cars that were parked next to mine since this area was reserved parking for Olive’s employees.

Nothing.

Just the whisper of the leaves and the sound of the busy street echoing from the other side of the building.

“Shit,” I mumbled. All I wanted was to run right back upstairs. Maybe curl up in the bed Ollie had told me to consider mine.

Maybe curl up in his.

Damn it.

I could not let my brain go down that train of thought.

But it seemed almost impossible.

Not with the way he’d always made me feel safe.

Not with the way he’d touched me last night.

I wanted to fall into Ollie’s strong arms and beg him to take it away.

But I wasn’t that girl.

One to be frightened away.

Threatened until I backed down so some jerk could have his way.

Brenna deserved so much better than that.

Taking one last glance around the lot, I snagged the note and hopped into my car, quick to slam the door and press the lock.

Heart a riot in my chest, I carefully unfolded it.

Fear slicked across the surface of my flesh.

A cold, cold dread.

You think you can get away so easily? He can’t keep you from what’s coming.





Thunder.

It rumbled through my being. A warning. A siren that screamed. Pulse a deafening pound, pound, pound as it echoed in my ears.

I squeezed my eyes closed against the shackle of terror that gripped me.

I’d always known working for the program would require sacrifice.

That it might not always be easy.

Maybe I’d known I was getting in too deep.

I’d just never expected it might make me feel like I was going to drown.



I hoisted myself onto my little sister’s kitchen counter.

Sammie gave me a scowl. “Were you born in a barn?”

Playfully, I rolled my eyes at her and tossed another grape into my mouth. “Um, if I was born in a barn, then I’m pretty sure you were, too. Next thing you know, you’ll be makin’ yo mama jokes. Tryin’ to cut me down to size when you’re really just cutting yourself off at the knees.”

She swatted at me. “Pssh . . . if I wanted to cut you down to size, I wouldn’t need to look to our mother. Think I’ve got plenty to work with just with you sittin’ there. We could start with that face.”

“Ouch,” I said, grinning wide. Funny how neither of us were feeling the love unless we were razzing the other.

Old habits die hard and all that.

“Before you start going down that road, you should probably take a gander in the mirror,” I told her.