“No. Andre is exaggerating. Tad didn’t look any angrier than usual.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that.” Eliot licked his lips. “What are you doing now?”
“I’m filing my story and heading home.”
“I’ll probably be at least an hour behind you. I have to close up now.”
“Somehow I think I’ll suffer and yet survive. I might even take a bath when I get home to help me get through the pain. There might be bubbles.”
Eliot flicked my ear. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Andre has a crush on you.”
The declaration caught me off guard. “He does not!”
“He does.”
“He thinks I’m comic relief and nothing more.”
“He thinks you’re cute and can’t help but flirt with you.”
“Hmm.” I rubbed my chin. “You’re not going to do something stupid and pick a fight with him, are you?”
“No, because I don’t think he’d ever move on you.”
“Because he’s afraid of you?”
Eliot shook his head. “Because he’s afraid for you. He knows the people he hangs with would kill you if they had the chance. You’re too mouthy to think otherwise.”
“I can’t decide if this conversation is flattering or insulting,” I admitted. “Either way, it’s weird.”
“You’re weird.” Eliot gave me a quick kiss. “File your story and head home. I think we’ll both be happy to finish this day.”
“You have no idea.”
ELIOT WALKED ME TO MY car and waited until I was inside, the door locked, before heading back into his store. I opted for the freeway home rather than side roads, because I figured they wouldn’t be busy on a Sunday night and it allowed me to utilize my rather impressive brain function for thinking about the election rather than navigation.
It was a lot to sift through. I had a packet of documents I couldn’t tie to anyone. Tad acted odd when I mentioned the packet, which made me think it had something to do with him. His aide was dead, shot in the back, and he’d sexually harassed his other aide.
Aiken was a closet racist. I was sure of that. His answers during the debate were perfunctory and the look he shot me promised retribution. He knew what I did, and why, but he was much too cagey to call me on it in public. He was more restrained than Tad. Plus, well, Tad and I had much more personal history fueling us.
As for Justice, I thought I liked her until I talked to her. She bothered me because she seemed to assume I should vote for her simply because she was a woman. Not only did she think that, she had no problem expressing that belief. If she was that brazen in the open, I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of skeletons she had in her closet.
That left Rayne. He was something of a wild card. I’d talked to him only once or twice. He seemed a relatively normal guy. Sure, he was wound a bit tight, but that seemed to be true of all politicians. He was part of the boys’ club, the group that had multiple fingers dipped in multiple government pies, but I’d yet to stumble across anything that made me suspicious. Of course, the fact that I hadn’t found any secrets made me think he had to be hiding something good. That was simply the way my mind worked.
I was so lost in thought I didn’t notice the headlights in my rearview mirror until they almost blinded me. During my distraction, a large vehicle – what looked to be a truck with big tires – swung behind me and hugged my tail. The truck had to be within ten feet of me. The fact that we were two of only five vehicles on the freeway made me nervous.
Like … extremely nervous.
Eliot’s words niggled the back of my brain – he was convinced I was in danger even though I thought he was overreacting – and the proximity of the truck only reinforced the fact that Eliot was probably right.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I dug in the passenger seat until I came up with my phone. I thought I was hitting Eliot’s number on speed dial, but in my nervousness I called my cousin. Derrick picked up on the second ring.
“What do you want?”
I could’ve hung up. It wasn’t as if Derrick and I were in the best place right now. The truck showed no signs of backing off, though – and none of the exits this far north made me feel comfortable getting off the freeway – so I didn’t have many options. “I think I’m about to be run off the road.”
Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. Derrick turned professional. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“I’m on I-94 heading east. I’m about two ... maybe three … miles from the Twenty-Three Mile Road exit. There are only five other cars on the road and one of them happens to be a honking big truck that’s riding my rear only a few feet from my bumper.”
“Have you tried waving the driver around?”
“No. There’s nothing blocking him.”
“What about getting off the freeway?”
“I’d have to get off at Twenty-One Mile. There’s no Twenty-Two Mile exit.”
“And that Twenty-One Mile exit has nothing but a gas station and steep hills.” I could practically see Derrick picturing the scene over the phone. “Yeah, don’t get off the freeway.”
“I don’t want to. I think this is a purposeful tailgating. I don’t think road rage sprang up out of nowhere.”
“Because of what you’re working on with the election?”
“That’s my best guess.”
“Okay. Hold on.” Derrick remained on the line, but I could hear his fingers working a keyboard. “I dispatched two deputies in your direction. They’ll be there shortly. I told them to go in hot with their sirens blaring to scare the guy off your tail.”
I was hopeful. “Do you think that will work?”
“I guess it depends on how determined he is. I’ll stay on the line with you until I hear you’re safe.”
“Great.” I kept the phone wedged between my ear and shoulder, both hands on the steering wheel, and did my best to keep from constantly staring in the rearview mirror. I thought I might go blind thanks to the placement of the headlights, but I managed to focus forward. “How soon?”
“Soon.” Derrick sounded tense. “Talk to me about something else.”
“My palms are sweaty and I think they might fall off the steering wheel.”
“Not that.” Derrick sounded frustrated. “What else did you do today?”
“I started a race debate at the political gathering downtown. All four of the participating candidates wanted to kill me.”
Derrick was silent for a moment. “Are you telling me one of our county commission candidates is trying to run you off the road?”
“No. I was just making conversation.”
“Son of a … !” Derrick viciously swore. “They’re less than a mile away now. Can you see the lights in your rearview mirror?”
“No. All I see are the truck headlights.”
“Watch closely,” Derrick instructed. “They’ll be coming up any second. If whoever is behind you is smart, he or she will run rather than continue tailgating.”
“Right. Let’s hope it’s a smart person. If it’s an idiot, I’m probably in trouble.”
“That’s because you’re an idiot,” Derrick said.
“I’m a genius. In fact … .” My heart lurched when I saw the red and blue swirl appear in the mirror. “I see them.”
“Hold on,” Derrick ordered. “If he’s going to move on you, it will be now.”
I licked my lips, sighing in relief when the truck slid to the left lane and speeded up. I turned to my left and tried to peer into the truck’s cab, but it was too dark and I couldn’t make out any features.
“He’s passing me.”
“Call out the license plate numbers as he does.”
“Right. Um … BSG2367.”
“Good. I’m running it.”
I was quiet as I waited for Derrick to speak again.
“Dammit!” Derrick’s frustration was palpable. “That pla
te was reported stolen out of Warren earlier today.”
“I guess that means whoever did it had it planned, huh?” I watched as the sheriff’s deputies whirled past in pursuit of the truck. “Do you think they’ll catch him?”
“Not if he exits at Twenty-Three Mile Road and disappears in the traffic there. He was still ahead and I can hear them chattering over the radio. They seem to think he’s got enough of a lead to slip away.”
“Yeah.” I rolled my neck to relieve the stress. “So … um … thanks.” It was hard for me to grit out the words.
“No thanks are necessary.”
“That’s not usually how our family works.”
“In that case, now that I’ve saved your life, I expect you at Devon’s baby shower.”
Yup. I should’ve seen that coming. “Come on!”
“I expect you to have Lexie with you. And if you’re not pleasant, you’ll be sorry you ever met me.”
“I’m already sorry I ever met you.”
“I can get worse.”
Sadly, I believed him.
21 Twenty-One
I was still debating exactly what I was going to tell Eliot when he stormed into the living room. One look at his livid face told me that I was going to hunt down Derrick and stuff his big mouth full of toilet paper the second I got the chance.
I pasted a bright smile on my face. “How was the rest of your night?”
“Don’t. Even. Think. About. Doing. That.” Eliot raised a warning finger, his chest heaving.
“Have I ever mentioned how hot you are when you’re furious?” I leaned back on the couch and rested my feet on the ottoman. “Do you want to come over here and show me how hot you are?”
“I know you think you’re cute, but I am not in the mood for your crap,” Eliot snapped, rounding the couch corner. His dark eyes looked as if they were on fire. “First things first … are you okay?”
“Your concern touches me, but I’m fine. Ultimately nothing happened … except Derrick forced me to agree to go to Devon’s baby shower. That’s going to turn into a nightmare. I just know it.”
“I don’t care about the stupid baby shower.” Eliot sat next to me, his eyes busy as they roamed my face and body. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Honestly? It was an accident. I was trying to call you, but then I got him and it seemed a good idea to stay with him. I figured Derrick could get deputies to me faster. You wouldn’t have been able to catch up.”
“Not that. You did right on that. Derrick could get someone to you faster and that was a smart move. I’m proud of you for making it rather than dealing with the situation yourself.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have considered dealing with the situation myself. Whoever it was had a big truck and my little car was no match for it. I know you think I’m a complete and total idiot, but I’m smarter than I look.”
Eliot didn’t crack a smile. That wasn’t a good sign. “I want to know why you didn’t call me after you got home safely.”
I ran my tongue over my lips, unsure how to answer. “Well … .”
“Don’t bother making up a lie. I’ll know and I’ll be furious.”
He was already furious. If I doubled down, I was likely to end up sleeping on the couch. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell you.” I opted for total honesty. “I knew you’d freak out, and you’re already walking a fine line.”
“That doesn’t mean you can keep something like this from me.”
“I wasn’t going to keep it from you. I was simply going to think of a way to describe it so you wouldn’t worry, and then get naked really fast to distract you.”
Eliot stared hard, his lips quivering as he fought to contain a smile. “I see.”
“I don’t want you spending all your time worrying, Eliot,” I supplied. “And, believe it or not, it’s not simply because I’m afraid you’ll cramp my style if you become too overprotective. It’s not good for you. I’ve managed to keep myself alive for a long time, and I promise to keep up my streak. If you spend all your time worrying about me, you’ll make yourself sick.”
“I think I’ve been a pretty good sport about the crap you get yourself into,” Eliot argued. “I don’t try to lock you in the house even though that’s often my first instinct. But I’m not going to lie. What’s going on right now makes me nervous, and I felt that way before someone aggressively tailgated you on the freeway.”
“We don’t know if that has anything to do with the story I’m working on,” I pointed out.
“We don’t know it doesn’t either.” Eliot was firm. “I’m worried. I can’t help it. I have this ball of fear in the pit of my stomach and I can’t shake it. I don’t know why, because you’ve found more trouble in the past.”
“Maybe you’re getting old,” I said, patting the top of his head. “You’re like one of those middle-aged guys who loved rollercoasters as a kid and then found he was too old for them as an adult. You’ve somehow developed a weak stomach.”
Eliot offered up a sarcastic expression. “That’s not it. I think it’s far more likely that I could stomach what you did in the past because we were still getting to know one another. I wouldn’t have been happy to lose you back then, but I wasn’t filled with fear like I am now.”
“You have to let it go. I can’t back off this, and if you spend all your time worrying about me you’ll drive a wedge between us. I don’t think either of us wants that.”
“No. I definitely don’t want that.” Eliot captured my hand. “I’m sorry if you feel penned in. That’s not what I want. We’re living together. That means we’re sharing a life. Next time you need to call me.”
“That won’t work if my plan is to distract you with nudity.”
“Your phone has a camera. You can do both.”
“Good point.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m fine. It was a little weird, but it seemed more like an intimidation tactic than a murder threat. Derrick texted that his deputies went after the truck, but lost it in traffic on Twenty-Three Mile Road. It was heading toward the lake, not our house.”
“That’s at least something.” Eliot used his free hand to rub the back of his neck. “Which candidate do you think you ticked off enough to pull this?”
“I don’t know. None of them were happy with the tone I picked for the first debate question. I’m not sure how any of them could’ve arranged something like that in such a limited time frame, though. I mean … I doubt very much any of them risked doing it themselves.”
“That’s probably true.” Eliot rested his head against the couch. “I’m leaning toward Tad – and I know how you feel about that supposition, so there’s no reason to get into a fight – but you ticked him off earlier in the day. He knows you are at least aware of those documents.”
“Except we have no idea what those documents mean … or who they belong to. I have a few theories, but without facts to back them up I’m blindly stabbing ghosts in the darkness.”
“That’s a weird way to phrase something.”
“I’m nothing if not weird.”
“That’s true.”
We lapsed into silence. Eliot was the first to break it.
“We’re going to have a long talk about your safety in the morning. It won’t be a fight, but it’ll be close.”
“Oh, well, thanks for the heads up.” I grinned. “I like it when we schedule our fights.”
Eliot returned the smile, some of the tension vacating his shoulders. “Me, too. Now, I believe you said you were going to use nudity to distract me?”
“That was before I knew you’d found out what happened. I don’t need it now.”
“Are you sure? I’m really angry.”
I blew out a sigh. “Fine. But I’m going to want ice cream, too.”
“Oh, well, that’s a given.”
ELIOT AND I GOT UP early enough to cook breakfast together rather than hurriedly choke down cereal, which was our Monday routine. I was mildly concerned about him – I didn’t like him wo
rrying about me, which caused me to do the same for him and turned into a vicious cycle – but he seemed to be in relatively good spirits.
Then he dropped the bomb and threw my entire day into upheaval.
“I’m driving you to work today.”
My stomach soured as I narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t bother arguing.” Eliot clearly wasn’t in the mood for a domestic disturbance. “I don’t want you on the road in that small car.”
“Yeah, that won’t work for me.” I chose my words carefully, hoping to avoid too much snark, because I knew that would set him off. “I have a full day and I need my vehicle.”
“You have a full day downtown,” Eliot clarified. “You’ll be at the festival all day, because that’s where your candidates will be.”
“You don’t know that. I might need to go somewhere in a hurry if that changes. Plus, I haven’t checked in with Fish yet, but I’m guessing I need to stop by the sheriff’s department for a news conference on Brucker.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll drive you.”
Crap. He was really digging in on this one. “Eliot … .”
“I don’t want to turn this into a fight, but I will,” Eliot warned. “Your car is small, and last night was clearly a warning. It could’ve been worse – and I’m thankful it wasn’t – but I want you safe. To ensure that, I’m willing to act as your chauffeur for the day.”
That sounded mildly interesting – and potentially dirty – but I wasn’t willing to cede my independence. “No.”
“Avery … .”
“No,” I repeated. “You’re not my boss. You’re my … mate.” Hmm. That came out more Twilight-y than I envisioned. “We’re equal partners.”
“Yeah, that won’t fly. We’re equal, but one of us has the power at any given time. We simply trade the power. I’m in charge today. You can be in charge Wednesday.”
I scowled. “That won’t work for me.”
“Because you’re a control freak.”
“I am not a control freak. My mother is a control freak. Trust me. I know the difference.”
Eliot wasn’t convinced. “I often think you’re like your mother.”
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