Page 53 of The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

Jeremy smirks then morphs that expression into a pissed-off, devilish smile. I’ve seen it before. The one or two times I ever tried to stand up for what I wanted, he wore that same evil smile like he relished the chance to put me back in my place.

“Lauren.” Caleb’s voice is firm.

Oh, shit. I sink into my seat and when I try to lose my grip on Caleb’s hand, he holds on to me tighter.

He found me. A strangled sob chokes me, waiting to erupt from my throat.

He found me.

It’s my worst nightmare realized.

“Lauren,” Caleb repeats louder, trying to get my attention and snap me out of this stare-down.

He curses and shakes his head as he lets me tuck my hands under my thighs and slouch into my seat. With a hard punch of his foot on the gas, he blows through the intersection, speeding away.

Chapter 21

Caleb

“Stop!” Lauren crouches low and grips the armrest as I speed off.

I narrow my eyes and let anger fill me. That asshole dared to show up here? Looking for Lauren to get her back?

Not on my watch.

“What are you doing?” she yells. “You’ll crash.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Please, don’t go this fast.”

I cruise for a moment, checking my rearview mirror.

“He’s going to follow us.”

Sure enough, the black SUV pulls off a hasty three-point turn and races up Meadow Lane on our tail.

“Caleb.” Lauren’s voice is full of fear as she peeks at the mirror. “He’s following.”

Let him.

“Good.”

She swats at my arm. “Not good!”

“I’m looking forward to kicking this guy’s ass.” And I will. “If he so much as looks in your direction again…” I let my sinister chuckle give her an idea of what will happen.

“Caleb, please. Be careful. I don’t want us to crash.”

“We won’t.” While this road up to the B&B is treacherous and in dire need of repairs, I won’t risk it. I want to get her far away from Jeremy, but I won’t endanger her. Once I get to the bed-and-breakfast, I’ll suggest she head inside while I handle this confrontation. If Lauren wants to pick her battles and face off with this punk, fine. I’ll let her. It’s her choice. But with the way she’s slinking into her seat like she wants to hide and remain out of sight and reach, I suspect she’s not in the mood to talk to this guy, maybe never again.

I can’t blame her.

Just this morning, when she was showering, I checked my phone for anything that might have come up as urgent for work. Nothing has happened that needs my attention, but I did reply to Dalton’s messages.

Dalton: Hey, you know that asswipe you asked me to look into? He’s in this video that’s going viral. I guess he went off on a waitress.

Dalton: It was included in a series of clips about Karens and people going off on servers and stuff. Not only that, the dick got into an argument with another customer. Some sexy girl who told him off and to watch his tone.

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