Page 11 of Property of Fox

My heart drops as the red and blue lights slice through the dusk, illuminating everything in a harsh glow. The sirens wail like banshees seeking vengeance, and I can’t help but glance back towards the porch where Razor stands, silhouetted against the flashing lights.

“Freeze!” I hear someone yell in the front of our house. “Hands where I can see them.”

With every ounce of courage that I can muster, I sprint across the yard. Each step takes me further away from Tank's grip on our lives.

I reach the edge of the alley and duck into it. The light from Keira’s headlights pierces through the darkness ahead. She’s parked at the end, her car ready to drive away the second I am inside.

“Brea!” Her voice slices through the night air like a lifeline thrown to a drowning sailor. “Come on!”

I rush toward her car and dive into the passenger seat, slamming the door.

“Toss your phone outside,” she orders me.

“Why?”

“How do you think Tank’s been tracking you? Toss it.”

I hesitate for a moment, glancing back at the glimmer of lights behind us and the house that has held me captive. The sirens wail again, and I can feel my heart in my throat, choking on the fear that refuses to subside. With a quick decision fueled by adrenaline, I yank the phone out of my pocket and fling it out of the window.

“Now what?” I breathe, adrenaline pumping through me as Keira throws the car in reverse, maneuvering with a skill born from necessity.

“Just hold on tight,” she says, her jaw set in fierce determination. “We’re getting you far away from here.”

Her foot presses down hard on the gas pedal, and the car lurches forward as we speed down the narrow street. I glance sideways at Keira's profile. The resolute lines of her face illuminated by the dashboard lights. My friend, my anchor, as I embark on this leap into the unknown.

The enormity of everything starts to weigh down on me. “What if they find us?”

“They won’t.” She shoots me a reassuring glance. “Razor’s going to have his hands tied for a bit after that call I made.”

“What call?”

“About the peeping Tom outside of your house,” she winks.

“You didn’t,” I gasp.

“I did,” she smiles back. “With any luck, he has a record a mile long, and this will put him away until the rest of the clubcomes back from whatever they’re out doing. It’ll give us enough time to get out of here.”

As we merge onto the highway, the deep rumble of her engine drowns out any lingering thoughts of Razor and Tank. We weave through traffic, every mile pulling me further from familiarity into uncharted territory.

“You okay?” Keira asks, reaching out to grab my hand.

“I wish I would have told my mom goodbye.”

“Not now, Brea,” she says firmly, her grip tightening as she keeps her eyes focused on the road. “Right now, it’s just us. You have to trust that you did what was best for you.”

I nod, swallowing the lump of guilt surging in my throat. But even as the guilt tries to settle around me, I shake my head, willing it away. The mom I knew and loved is gone. She’ll never leave Tank. Leaving is what’s best for me, and that’s all that matters now.

BREA

The drivefrom Bloomington to Dallas is relatively smooth. We opted not to grab a hotel for the night. Instead, Keira and I took turns behind the wheel. Now, as we close in on her aunt’s place just outside the city limits, my stomach flips at an alarming rate.

“Are you sure your aunt won’t mind us crashing here?” I ask again, glancing over at Keira as she takes a bite of the apple she picked up a few hours ago when we switched drivers.

“Nah,” she replies quickly, plastering a reassuring smile on her face. “Aunt Lisa barely stays in Dallas anymore. She prefers to roam these days. She’s actually glad someone will be there to check on it.”

I nod, trying to quell the unease that churns deep inside me. I haven’t slept a wink since we put Indiana behind us. Every roar of an engine sends me spiraling with the thought Tank has found us already. While Keira seems impervious to the fear of my stepdad, I'm waging war against images of Tank's hulking frame looming through the window like some kind of unwanted specter ready to snatch me back into his world. The only solace I am clinging to is that he doesn’t know where I am, and he can’t track me without my phone.

As the towering skyline of Dallas glints in the late afternoon sun, my grip tightens on the wheel. Keira hums softly to a song that blares from the car’s speakers, her carefree nature somehow alleviating some of my anxiety.

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