Page 35 of Don't Look Back

“I don’t think he’s paying attention to you, Soph. I highly doubt the idiot even realizes you’re a grown woman now. When he and Zoey dated, you were still in middle school. Did you tell anyone where you were going?”

“I said I was going to visit a friend, but I didn’t say who or where I was going.”

“Then I don’t think this has anything to do with you, sweetheart. If Jimmy found Zoey, it’s a coincidence… but I think I'm going to have to fly to Maple Springs,” he sighs.

“Why?” Zoey and Sophia ask at the same time with frowns pinching both of their brows.

“Sophia, have you met your father? If he finds out you could be in danger, he’ll kill me. Hell, he’ll make me look like a teddy bear. Plus, let’s not even start on how pissed my wife will be. Aunt Kelsey is cute and sweet, until she thinks someone in this family is in danger, then she’s a mama bearand she’ll rip out your jugular. I’m not trying to be on the receiving side of either one of their anger. And I don’t even know what your parents would do, Zoey. They do share DNA with Wes and Kelsey. They’re wild cards and I don’t want to find out how they’ll respond.”

“I have a license plate. I can ask Jerry for any credit card information and we can go from there. Are you capable of running license plates? I could run into the office and do it, but I don’t want to leave the girls alone.” I run a hand through my hair and let out a long sigh.

“Nah, I can run it.”

I pull up the text from Jerry and read off the letters and numbers. I don’t think I’ve ever been this anxious in my entire life. I don’t want Jimmy to be here. I want Leslie to be safe.

“It’s a rental car.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I give myself a second to try to reign in my frustration and focus on what I need to do next.

Quickly texting Jerry, I tell him to give me the credit card information of the man he saw. He gets back to me much faster than I anticipate and soon I’m giving Mason that information too.

“It’s not Jimmy’s credit card,” Mason murmurs more to himself than to us.

“That’s good, right?” Sophia glances around the room with a soft smile.

“Sort of. It means that guy isn't Jimmy, but we still don’t know where Jimmy is. In a way it would be nicer to know where the asshole is,” I growl, growing more frustrated by the second.

“Uncle Mason, don’t come yet. If we see any sign of him, I’ll call you right away, but I don’t want you to come here for nothing,” Leslie says quietly.

I can tell this is really hard for her and she just wants to not have to worry about this anymore. She wants to feel safe and free to do whatever she wants without looking over her shoulder constantly.

“I’ll stay here for now, but I want to know if anything happens. Anything at all.”

“I’ll call you every time I need to pee,” Sophia grins.

“And every time you sneeze,” Mason doesn’t skip a beat, he teases her right back. “I love you, Soph and Zoey. Listen to Colt and do what he says… especially you, Sophia.”

“Hey! Why am I being called out?” She frowns at the phone like Mason can see her.

“Because you’re a handful and don’t like to be told what to do.”

“I take offense to that!” She folds her arms over her chest and a little pout settles on her lips.

“Good. Learn to listen and I won't have to call you out anymore.” He chuckles. “What happened when you thought someone was following you home from the Pit Bulls game a few weeks ago?”

“I didn’t listen and drove straight home,” she grumbles under her breath.

“And what did I tell you to do?”

“Drive straight to the police station and if the person followed, I should lay on my horn until a cop came out to see what was going on.” She rolls her eyes like the teenager she is. She might be twenty, but that doesn’t make her an adult. Not in my book at least.

“I rest my case. Listen to Colt or come home.”

“Fine!” She huffs, standing to her full height and moves over to one of the bay windows looking out at the backyard. She has her arms folded tightly around her waist and she doesn’t look happy.

“I’ll call you in the morning, Colt. I'm going to do a little more digging and see if I can figure out who rented this car. I don’t think it’s Jimmy, but I want to make sure. He isn't a smart man. I doubt he’d think to use someone else’s credit card to avoid being tracked. Honestly, I still don’t think he knows where Zoey is.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Mason.”

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