Page 15 of Love Me Fierce

As if sensing my focus, Vivian raises her gaze to meet mine. She’s dressed in jean shorts that reveal those long legs I remember from the wedding, and a button-down pink dress shirt rolled to the elbows that highlights the blush rising up her chest and face.

She quickly refocuses on Mateo, who looks like he’s trying to hug the display case.

“You were saying?” Hutch prompts.

“Right.” I try to regain my momentum in explaining my funding idea, but when Vivian places her order, the sweet notes of her voice carrying over the noisy café shreds my focus.

“What do you need from me?” Hutch whips out his phone and starts making a list.

At the edge of my peripheral vision, Miranda offers Mateo their bag of donut holes and a tall paper cup with a tea string hanging over the edge to Vivian. Vivian pays, then spins in the opposite direction and ushers Mateo toward the door.

Would she have stayed if I hadn’t been in here? A part of me wants to know. The other part reminds me that I don’t care.

If Linden were here, he’d second this.When are you gonna learn that not every drowning kitten needs saving, bro?

A revving engine from the far-right side of the parking lot startles me back to the donut shop.

Hutch leans forward to look out the window just as a maroon station wagon races past the windows. The driver’s going way too fast for a busy place like this. A place where kids regularly congregate. What the hell?

I hurry for the door. I’m too late to stop this guy, but I can at least try to apprehend him. When I push through the door, Vivian is walking across the parking lot. Everything seems to happen in slow motion. She jumps back, yanking Mateo into her arms. Her tea and the bag of donuts go flying. The vehicle misses her by inches, then careens out of the lot, tires squealing.

“Are you hurt?” I ask Vivian as Hutch joins me outside, eyes wide.

“No,” Vivian says in a shaky voice, still holding Mateo against her.

I eye Hutch. “Stay with her. I’ll be back in a few.” Then I jump in my rig and head out of the parking lot.

I call it in and flip on my lights and siren. The maroon wagon turned south, so I accelerate after it, flying past cars that pull over, my gaze shifting from the road ahead to down intersections for any sign of it.

What the hell just happened back there?

I give the pursuit a few more blocks, but the maroon vehicle has vanished. After I call in my abandoned attempt, I turn around and return to Glory Holes.

Thankfully, Vivian’s got a fresh cup of tea and Mateo looks happy sitting next to her with an almost empty bottle of apple juice in one hand and a donut hole in in the other.

As I approach the table, Vivian’s eyes meet mine for the second time today, only now she’s not blushing. Her face is tense and she’s sitting so straight in her chair I could use her spine as a ruler.

Before I can get a word in, she stands and takes Mateo’s hand. “Ineed to go.” She stuffs the bag of donut holes into her purse and picks up her tea.

“So you don’t want to file a report?” I ask, resting my hands on my belt. I eye Hutch sitting behind her, but his lips press together, like he doesn’t have any answers, either.

“No.” She hurries past me and slips through the door. I join Hutch at our table while outside, Vivian helps Mateo into the backseat of her Kia.

“Tell me I’m not the only one confused here,” I say in a low voice to Hutch.

He shakes his head. “Whatever she’s scared of, I hope it hasn’t found her.”

I chew on this while Vivian climbs in behind the wheel. Her brake lights come on and she backs slowly out of the parking stall.

Scared? Of the driver? Or something else? I give Hutch a curious look, but he just shrugs.

Vivian drives off, and I track her white Kia until it disappears past the building. “If it has, why do I get the feeling I’ll be the last to know about it?”

“Ava says she keeps to herself,” Hutch says, sipping from his coffee.

“Fine by me.” It comes out harsher than I intended, but my curiosity about Vivian was piqued that night in the blizzard, and it’s only strengthened since.

Especially now. Everything about what just happened feels off. From the second she walked in and saw me here to the reckless driver incident to her rushing off just now.

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