Page 42 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

Chapter Nine

Alden

Shit!

Worry about Jess and how I failed her permeated my thoughts and now we had a tail.

Wasanythinggoing to go fucking right tonight?

This was why I never took a job for someone I have a shared history with. It messed with me. When I pulled up and saw that thug’s hands on her body, fury tinged my vision red. I wanted to tear him apart. I don’t even remember getting out of the car. One minute I was throwing it into park, and the next I was by her side.

Those cowards took off before I could do anything to assuage the guilt that soon followed, knowing it was my fault she could’ve been taken. I never should’ve let her attend this event. We knew whoever had an eye on her was ramping up. It made sense they would try something bigger.

It was my job to keep her safe.

“This is why we shouldn’t have gone tonight,” I muttered under my breath.

“I’m so sorry, Alden.” She wiped at the tears trailing down her cheeks. “If anything happens to us, it’ll be all my fault. I shouldn’t have insisted we go.” The guilt lacing her words was a knife to my gut.

Jess acted like she was invincible. That nothing or no one could hurt her, and for a while she’d had herself—and me—fooled. I’d thought she’d changed. That she’d become self-absorbed since we broke up, but if I looked hard enough, just like right now, Jess cared more about my safety than her own.

Her kryptonite was the people she loved.

I dialed in my anger. She didn’t deserve it. I’d agreed to let her go to the event. We’d put safeguards in place. “This isn’t your fault. I’m sorry, Jess. That was a shitty thing for me to say.”

A jagged sigh fell from her lips. “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t, but we’d talk more about it later. “We’ll get out of this,” I promised.

I watched the now familiar truck as I switched lanes. A minute later they switched into the same lane.

“Gage, I’m going to take the next exit and get lost in the side streets. Find a place for us to hide tonight and get eyes on that truck.”

“Copy. I have access to your GPS. I’ll track you through that.”

“Understood.” My instincts kicked in immediately.

Gage spoke up in my earpiece. “If you take the next exit, I can get you to Sam’s garage from there.”

I’d met Sam, a friend of Gage’s who owned a mechanic shop, a few years back, but had never been to his garage.

“Okay,” I growled, sneaking a glance at Jess. She was gripping the seat, her eyes fixed straight ahead. Her silence was what unnerved me. Jess was never silent. “Gage is going to get us out of here and to a safe place.”

She gave me a jerky nod.

“It’s going to be all right,” I reassured her. “No one is going to get hurt.”

At the last minute I pulled tight on the wheel, crossed all three lanes, and pulled off the highway. The truck was just far enough away that it was able to take the same exit at the last second and they were barreling right behind us.

For the next ten minutes I evaded them. Skidding around corners, pulling out and in between other cars until I was sure we’d lost the people following us. Defensive driving was a skill I’d found I was good at early in my career. I started to slow down and pulled into a quiet alleyway.

“Are we good?” Jess peered over the seat, searching through the front windshield and then the back.

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