Page 25 of Fire Bound

I used to not think twice about calling one of my brothers to pick me up, but the idea of bothering them or pulling them away from the happy lives they’ve built for themselves stops me. Besides, being locked inside a car with them while I have nowhere to escape their worried looks or lectures seems like a special kind of hell. Why is it that conversations you don’t want to have are always done in confined spaces?

I’m tipsy, not wasted. I can drive the twenty minutes to my hotel. I’ve been making bad decision after bad decision lately, why stop now?

Climbing inside the electric blue 4Runner I bought myself when I got into nursing school, I snag the bottle of water I’d left in the cup holder earlier. I chug the contents before starting the car and driving away from the commotion of the bar.

All the streets around here are winding and curvy. Once you’re away from the main part of town the roads are lined with thick forest. There aren’t any streetlights. The only source this late at night is from the headlights of the passing cars.

The lingering scent of Jax that’s clinging to my skin fills the confined space until I feel like I’m choking on it. Desperate for a reprieve from the demon, I roll down all the windows. The chilly night air floods the car, cooling down my skin and momentarily washing away the smell of him.

I relax into the leather of my seat, my hair whipping around my face as I navigate the roads I know like the back of my hand. Each curve, each crack in the cement I’m familiar with. That’s what happens when you’ve spent your whole life in one place.

There was a time that I never thought I’d want to escape my home. Why would I? This is where my family is and before my life fell apart and I became the shell of the person that I am now, I couldn’t imagine living far away from them.

I never used to think this way. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I was the embodiment of positivity, I used to be more ofaglass half fullkind of girl. Now, I can only focus on all the things I’ve lost instead of what my family has gained since Sterling appeared in our lives. I only see the negative.

No longer wanting to think about the source of the ever-present impending doom I feel in my chest, I turn up the music and allow it to drown out my unwanted thoughts.

My fingers tap out the beat of the music and I focus on the lyrics of the song. Slowly, I begin to relax. I just want to get to the hotel and take a hot shower so I can climb into bed. I’m too tired tonight to dread the dreams I know will come. I’m too tired to fight them off. If Jax or Gage want to appear in my dreams tonight, so be it. Maybe just for tonight, some company won’t be so bad.

A car comes around a curve ahead of me with its high beams on. My sensitive eyes burn as the headlights shine into my corneas. “Asshole,” I grumble under my breath while I blink away the spots in my vision.

As they get closer, I shield my eyes with my hands to ease the discomfort my poor eyes feel. It’s only as they pass me do I realize just how fast they’re driving and how close to the median line they are. To avoid being run into, I’m forced to abruptly jerk my car to the side. My tires on the passenger side grind against the gravel on the edge of the road, causing my car to rattle.

Shaken from nearly crashing, my hands tighten on the steering wheel as I right myself and return to the paved road.Who the hell was that?No one around here drives like that on these roads. Especially at night. We all know how dangerous they can be.

I glance in my rearview mirror quickly in hopes of getting their license plate to report to the sheriff but discover I can’t see the tail of their SUV because it’s making an illegal U-turn in the middle of the road.And turning back toward me.

Unease bubbles in my stomach and my wolf snaps to attention in my head, her own warning bells going off. The last time I ignored my gut, I paid an excruciating price. I want to be wrong, but on the off chance I’m not, I increase my speed.

Whatever buzz I had going is long gone, the remaining alcohol in my system metabolizing as my body goes on high alert.

The black SUV catches up to me quickly, staying close behind me. Each time I pick up my speed, it does the same so it can maintain the space between us. My hands twist anxiously on the wheel as every nerve in my body comes alive with worry.

There’s a four-way stop coming up in a mile. That will be the real test on whether they are just a random asshole with road rage or if they’re truly following me. If they turn the same way I do, I’ll plan my next moves.

As I speed toward the stop, I keep glancing between the rearview mirror and the road before me. Not once have they fallen back or granted more than six feet between our cars.

My headlights stream against the red reflective paint of the stop sign at the four-way stop. I stop and consider my options.

If I go left, it will take me down the road that will lead me into the other town where my hotel is. If I go right, it will lead me into pack territory where my family is.

If they’re truly following me, do I want to lead them back to my pack? But on the other hand, I don’t want to lead them back to the hotel where I’m alone.

So alone.

My body makes up its mind before my mind does. My foot slams against the accelerator and I race down the road that will take me home. I hold my breath as I wait to see what they’ll do, but in my gut, I already knew they’d follow.

Remi, think,I silently order myself.

The sound of their roaring engine comes through all my open windows as they catch up to me. I’m not sure what they have planned but they’re not planning on letting me go, that much is clear.

Holding the wheel with one hand, my other digs around in my purse on the passenger side. The phone I carry with me has been silenced for weeks, but out of habit, I carry it everywhere with me. Though now I’m cursing myself for turning it off because waiting for it to turn back on is costing me precious time.

I’m watching the screen, counting the seconds as it loads painfully slowly when I’m thrown forward unexpectedly, the sound of metal and plastic crunching accompanying the sudden movement. I drop the phone and return both hands to the steering wheel so I can straighten the car as it weaves on the street.

They’re trying to run me off the road.

Shit.

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