Page 63 of The Two Last Moments

I clench my fist over my stomach. “It’swrong.” And after everything today, it’s just—

Wait. There’s a piece of paper fluttering beneath one of the windshield wipers. With dread in my gut, I grab it and unfold it. Someone has scrawled a messy, handwritten message.

Do you still think you can run from me, Lark?

I scream. The wind catches the paper, tearing it from my hand, and Danny plucks it from the air. He turns it over and reads what it says.

“Who the fuck wrote this?”

He spins around, looking. But there’s no one around. Just the same few cars that were parked here before, with no sign of their owners. But I feel eyes on us. I know that whoever sent this is somewhere close. Watching. My skin crawls with the knowledge. I can’t breathe.

Was it Z? The stepbrother Cam told me about?

Has he been following us?

“Show yourself, asshole,” Danny yells. “Come out here and face me!”

Except for a mom pushing a stroller down the path, there’s no one.

Danny shoves the note into his jeans pocket and wraps his arms around me. “I’m going to call Cliff. We need to file a police report about this. But we’re okay. Whoever left this just wanted to scare you. He was too much of a coward to face us head-on.”

How can this be okay?I want to shout.

Wherever I go, bad things follow.

Wherever I go, I drag everyone else down with me.

23

That note is fuckingtwisted.

I’m burning up inside. Boiling over with rage and frustration. How did I let the guy sneak up on us?

Has he been trailing us since we left Solvang? Or was it even before we left West Oaks?

He wanted us to know. I have to think it’s because our trip to Solvang shook him up somehow. But it’s shaken up Lark, too. After what Cam told her, it’s too much for her. Too much for anyone.

As I call the police, I keep a hand on Lark’s shoulder. I run my palm down her arm. I’m not going to let her leave my grasp, not even for a second.

Cliff isn’t on duty, but they send another patrol officer, who takes our report. The cop collects the handwritten note as evidence and says they’ll call if they find leads. As if I didn’t know who it was, despite the lack of cameras and witnesses.

It was the guy who hunted Lark down with his car. I’m sure of that all the way down to my bones, and I’m itching to give the asshole the payback he deserves.

I would give just about anything to make this better for her. Take away the anguish I see in her eyes.

I wish I could convey to her how incredible she is. How sweet, even when she’s being sarcastic. How giving, even though she’s been through so much you’d think she would have nothing left to give. And the way she looked with the wind blowing her hair around her face… So beautiful it made meachefor her.

I almost kissed her out there by the water.

I’m starting to forget why I shouldn’t.

When we get home, I park in the driveway. Lark doesn’t get out, so I wait. I want to reach for her. Hold her. Make everything okay.

What do I do for her?I’ve asked myself that same thing so many times since Lark came into my life, but I’ve never gotten it exactly right, have I? Some healer I am.

“Don’t tell Nina yet about the things we found out,” she says. “Or meeting Cam.”

“I don’t plan to. I figure you’ll talk to her when you’re ready.”

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