Page 38 of Guarding Bristol

“Get in,” TJ said, giving her a little push toward the passenger side.She slid into the seat, fumbled to get her seatbelt on as he roared away from the accident site.He sped away up the hill, phone to his ear.

She bit back a warning about it not being safe to talk on the phone without a hands-free device, listened as he reported the accident and hung up.“Who were they?Why were they chasing us?”she asked.

“I don’t know who they are.”

The clipped answer made her want to scream.“That’s it?That’s all you have to say about what just happened?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes flared wide in outrage at his dismissive tone.She absolutely wasn’t going to let this go, but fighting with him now wasn’t going to get her anywhere.Besides, the way he was watching behind them so closely made her afraid that more people might be after them than she realized.

“Where are we going?Am I allowed to know that at least?”she asked as he reached the freeway entrance and merged them into the light traffic heading south.Her breathing was still a bit choppy.The rush of anger on top of the adrenaline burst was fading now, leaving her a little dizzy.

Calm down.Breathe.

But the tension coming off TJ was palpable, winding the knot in the pit of her stomach tighter.“Home.”

She looked over at him sharply.“You know where I live?”

He didn’t answer, and she was too drained to push.She would conserve her energy for when they got to her place, because she hadplentymore to say to him when they did.She was so angry and disappointed she wanted to shake him.After all she’d done, after all Beckett had done to help him and give him a chance at a better life, he was either using drugs or dealing them.Or both.

She swallowed against the rise of nausea in her belly.

She’d believed in him.Trusted him because of his ties to Eric.Maybe she was just stupid.Cassie was right—she should have left this alone.

TJ passed the turn to her townhouse complex.She frowned.“I thought you said—”

“Quiet.”

She glared a hole through his face for a long moment, but when he didn’t react, settled for folding her arms and staring through the window as he drove them to the north side of town.In a quiet residential neighborhood, he turned down a dead-end road and pulled into the driveway of a cute white bungalow.

“Where are we?”She was starting to get nervous.Mentally calculated an escape route in case she had to flee, and the odds of whether she would be able to outrun him.The answer was a disheartening no.

“My place.”

He livedhere?The place was brand new, and she knew what properties sold for around here.

Why had he brought her to his house?Too afraid to ask, she edged as far away from him as possible, her fingers closing around the door handle, preparing to make a break for it.

“For Chrissake, I’m not gonna hurt you.”He sounded offended as well as irritated.But what was she supposed to think?She’d literally caught him in the middle of a drug deal and could ID him to the police, bad guys had chased them, and now he was basically kidnapping her.

He parked in a detached garage and turned off the engine.“Let’s get inside.”He sounded as happy about her being here as she felt.

“Just take me home.”

He gave a low, humorless laugh that made the back of her neck prickle.“Oh, I wish.”

Alarm streaked through her.She gripped the door handle, staring at him while her heart beat an erratic tattoo against her ribs.“What does that mean?Why can’t I just go home?”

He paused to look at her, those deep, dark eyes burning with frustration in the overhead garage light, along with something that looked an awful lot like resignation.“Because you just put targets on both our backs.”

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