Page 29 of Prey for You

We argued about whether I’d take him all the way home or not. In the end we’d compromised—I was dropping him off in town on the block where he could get a bus directly to his neighborhood.

It was over a five hour drive since I was taking the old highways into Oregon because they didn’t have cameras. Add in a couple stops for bathrooms and food… we had to leave at six thirty.

We’d only slept two or three hours, but I woke with my heart slamming and anxiety curling my guts. Sam was slower, reaching for me and burying his face in my hair…

Now we were two hours out from where I’d drop him off. I didn’t know how long it would be before I could touch him again, and it was making my skin itch.

“They’ll probably have a tracker on your car already,” I blurted. Sam, who’d been staring out the window, blinked and turned to look at me. “They’re going to know you haven’t been going anywhere.”

He stared at me for a second, the morning sun slanting in from the window behind him, turning his skin gold and making the stubble on his face shine like tiny Christmas lights.

“I know. Don’t worry. I’m going to take the bus for a few days. Ease back into using the car. I need to watch my money anyway.”

“I can give you—”

“Babe, we covered this. It’s fine. If things get too tight I’ll let you know. But I don’t want them having any trail to find between us. It’s too risky.”

“But if you don’t have enough cash for gas—”

“Bridget,” Sam said quietly. I tore my eyes off the road to look at him, and he put his hand over mine on my thigh. “You remember I’m an ex-felon and a stalker, right? I have four different exit plans—including a vehicle I’mcertainJeremy doesn’t know about. The resources are in place if I need to get out. Don’t worry. Just keep your burner phone charged.”

I nodded, but pulled my hand out from under his and put it on the wheel because his touch was making me squirm.

“You’re quiet,” he said a minute later when I didn’t say anything else.

“So are you.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gritting my teeth hard enough to give me lock-jaw.”

Was I doing that? I rolled my jaw and realized he was right, I had been clenching my teeth. I shrugged.

“Talk to me, babe.”

“What’s to talk about? We have to go be separate for who knows how long and… that’s it.”

“We’re going to talk every day. And once the case starts, once they know, then we can probably—”

“There’s no fucking way Jeremy is ignoring that no-contact order, Sam,” I said, my voice darker than I’d intended. “We have to win this. That’s the only option.”

“So, pray. There’s only one person who knows what’s going to happen in the future.”

“That is such fucking bullshit—if God gave two shits about this we wouldn’t be in this mess!” I snapped, glaring at him for a second before turning back to watch the road, but I could see in my peripheral vision that he was still staring at me, and I could feel his gaze on my face.

My fault. My fault. My fault.

The words looped in my head, accusing me. Condemning me.

I knew he thought it. But if God would step in for either of us, I supposed it was him. I tried to settle my nerves. Tried to breathe slow and calm down. But he wouldn’t look away.

We were on a back road. A narrow highway with a single lane each way, surrounded by a lot of farmland and rundown houses. There were only occasional cars on the road, but I had to pay attention because some of these corners were hairy, and I didn’t like speed limits.

Plus, his scrutiny was making my heel jiggle.

“Stop,” I hissed a couple minutes later when he still hadn’t turned away.

“Stop what?”

“Stop staring at me.”

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