Page 6 of Teach Me
“I’m proud of you, Jess,” Saul said, his voice gruff, a testament to the emotion also choking her up. “Your parents would be too.”
Her parents? No, they wouldn’t. They’d be mortified, maybe. Disappointed. Brit had been their choice, after all, a fantastic catch for their wallflower of a daughter. That, they’d been proud of. Not her education, not supporting herself or working at a job she loved. Only that the son of their most socially powerful friends had taken an interest in her. They had loved her in their own way, but distantly, always more concerned about money and position than their daughter’s happiness. Jess had stopped worrying about meeting their expectations long before the car accident that had killed them both last year.
She stopped on the last step, hand gripping the rail to steady herself against the tide of memories. “I love you, ya know?”
Saul smiled, that same kind smile he’d given her all her life. “I know. And I mean it. I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. Your strength.”
She couldn’t hold back a snort at that. Strong and tired of being a doormat were two different things. The latter just kind of led to faking the former.
Saul ignored her doubt, simply blinking away the shine in his eyes as he returned his hand to the small of her back. “Let’s get you home.”
Thomas, the head of security’s day shift, nodded to them as they passed. “Y’all have a good night, now.”
“You too, Thomas,” Saul said. Jess smiled at the man before stepping through the glass door leading to the employee parking lot.
She didn’t freeze. Didn’t panic. She was outside the doors, but she was okay. The thought gave a big boost to her flagging emotions. “I think I’m going to celebrate tonight.”
“Oh really? Am I invited?” Saul winked at her.
“Normally, yes, but I think I’ll celebrate on the couch.” She could feel fatigue pulling at her limbs. Her favorite Mexican restaurant was on the way home, though. Fajitas sounded great.
She ignored Saul’s fake pout and reached up on tiptoes to kiss his smooth-shaven cheek. “Thanks for walking me out.” She hadn’t even recognized the tactic until they’d arrived at her car—he was better at distracting her than Cris was.
“Anytime. Be careful. Oh, and Jess?” he called as she opened the driver-side door.
“Hmm?”
“Welcome back.”
Under Saul’s watchful eyes, she backed out of her space and drove toward the exit, her mind on salsa and guacamole and savory meat. She didn’t notice the SUV until she stopped at the first red light. Big. Black. Vaguely familiar. She puzzled over it until the light turned green, then focused on rush-hour traffic. Twenty minutes later she was pulling into the Conquistadors parking lot. A twinge of unease, left over from this morning, probably, had her circling until she caught another car backing out of a space close to the door.
Jess felt sweat bead up as she stepped from the car, the wall of heat that met her immediately suffocating—and it was only June.Southern women glisten, my ass.At this rate July and August would be truly hellish. Struggling to breathe the heavy air, she moved toward the front of the restaurant—
And pulled up short at the sight of a black SUV parking near the rear. Black, like Brit’s vehicle this morning, an Explorer, maybe? Something more expensive? She couldn’t remember, couldn’t identify a car’s make and model right now anyway; all she knew was that it had looked exactly like this one. That was why the vehicle behind her in traffic had looked familiar—because it was. It was Brit’s.
Maybe. Or was it? Was she being paranoid? The panicked rush of blood in her ears convinced her she didn’t care. She had to go, no matter how foolish it looked. She took one step back, two.
No one got out of the SUV.
Another step brought her to her bumper. She backed toward the door, fumbling in her purse for her phone, fumbling with the keys, fumbling the handle open to shove herself inside. The locks snicked into place.
Her last glimpse of the vehicle, nothing had moved.
She had 911 typed in and was ready to hit Enter when she came to her senses. What was she going to tell them, that she was being stalked by a strange vehicle? She could go over there, see if it was Brit…
No, God no. She needed to go home, where the locks worked and there was no glass to break that wasn’t two stories off the ground, where…
She cranked the car.
Her route home was a straight shot, but Jess didn’t take it. She circled and backtracked, feeling like one of those spies on late-night TV as she tried to figure out if anyone was following her. After the attack, she’d moved—or rather, Steven and Cris had moved her. They hadn’t even put the apartment in her name, not yet. Nor her phone, utilities, anything of public record. It was all listed in Cris’s maiden name until they could figure out whether Brit would come back, whether he’d harass her. Apparently the answer was yes, but she wouldn’t make it easy. She wouldn’t lead him to her only refuge if she could help it.
Even with the air on full blast, she was sweating an hour later as she pulled into her apartment complex. A quick glance confirmed no SUVs in sight, black or otherwise, so she circled around the back of her building and parked her car where it couldn’t be seen from the road.
Get out.
Her fingers tightened on the door handle.
Get out.
