Page 4 of Flirting With Forever
“Yeah. She was parked over in the shadows, but I made her move so we can keep an eye out for her.”
The cop nodded. “You’re a good man, Gage.”
He rubbed a hand over his neck and squeezed to relieve the tension. “Not sure about that, but I am a tired one.”
“You look it. Go home and get some rest. We’ll watch out for her.”
Gage tapped the desk twice and then turned. “Thanks for the help, Bruce.”
Gage left the station and headed for home. On the way, he passed Hudson’s truck parked outside the fire station.
He shook his head, not understanding why Hudson would have bothered with getting a business degree only to chuck it all away to train to be a firefighter and EMT.
His kid brother had always been his right hand whenever he needed extra help, but with Hud in training, Gage scrambled to know his hand from his foot on a good day.
He made it home and stripped as he headed to the bathroom. He tossed his shirt toward the hamper only to see it miss and fall to the floor. Figures. Par for the course these days.
He kept going, wanting only to brush his teeth and crawl into bed.
Minutes later, his head hit the pillow, and he opened his phone to pull up the video feed of the building. She was still there, parked in the spot with a perfect camera view.
He upped the motion sensor settings and then upped the volume just in case so the alert would definitely wake him.
Then he closed his eyes with a groan, drifting off to sleep with the memory of big eyes and pretty freckles.
Chapter Two
Sloane Harrington hadn’t intended to sleep in her car again, but there she was: uncomfortable, sweaty, and groaning from stiffness as she shifted on the rocklike backseat of the old Chevy.
She’d traded her last vehicle for this one and gotten screwed over in the process because the guy had obviously sensed her desperation. Still, she wondered if maybe the next time she should try to get a minivan. An air mattress in the cargo space had to feel better than this. Because right now?
Everything hurt.
From the tightness in her shoulders and neck, down her back, to the way she’d had to sleep with her legs curled due to not having space to stretch out, she hurt, and it made her moan to think of the days when a ninety-minute massage at a local spa with school friends was a regular thing.
Giving up on the pretense of sleep, she looked at her regular old watch and moaned again. She wasn’t sure what time the guy would be back, but she needed to get out of there before the sun rose and revealed her to curious eyes.
The cops had driven by several times last night, but they hadn’t paused or told her to leave. Which made her wonder if this space was regularly taken by a vehicle and the norm—which was why the guy from last night had told her to park there instead?
She needed a bathroom.
Correct that.
She needed a shower after sleeping in a sweat box all night. It might be early November, but humidity was still a thing in North Carolina.
Sloane pulled out her phone and did a quick search only to see the gym chain where she had a membership wasn’t anywhere close. Not that she could use it. Knowing her family, they’d be on the lookout for any signs of life. Her membership code would likely ping her location as easily as credit card use.
“This’ll be cold,” she muttered with a soft groan. But a dip in the Atlantic would have to do for now. Unless she found one of those public sand showers nearby? Didn’t all beach towns have those? It wouldn’t have hot water, but at least then her shower wouldn’t be salty.
Neither option appealed, but she’d do whatever she needed to because she knew better than to sleep in her car with the windows down. Even cracked was a danger because there were some sick and twisted people in the world. She’d learned that the hard way in Charlotte when a guy demanding she let him inside got mad at being rejected. She’d just climbed into the front to go find a new spot when he’d thrown a lit cigarette through the cracked window into a box of her belongings. While he’d drunkenly tried to break the window and force his way in, she’d had to put out the fire and then get away. Lesson learned. She’d rather be hot.
She threw on a loose sundress, grabbed a sweater for the undoubtedly cold trek back and left the safety of her car after looking around. Carolina Cove seemed to be a sleepy little island town, but that didn’t mean there weren’t still dangers. The drunks and miscreants were one thing, but she could’ve sworn she saw a coyote last night. A big one, too.
A few car motors broke the silence as she walked between buildings and headed toward the sound of crashing waves. On the way, she spotted a utility truck and saw a man unlocking a building with a sign for public restrooms.
She shifted uncomfortably and bounced on her toes as she waited for him to move on. Then she made quick use of a stall before deciding to take her chances with a hurried sponge bath since the restroom was otherwise empty due to the early hour.
She stripped to her sports bra and shorts, knowing they covered more than a bathing suit, and did her best to rid herself of the layer of sweat coating her skin from the humidity of the car. The act cleared the last of the cobwebs from her brain and left her shivering in her flip-flops as she went back into a stall to finish her bath and dress.
