Page 53 of Piece You Saved

Someone is watching me.

I stare down the length of the garden, toward the black, twisted antique gates stretching into the murky blue and gray sky. There are too many bushes, weeds, and trees between the gates and me to see anything. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel something doing just that.

It can’t be Rylan. He wouldn’t be watching me. He’d be grabbing me.

But it could be.

I inch to the left, toward the backyard door I stepped out of minutes before, breathing in through my nose and out the same way so I can hear everything. Kade said there were motion sensors and cameras set up, but just because they’re there, doesn’t mean they’d stop Rylan from grabbing me if he were fast enough.

All he would have to do is throw himself over the gate, lunge toward me, and—

A hand grips my shoulder.

I shriek.

The hand tightens when I try to run, turning me toward a familiar face. Kade.

“Angel?”

There’s no answering him. My heart is in my throat, and I’m choking on it.

Concern creases the corner of his eyes, and he darts a glance over my shoulder. His gaze comes back to me, and he squeezes my shoulders as he asks, “Angel? Did you see something?”

Wriggling free, I brush past him, heading for the back door. “I’m okay.”

I’m not.

What I am is crazy, or if I’m not now, I soon will be. I came within a microsecond of losing my shit completely, and the worst thing of all is I had no reason to panic. The person who was watching me wasn’t someone peering at me through the gate. It was Kade, and he was watching over me in the other fucking direction.

What I need is to be somewhere where I can forget how close I am to the edge of sanity.

Kade grips my arm and holds on, forcing me to halt. “Hey! What is it?”

“Nothing,” I say. Another lie. “I just want to go inside.”

“I can smell your fear.”

Briefly, I close my eyes.

Of course he can.

Most girls wear perfume. My everyday scent is fear, if not outright terror.

I tug on his arm. “I want to go inside now.”

“Angel, if—”

I swing around now, angry. “I said I was fine. Back off.”

I’ve never snapped at him like this before. I’ve never tried to push him away. Right from the moment I laid eyes on him, I wanted him more than I ever wanted anyone.

How much closer have I crept toward losing my mind? Or how far did Rylan drag me to the edge?

Kade studies me for a long moment, and I know he’s trying to read me.

I throw up a shield behind my eyes and project a calmness I don’t feel. “I’m okay. You just startled me. That’s all.”

He doesn’t believe me. The deep lines creasing his brow call me a liar.

---