Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“Is there a problem here, Miss Jane?” he asks. “Do you need any assistance?”
Kylie drops the gun to the ground.
Ryder’s associate immediately picks it up, and he remains close by, watching and waiting.
My pulse thunders. How long have they been here? Watching? Waiting for a signal?
“If you do manage to remain alive…” Kylie’s voice cracks as she unlocks her car door. “Feel free to write to me from your prison cell.”
“Kylie, wait.”
“Word of advice from a former friend… Don’t ask for help when you don’t really want it.” She slides behind the wheel without another word, and then speeds away.
End of Episode 8
Don’t Get Comfortable
EPISODE 9
Autumn
Istare into the distance, waiting for Kylie to return to me, but her taillights dissolve into the highway’s red and white blur.
As the seconds slip into minutes, my mind spins endlessly. I remember that these men are far from the first to follow me since I’ve fallen into Ryder’s world, and I suddenly feel like I’m watching my character in a novel with third-person narration.
Autumn clutches her chest as it tightens, and reality slowly dawns. She’s just turned away her best friend again, this time for a man she barely knows…
What the hell is she thinking?
Taking out my phone, I call Kylie but it doesn’t ring.
It goes straight to voicemail.
I swallow the lump in my throat and try again. This time, I’m met with a message, “The number you’ve reached is not currently accepting calls.”
She’s blocked me.
Turning around, I walk past the dumpster and spot Ryder’s men sitting in a black car.
Unnerved, I approach and tap the window.
It slowly rolls down.
“Yes, Miss Jane?” the driver asks.
“Why is he making you follow me?”
He blinks.
“How long have you been working for him?”
No answer.
“If you’re being forced to serve as my unwanted shadow, you could at least speak to me.”
The man in the passenger seat keeps his gaze straight ahead while the driver adjusts a setting on the dashboard.
“I’m going to Target now. Will you be joining me there?”
“Target is closed at this time of night, Miss Jane,” the driver finally speaks. “There’s a twenty-four-hour Walmart two exits away.”
“I’d like for you not to follow me anymore,” I say. “And I’d like you to tell your boss that I don’t want to hear from him for a while.”
He blinks.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” I raise my voice. “Can you at least shake your head and act like I’m not speaking another language?”
He rolls up the window.
I tap the glass again, harder this time, but he stares ahead like he can’t hear.
Frustrated, I head to my car and try Kylie again before calling Ryder.
“Yes, Autumn?” he answers on the first ring.
“You just cost me my best friend.”
“Excuse me?”
“You have your men following me for no fucking reason.”
“I don’t do anything without a reason.”
“She’s not going to talk to me anymore because I was foolish enough not to…”
“Not to what, Autumn?”
I hesitate to answer.
“Since I clearly didn’t fuck you hard enough,” Ryder says, “what time would you like me to come by and fix this egregious mistake?”
“I’m being serious about you costing me a friend.”
“I can be there within an hour.”
“I don’t want to hear from you again until you tell me why you feel the need to invade my privacy and have me followed.”
Silence.
“Are you there?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says.
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
“Of course not,” he says. “But you should know that past behavior typically predicts future performance.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“That I don’t recall ever sitting you down for a tell-all conversation, so I doubt that would change anytime soon…”
“Well, don’t call me for any other conversations,” I say. “Thank you very much for the orgasms. I need time to be alone, and I wish you the best of luck with your criminal enterprise.”
“Autumn—”
I end the call before he can finish that sentence. Then I speed out of the lot.
As I merge into the farthest lane, I glance in my rearview mirror, waiting to see the headlights from his henchmen, but none appear.
Maybe Ryder finally called them off…
Up ahead in the emergency lane, there’s a car that looks similar to Kylie’s, but it’s not hers, and I can’t help but feel like this is the first of many signs that I’ve genuinely fucked up.
Tears prick my eyes as I envision the stunned look on her face, the true concern as she uttered, “Canadian situation.”
Even still, best friend or not, I never told her the truth about that…
Years ago, weeks before accepting Nate’s proposal, I was ready to perform with my high school symphony in Montreal.
The private audience was set to be filled with dignitaries and other acclaimed musicians; I’d secured the enviable fifteen-minute solo in Bach’s Chaconne from the 2nd Partita.
Even though fellow violinists considered that piece to be among the most difficult in our genre, I could play it in my sleep. The strings always came easy for me… a little too easy.