Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to see you around here again.” I take a photo of his license, then of his family, and he gasps. “Don’t go getting any ideas about figuring out who I am or thinking you can run and I won’t find you. I will. And then I’ll make you suffer even more because friends don’t run away from friends.” I toss him back his wallet, then get out of the car.
Tired of sitting in front of the trailer, I retrace my steps through the woods to the old gravel road where I hid my car. I drive to the Pizza Palace, park in a dark corner of the parking lot, and wait. I don’t want to go inside and tip Shai off that I’m around again. I doubt he’ll do much of anything after work, since he hasn’t the other nights, but you never know. If I don’t get anything from him, then I’ll have to pay Kat a visit.
I sign up for the dating app Kat’s on and browse her profile to learn as much about her as I can. She looks aged but young, if that makes sense. She had to be younger than Shai is now when she had him.
He gets off at ten tonight. I watch in my rearview mirror as he comes out, all bundled up in a coat and gloves. He goes straight to his trunk, digs around inside and pulls out a backpack, then climbs into the car and starts it. Once it’s warmed up, he pulls out of the lot, and I wait a moment before starting my car and following. I keep a good distance, not worried about losing him because he’s had a tracker on his car for two days now.
I really don’t have to go through all this reconnaissance with him. This isn’t what Cillian had in mind, and not a single part of me thinks he’s a danger to Ollie. He doesn’t know who we are, and he seems to sincerely want to be friends with Ollie, but…it’s killing me not to know his story and what he’s running from, if anything. I could see the unease in him when he looked at me, the fear he tried to hide and maybe doesn’t even realize is there. But he bites back, and I like that. Not many people give me that challenge.
Shai’s first stop is a gas station. I pull over in the grocery-store lot next door, close enough that I can see him put gas in his car, then go in and buy a soda and chips. He looks around nervously before getting back into his car and driving away.
Shai drives out of town, disappearing into the night, the distance between our cars growing as he pulls onto the interstate. “Where are you going?” I ask into my empty vehicle.
He drives about thirty minutes away, pulls off into a small nothing town, snow gently falling against the night. A dive bar is hidden off a slow two-lane street. It’s the only place in town that feels alive, like its damn heartbeat or something. But Shai doesn’t park there, instead continuing on for a bit before stopping on the side of the dark road. When I pass him, he’s behind his car, messing with the license plate.
What the fuck?
I keep going, watching the red blinking dot that indicates where he is, and a moment later I see him drive back to the bar and pull into the lot. He came all the way out here to drink? Meet someone? But that doesn’t explain whatever the hell he was doing with his license plate.
I turn around and head back that direction. I can’t pull into the lot without him seeing me, so I turn off my lights and stop on the side of the road, keeping enough distance that I can see the bar and Shai’s car, while hoping like hell no one drives by too fast and hits me.
Minute after minute ticks by, Shai sitting in his vehicle. My pulse speeds up, my curiosity getting the better of me. Maybe he just came here for a beer, but something isn’t adding up, and I definitely want to know what the fuck is going on.
A guy comes out, leans against the side of the building, pulling his beanie down over his head before lighting a cigarette. My gaze flicks to Shai in his car. The door slowly opens, and he comes out wearing…holy fuck. I sit up straighter, my skin suddenly on fire. He’s wearing a black hoodie and jeans, black mask over his head and face, gloves, just like the motherfucker who robbed me.
Before I even realize what I’m doing, I grab my gun and slip from the car, closing the door softly and keeping to the shadows. I can’t hear them, but I see the second Shai sneaks up behind the guy, gun raised—and if that motherfucker has my gun, I’m going to kill him even more slowly.