Chapter 11
Oaklyn slammed the door and then looked at it. It might never open again. Leaning over, she opened the glove box and pulled out some wipes. She had to slap it three times to get it to close again. She should have known better than to relax. It had been too easy to find him, and he agreed too fast. Oddly enough, she wasn’t mad at him. If it had been her and someone found her and told her what she had—she would have taken off too. She was a bit miffed about the tire. He could have not done that.
“Alrighty.” She put her hands on the steering wheel. “Where are you going, Mister Sanders?” She gnawed on her lip for a moment. He would want her to think he was going to Chicago. That was too easy. Anyone else would head that way. She wasn’t like others.
Starting the car, she waited for the rough idle to settle down and then put it in gear and did a U-turn. He’d head toward the factory. At least, that’s what she would do. She hadn’t looked at the map, but she had a general direction, so that’s where she was going.
She drove out of town slowly, keeping an eye on her surroundings, hoping her gut would tell her which way he took. He was smart enough to stay off the road, so that left dredging through the snow in fields.
When she reached the sign that told her she was leaving this town. She stopped and looked around. There was what looked like a swampy forest on one side and a hill on the other. No one with a brain would try to run through snow covering what could be a waist-deep swamp.
“Dang it.” Shoving the gearshift into park. She got her phone out of her pack. She’d told Calum she would have him by now. And she had. She brought up his number and typed a message to him and told him that he had run off on her and she would find him again and get back to him.
Tucking the phone into the cupholder, she blew out a breath. What was he running from? She knew what it was like to be so scared that you had to keep moving all the time.
Oaklyn swore softly as she started driving again. She’d told him about Calum Dante and the factory, so he would know that she was on the level. She cursed again. She should have shown him the message from Calum. People could fake knowledge just by saying a few things that most would fit together with the facts and believe them. Mister Zain Sanders wasn’t one of those people. She had respect for him.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take a piece of his hide for making her change her tire in the cold snow. He deserved that.
Her phone vibrated in the holder. She glanced at the message before it disappeared. She snorted. Calum sent back, Call me next time. “I know that now.” She mumbled.
She took the first right turn she came to. If she could get to the next town before him, then she could be sitting there waiting on him when he got there. She nodded. Scared or not, she wasn’t letting some man mess up all she had been working toward. “With the Alliance’s protection, I will never have to think about home again.” At least that was the lie she was going to keep telling herself.
Twisting the radio dial, she clenched her teeth together and turned it back and forth until it turned on. When it did, she stabbed a few buttons until some music played. Silence was hell when you didn’t want to remember bad things.