I whirled around. “Stop!”
He froze about a few yards from me. “You can’t just leave, Shi.”
Colt came outside next and walked briskly toward me.
“Please stay back,” I ordered with my hand out. I looked out at the street, searching for any sign that Mr. X was nearby. The hair on the back of my neck had been standing up since I’d seen the text.
“Why do you look scared?” Colt asked.
I looked back at them. If they knew, they wouldn’t let me go. If I stayed, he’d kill them to get to me. “I need some space.” I took a step back.
“You don’t need space. We need to work through our shit,” Creed snapped as he took a step forward.
“Please just give me some time,” I begged as I took another step back.
Colt studied me intently. “What’s going on, babe? You’re not acting right.”
“Maybe Knox is right. Maybe I need to just focus on me right now.” I hated the words the moment they left my mouth.
“Fuck Knox!” Creed snapped. “I want to know exactly what he did to fuck everything up.”
“Creed,” Colt said sullenly.
“Don’t start with me,” Creed seethed at his twin. “Our girlfriend came out of his bedroom madder than I’ve ever seen her. I want to know what went down. I want to know why they were talking about sex.”
They both looked at me and I tried to not let anything show on my face.
“Did you have sex with him, Shi?” Creed asked.
Would a hand job be considered some form of sex?
“Holy shit.” Creed gaped and I realized my lack of response had made him draw his own conclusion.
“I’m still a virgin, Creed,” I said.
Creed looked relieved. Colt, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes. “You two still did something.”
“Why don’t you go and ask him?” I snapped and moved to leave.
“We’re not done, Shi,” Creed said.
“Yes, we are!” I bellowed. I needed to leave. “Just give me some space.”
Colt looked defeated. “Will you check in, so we know you’re alright?”
I nodded.
Colt grabbed Creed’s arm and a look passed between them. “Let her go,” Colt said.
Creed jerked his arm from Colt’s grasp and stormed back into their house.
“I’ll check in later,” I said before Colt could say anything more and I went to my car. He watched me climb in, back out of my driveway, and drive away.
I kept looking in my rearview mirror as I tried not to speed through the neighborhood.
What am I going to do? I kept asking myself over and over.
At a stop sign, I reached into my bag and grabbed my phone. I quickly looked at the time the text had been sent to me and saw that it had been sent last night around ten. We’d gotten home around ten. That meant he’d probably seen me be carried into the guys’ house. If he knew about the guys…
Oh, no.
I needed to call Logan. I clicked the phone app and scrolled through it for his number. Once I found it, my finger hovered over it. What if the text was a wrong number? What if it was a trap to get Logan to come out here and show Mr. X where I was?
I tossed my phone on the passenger’s seat and slammed my hands on the steering wheel. Something flipped inside me and all I could feel was rage. I let loose a roar and slammed my hands on the wheel again and again. I embraced the hurt in my palms, let it travel up my arms, and expelled it with my screams. I didn’t stop until I was hoarse.
I sat there breathing laboriously and I thought of a plan. I couldn’t leave the guys. If Mr. X had seen me with them, he might kill them or use them to lure me out if I ran.
Mind made up, I grabbed my phone from where I’d thrown it. I pulled up the message again and typed a reply.
THEN COME AND FUCKING GET ME.
I turned the wheel and went back home. After I parked in my driveway, I reached under my seat and pulled out a 9mm I had tucked under it. Next, I reached back in my bag and grabbed my anklet tracker. I fastened it around my ankle before I climbed out of my car. I hid my gun between my body and my bag as I walked toward my front door. I stayed alert until I got the door unlocked and went inside.
The alarm beeped, which I took as a good sign. I quickly tossed my bag on the couch and went to disarm the alarm. My fingers hesitated for a second at the sight of dried blood on the keys. I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to think about last night. I put in the code to disarm it and rearmed it again.
Clutching my gun in both hands, I crept through each room and looked in every closet. I even looked under my bed and behind my shower curtains in both bathrooms. When I felt satisfied that no one was in the house, I went to each window and door and double-checked they were all locked. I went into the panic room and turned on the two computer monitors. Boxes appeared, splitting the screens. Each box showed where a camera was pointed around the entire house. There wasn’t a blind spot and even my car was in direct view of a camera.