Confused, she stared at him. “What?”
“We’re being followed.”
“Oh, my God!” She twisted to look out the rearview mirror. “Who is it?”
“No idea.” Her reaction dumbfounded him. He’d half expected her to laugh, to say he was being paranoid. Instead, she’d shot straight into panic mode. “Hang on, babe. I’m going to lose him.”
She said “Wha—” as he accelerated around a corner, and the word ended in a gasp.
Grabbing the door, she braced herself as he took another right, then a sharp left. His tires squealed obscenely loud in the dark, quiet hours of the night.
He stepped on the gas, barreling through a yellow light on the empty street and turning again down a narrow road. Killing the car lights, he pulled into a parking lot and stopped, but kept the car idling just in case he had to gun it out of there.
Arm on the back of the seat, Rowdy looked over his shoulder, watching.
Voice trembling, Avery whispered, “What are we waiting for?”
Concentrating, Rowdy didn’t answer her, and half a minute later, the car sped past them on the main road. A fancy new model, silver, four-door hybrid. Facing forward again, lights still out, he put the car in Drive and turned.
Who the hell would be following him, and why? It was bad enough that it happened, but with Avery along for the ride? Heads would roll.
In a killing mood, he asked, “You okay?”
She stared at him for too long before saying, “Yes. You?”
“I’m fine.” Why wouldn’t he be? Taking back roads, he got them on track again. She still looked shaken, her eyes a little too wide, her shoulders stiff. He remembered how nervous she’d been outside the bar, watching the darkness as if the boogeyman might jump from the shadows.
He didn’t take Avery for a timid woman easily spooked. Something else was going on.
When he reached over and put a hand on her knee, she didn’t pull away. “Sorry about that.”
She hugged herself. “You’re sure the car was following us?”
“Afraid so.” He’d spot a tail every time. It was like his senses kicked into gear, alerting him. “Hazard of my life. You can’t live as I have and not make a few enemies along the way. Course, it could’ve just been someone who recognized the car. It has a previous history all its own.”
Avery looked around at the late-model Ford. It ran well, but the interior had seen better days. “What does that mean? Did you win the car in a card game, too?”
“No, but I bought it cheap from a guy who lost in a card game and needed some fast cash before he got beat with a tire iron.”
She stared at him agog. “You’re not joking.”
“No.” A million stars lightened the skies to a smoky gray and more traffic joined him on the road, but no one else followed. “Who knows what else he was into?”
Not that it mattered. Whoever had been behind them didn’t realize what he’d started. He’d find the bastard and put an end to the cat-and-mouse game before Avery was further upset.
“Fascinating.”
“You don’t sound scared.” Not anymore. He gave her knee one final squeeze and returned both hands to the wheel. Avery wasn’t the typical frail cookie who fainted at the first sign of danger. She wasn’t a hardened ballbuster, either, immune to the plight of others.
In so many ways, under so many situations, she surprised him again and again.
“I was scared.”
“I know.” And still she’d handled it well. No real hysterics. She hadn’t freaked out and distracted him. She hadn’t even complained about the insane way he drove.
“Not that scared,” she said, sounding peeved. “Mostly I’m curious.”
“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” So far she’d wanted to know everything about him. And wasn’t that a kicker? Women usually only wanted to know how to get him into bed, and occasionally how to keep him afterward. They cared no more about his past, his motivations or aspirations, than he cared about theirs.
With still-trembling fingers, she tucked her hair behind her ears. “I know I said I wouldn’t keep grilling you....”
“We’ll be at your place in another five minutes.” He could have made it in two, but no way in hell would he risk having his past follow her there. He’d continue with the jumbled route just in case. “Ask whatever you want until then.”
“You’re sure?”
Being frank with her, Rowdy said, “If I don’t want to answer, I won’t.”
His honesty brought her brows down in a frown. “You won’t lie to me?”
“Nope.” At least, not this time. If it ever became necessary, well then...
“What about the bar?” She pulled one knee up to the bench seat and twisted toward him. “How’d you get it? You did a quick turnaround with the sale.”
And here it had felt unending to him, waiting to see if he’d get the liquor license, if he’d pass the background check. He knew he’d gotten lucky, and that having a cop for a brother-in-law had helped expedite things. “I made the owner a cash offer he couldn’t refuse.”
She tipped her head. “Cash?”
“It’s not like I’ve had a lot of need to spend what I make.” In the past, he’d kept Pepper as comfortable as he could, bought the most basic necessities and paid as he went for everything else. “When you have little, you spend little to maintain.”