When the light turned green, I floored it like a hero in an action movie, foolishly thinking that I could outrun him this time.
Allowing Derek to get behind me again was my first mistake.
Calling Ryan after I’d just stormed out on him was my second.
I wouldn’t get the chance to make a third.
Crash into Me
Ryan
I was going out of my damn mind. Sofia had run into my arms and just as quickly run away again, telling me it had been a mistake.
I stood outside and watched her drive off, noticing as Derek’s truck followed soon after. She’d said she shouldn’t have come here, but the gnawing feeling in my gut told me otherwise. Here was exactly where she was supposed to be.
I couldn’t shake the bad feeling. She’d been gone for less than five minutes, and I still didn’t know what the hell to do. My phone was firmly gripped in my hand, my finger poised to open the app I could use to track her phone.
“I gotta go after her,” I said to Frank, who nonchalantly waved a hand toward the door.
“Then go.”
“I mean it,” I said, hoping he’d tell me I was overreacting. But then again, Frank hadn’t seen Sofia when she came running in here, tears streaming down her face. He’d been in the office with the door closed, and only came out once he heard me shouting and running after her.
“So do I,” he said.
Torn, I started pacing, practically wearing a hole in the floor with my indecision. If I chased her and I was wrong, she could lose Matson, or at least have to gear up for one hell of a custody battle. She’d never forgive me if I was the one who made that happen and it didn’t go her way.
Sofia hadn’t exaggerated about the Huntington family’s power and reach. I’d learned as much during my research I started on them after the night she broke up with me. She was right to be worried. It was part of the reason why I’d stayed away instead of showing up at her house every night like I wanted to.
Aside from the email I’d sent this morning, I hadn’t contacted her at all these past weeks. It killed me that she didn’t write back. I hadn’t expected her to, but I still thought she might. Or maybe I just hoped that she would? Wondering if she missed me the way I missed her was absolute torture.
Not having answers to the questions that plagued my mind was maddening. And disappearing from her life and Matson’s these past three weeks with no communication at all was tearing me apart.
I missed them, both of them, and drove myself crazy wondering what she’d told Matson in my absence. Had he asked about me? Did he think I abandoned him? Questions like those kept me up at night, tossing and turning in my bed.
My cell phone vibrated, and Sofia’s contact info flashed on my screen.
“Sofia? Are you okay?”
“He won’t stop chasing me, Ryan. I’m driving so fast, but I can’t lose him. I’m scared.”
She sounded terrified, and I hated myself for letting her get in the car and drive away tonight instead of stopping her. I should have confronted Derek and made him end this charade once and for all.
“I’ll be right there, Sofia. Sofia?” I yelled, but the call had already ended. “Sofia!” I shouted into the void.
Pressing Start on the tracking app, I watched as the red dot that represented her car appeared. I held my breath, waiting to see if it would move or not. When it did, I glanced at Frank, who looked more worried than I’d ever seen before.
“What is it?”
“He’s chasing her. I have to go.” I held up my phone.
His eyes widened when he recognized the app. “Go! Be careful, and call me as soon as you’re safe.”
I ran from the bar, my eyes locked on my phone’s screen. I jumped in my car and started it quickly, cursing at the navigation system to hurry up and sync with my phone. Finally, the red dot that represented Sofia’s location appeared on my much larger dashboard screen.
Seeing it move as I tore out of the parking lot stressed me out. How the hell was I going to reach her before Derek did? What if he hurt her? I raced in their direction, my stomach knotted with fear, my mind racing with more what ifs than I could process. I refused to think the worst. I couldn’t.
But when her dot stopped moving, a whole new level of stress filled me.