was being chased. Well, shit. Not what I needed. I was having so much fun. Hank deserved that. He did. He was a rat bastard. I did not want to go to jail over this. Plus my momma would be pissed.
“Hey!” the deep voice called out again. What did he expect me to do? Stop and let him catch me? Not likely.
Other voices came from the distance. Great. He was drawing a crowd. I turned off the path I’d followed earlier and headed deeper into the woods. I wouldn’t have this cover for long. I’d be coming out onto a back road in a few more feet. I couldn’t get my truck because it was outside my momma’s house. I needed everyone to think that was where I was. I’d have to stay on foot and beat anyone there. Dang it.
I couldn’t hear the sound of anyone else’s feet hitting the ground, so either I’d lost them or they were talented in the art of stealth. Breaking out of the wooded area, I stopped on the side of the road. It was deserted.
Glancing back, I saw no one. Hank would know who to come looking for, but he would have no proof. Smiling, I took a deep breath. That would be the end of us. Finally. After what I’d done, Hank would never forgive me, so I wouldn’t be tempted to go running back to him. He’d hate me now as much as I hated him.
“JESS!” Hank’s familiar voice roared. Spinning around, I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him running through the woods behind me. Shit. Shit. Shit. He’d come after me. How’d he find out so fast? Panicking, I looked around to see where I could run to hide from him. There was nothing but miles and miles of road. No houses, nothing.
Headlights came around the corner, and I did the only thing I could think of: I ran out into the middle of the road and started waving my arms in the air, still holding on to Rock’s bat.
The car started slowing down and cut the bright lights. Thank God.
Wait . . . was that a Porsche? What the hell?
JASON
All I could see was a girl dressed in tight black clothing with lots of long blond hair, and she was standing in the middle of the road . . . holding a baseball bat. Only in Alabama did stuff like this happen. Stopping before I hit her, I watched as she ran over to the passenger-side door and knocked. The wild, panicked look in her eyes might have been disturbing if they weren’t a bright, clear blue with thick black lashes. I pressed the unlock button, and she jerked the door open and climbed inside.
“Go! Go! Go!” she demanded. She didn’t even look my way. Her eyes were focused on something outside. I turned my attention to the side of the road, where she was watching with such intensity. There was nothing. . . . Then a guy came bursting out of the woods with an angry snarl on his face and I understood. No wonder she was terrified. The guy was huge and looked ready to murder someone.
I shifted gears and took off before he got any closer.
“Oh my god, thank you. That was so close.” She let out a sigh of relief and leaned her head on the headrest.
“Should I take you to the police station?” I asked, glancing over at her. Had he attacked her before she’d gotten free?
“Definitely not. They’ll probably be looking for me in about ten minutes. I need you to take me home. Momma will cover for me, but I gotta get there quick.”
They’d be looking for her? Her mom would cover for her? What?
“It ain’t like he’s got any proof. The only thing I dropped was the ski mask, and it was a cheapo I bought at the Goodwill a couple of Halloweens ago. Not something he can trace back to me.”
I slowed the Porsche down as her words started sinking in. I hadn’t just saved a girl from being attacked. If I understood this babbling correctly, I had just become the getaway car driver.
“Why’re you slowing down? I need to get to my momma, like, now. She’s just two miles from here. You go up to County Road Thirty-Four and turn right, and then you take it about three-fourths of a mile to Orange Street and take a left. It’s the third house on the right.”