I had my own key, so I let myself in, walked over to her couch and collapsed on it.
From the next couch Sandra said, “Wow, that must have been some date you were on.”
“It was,” I whispered.
“I’ll go get some wine. Start talking.”
17
Caleb
There was someone on our tail.
I had noticed the car as we turned at the first set of traffic lights after we left the restaurant.
My fists were clenched at my sides as I watched Willow go into the building, and when I was certain that she was safe inside, I got into my car and drove away.
I took a longer route home. The seconds morphed into minutes as I discreetly watched the rearview mirror, and soon enough the cream Honda that had been following us since we left the restaurant came back into my line of vision.
I had tried to see its plate number, but it was too dark to make out, so I decided to lead him down a quiet street. A few minutes later I put on my seatbelt and began to speed up, and the driver did the same so that he wouldn’t lose me. As we got to a lonely stretch of road I accelerated even more so that I had him on a dangerous enough momentum. Grabbing my steering wheel tightly, I slammed on my brakes, and my car screeched to a sudden stop.
Behind me, I heard the violent screeching of his vehicle as he slammed on his breaks to avoid the crash, but he hadn’t a hope in hell of stopping the collision. My halt had been too abrupt. His sedan crashed into the back of my car. The impact was brutal, my airbag burst into action as the sound of metal crunching with metal reverberated around me. I didn’t have time to dwell on the state of my car or myself.
I kicked my door open and ran towards his car. I could see the smoke emanating from the engine of the car behind me, and his windshield was shattered. I could hear his agonized moans from within the car, but when he looked up and saw me advancing, he scrambled around pathetically as he tried to get out of the car from the passenger side.
Just as he managed to wriggle out, I grabbed him by the back of his collar like he was a dog, pulled him out, and threw him against his car. His body hit the metal hard and his scream of pain pierced the night.
“Fucking hell,” he cursed as he slid to the ground.
I pulled him up, slammed his body back against the car, and grabbed him by the shirt, forcing him to stare at me. He was a thug with an unkempt stubble covering his face.
“Who sent you?” I snarled.
“You know who did,” he muttered. “I’m just meant to send the message that they have their eyes on you. They want you to let them know when you are set up so they can send their man over to your office for the … apprenticeship.”
I felt black rage grip my insides. I was so furious I wanted to kill him. How fucking dare they? How dare they ruin my life?
“You hurt me and you’re dead,” he said.
I let the anger go. He was just the messenger boy. Even so, I just couldn’t leave without taking my anger out on him. He had to pay for the damage he did to my car. I threw my fist and it rammed into his jaw.
He collapsed to the ground with a howl.
I looked down on his sprawled body and sent my own message. “Tell them this,” I said. “I am yet to make my decision, so they should wait to hear from me. However, if before then, I find out that I or anyone around me is being followed, then there will be no fucking deal. And no fucking apprenticeships. I will see this thing through to its fucking end. Let’s see who will be left alive after the dust settles.”
He moaned and I kicked him in the gut and he curled his body into a ball. “Did you get that?”
“I got it! I got it!” he sobbed.
I returned to my damaged car. I turned on the ignition and it roared into life. That was the beauty of German engineering. I sped away into the night.
18
Willow
Two days later
“That phone is going to melt if you keep staring at it like that,” Sandra mocked.
I lifted my head from the screen I had been peering at, and slipped it moodily back into my pocket. I was ashamed I had once again been caught staring at it, but it had become my very annoying habit over the last two days. I picked up a broom and began to sweep away the soil and bits of stem from under the table where Sandra had just repotted three plants.