“Yeah, I do.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. Still there. “But I don’t think Mullineaux is the reason you’ve been looking over your shoulder.” Stopping at a red light, Aiden laid his hand on the back of her seat and turned to face her. “Don’t look now, but I’m guessing your problem is in the Cadillac XLR that’s been tailing us since we left the hospital.”
Kat started to twist in her seat and do the very thing he’d told her not to do, but he’d been ready for that. He caught her face with his right hand and leaned in close to make it seem like they were merely kissing. “I said not to look. Now face forward and pretend like you don’t know they’re there. Got it?”
She swallowed hard, then nodded her understanding just before the light turned green. Only a few blocks away from her apartment. He had to know what he was up against before he did anything.
“Are they here because of your boyfriend?”
She didn’t turn her head, but from the corner of his eye he saw her stiffen even more. “What do you mean?”
“He’s in prison. Are these his buddies looking to cause trouble for anyone they suspect might be taking his place while he’s in the big house?”
“Oh,” she said, studying her hands in her lap. “No, I don’t think they care one way or the other about that.”
He gave a quick nod. “Good. You want me to lose them?”
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“For multiple reasons.” Her tone was changing to one of aggravation. He liked that a hell of a lot better than the defeated one from before. “For starters, Mario Andretti couldn’t lose anyone driving this piece-of-crap car.”
“And if that wasn’t an issue?”
She shook her head and peered into the side mirror. “There’s nowhere to go where they won’t find me now. Even if I could hide out for a day or two, it would only be stalling the inevitable.”
Inevitable. He hated that fucking word.
Mark my words, one of these days you’re gonna hurt someone with that temper of yours. It’s inevitable.
Joey Patterson, his lifelong best friend, had been right. So goddamn right. And ever since, he’d done everything in his power to make sure it never came true again.
“What’s inevitable?” he asked. Keeping her eyes turned to the window was her only answer. Whatever hot water she was in, it couldn’t be anything small.
Aiden flexed his fingers and gripped the wheel until his knuckles blanched. He barely knew her, but the thought of anyone hurting this woman was enough to trigger his old instincts. He hadn’t felt the need to protect anyone since that night with Joey’s little sister— Don’t go there, asshole. Keep your head in this moment.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” he said as they passed the turn to her street, “but we’re gonna do things my way.”
“What exactly is your way?”
“I know you have no reason to trust me, but I wanna help you.” He glanced over to meet her speculative gaze. “Can you trust me, Kat?”
She didn’t speak for an endless half a minute where he counted the white dashes in the middle of the road like the ticking of a clock on fast-forward. Finally, she said, “What have I got to lose?”
Not the encouraging answer he’d hoped for, but it’d do for now.
Keeping to the speed limit, he continued until they got back to Lou’s. If these people were following her now, he could only assume they’d been following her before. Which meant they’d expect her to drop him off at the bar so he could pick up his bike and go home.
As he predicted, when Aiden turned into the parking lot, the Caddy kept going. They’d probably turn around a ways up the road, pull off to the side, and kill their lights while they waited for Kat to go back home.
He parked the Celebrity in the back and turned it off. “Come on,” he said.
She got out of the car and met him around the back. “We’re going to hang out at work? I’m no expert or anything, but if I had to guess, I’d say this plan kind of sucks.”
A wry grin twisted his lips. “That’s not the plan, kitten. Stay here a minute. I’ll be right back.”
Using his keys, he ducked into the back of the bar and grabbed his helmet out of his locker. Usually he rode his Panhead, but he’d been tinkering around with the engine, so lately he rode his Suzuki GSX-R1000.
He locked everything back up and crossed to where she stood by her car, arms crossed over her middle like she was trying to hold herself together.
“Put this on.” She accepted the royal blue helmet and followed him to his bike.
“Irish, I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but I don’t understand the point of going someplace new when they’ll just follow me there, too.”
Aiden unlocked his seat and retrieved the clear glasses to protect his eyes from the wind, since he didn’t have another helmet. After sitting astride the bike and knocking back the kickstand, he took the helmet and helped her put it on so she wouldn’t tear her stitches.