“He told Tony, Tony told Carla, Carla told me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, beginning to sound more hysterical and definitely louder.
“I don’t know. Maybe because you’d sworn off men stating you’d never, never, never, never get involved with another one again. I like Ren. He’s a good guy. You can be a bitch to guys. Ren doesn’t deserve that. He deserves a woman who hasn’t vowed fidelity to her vibrators.”
I had to ask, why me?
It was on this thought that we were bumped from behind. Not a big bump but we all jerked forward and snapped back.
I looked in the rearview mirror. It was another SUV. I couldn’t tell the make because it was too close. The person driving it was a man. He had dark hair but that was about all I could make out before he started to reverse.
“We’ve been rear-ended,” Shirleen stated the obvious.
I watched him reverse thinking that was weird then he came forward again.
“Holy crap. He’s gonna –” I started to say.
BAM!
He rear-ended us again, this time a lot more than a bump. Everyone jerked forward harder and snapped back.
Shit!
“What the hell?” Daisy asked.
I watched as he reversed, I looked forward and the light turned green. I slammed the Range Rover in gear and I put the pedal to the floor.
“Oh my God! What’s going on?” Sissy cried, looking behind her.
“I don’t know. Is everyone buckled in?” I asked.
“Do you know that guy?” Daisy was looking to our rear as well.
“No. Now, I asked, is everyone buckled in?” I shouted, driving like a demon.
“I’m in,” Shirleen answered.
“Me too,” Daisy said.
“Yes,” Sissy added.
I saw the light in front of us turn red.
“Shit!” I shouted as I braked, looked in the rearview mirror and saw the SUV behind us wasn’t slowing. “Brace!” I yelled.
We had a split second to brace then, BANG!
“What’s going on?” Sissy screeched.
“Go! Go, go, go!” Shirleen shouted.
The guy behind us was reversing again.
“I can’t. It’s red,” I said.
“Lay on your horn, girl, and go,” Shirleen yelled.
The guy started coming again. I laid on my horn and went. As I entered the intersection, cars screeched and swerved. To avoid one, I pulled a left into the heavy, three-lane traffic on Hampden Avenue.
“Don’t stop, just go, keep honking and drive,” Daisy advised.
I did as I was told, weaving in and out of traffic. I went fast, cars honked, swerved out of my way, threw me gestures and the whole time the SUV followed me.
“I can’t shake him!” I cried.
“Keep drivin’,” Shirleen told me.
“I’ve done this before, I got experience. Go to a police station,” Daisy said.
“I can’t!” I yelled.
“Why not?” Sissy screeched.
“If I go to a police station then Luke will know I’ve been out and he’ll freak.”
“Better Luke freaks than we die,” Shirleen put in.
Easy for her to say, she wasn’t facing “payment” and “punishment” tonight.
Hell and damnation.
“Hold on!” I shouted and then I drove faster, weaved more and on the overpass to I-25 at the last minute I swung a huge, tight, very illegal uey.
It was not good at all to swing a huge, tight uey on a highway overpass in an SUV.
SUVs rolled easily. Very easily.
We teetered on two wheels, visions of us flipping over the overpass onto the busy highway below flying through my head, every last one of us screamed at the top of our lungs, we slammed back down on four wheels and I motored.
The SUV following us missed the uey and I kept driving like a madwoman, bent over the wheel, eyes glaring at the road.
I drove this way for awhile then Sissy said quietly from beside me, “Ava, you’re kind of scaring me.”
I slowed.
“I think we lost him,” Daisy murmured, looking behind her.
“Shee-it,” Shirleen breathed.
“I need cookies,” I declared.
*
I dropped a shaking Sissy off. She wandered into her Dad’s house looking dazed.
Shirleen and Daisy followed me to Luke’s. I went in and they drove off, Daisy behind the wheel of my Range Rover.
The back of the Range Rover was damaged. Shirleen and Daisy were taking it to “a friend” so he would fix it, thus hiding the evidence from Luke that I’d been out, doing stupid shit and getting into trouble.
I went up to the loft directly to my computer, flipped it on and decided to work and not think about any of this.
I had no idea who this new person was who was after me and I was just going to pretend it didn’t happen. I was going to find a happy place in my mind and live there forever. I was going to forget about hot guy, macho man Luke Stark wanting to get in my pants, about Dominic Dickhead being a jerk, Uncle Vito ordering people to be murdered and me to be kidnapped, and the upcoming call from Ren Zano, which would lead to a big wedding and lotsa babies.