She was running.
It could have been her own scream or the screech of the blue sedan’s tires. Whatever it was, it tore through her skull and blanketed out every other thing around her. All Riley knew was that the sidewalk was ending and the car next to her was chewing up the street. The car turned in front of her but the adrenaline coursing through her veins was still vaulting her forward. She jumped, the pads of her fingers digging into the hood of the car. The door kicked open and the driver was out as Riley scrambled over the hood. He lunged for her, his fingers lacing through her hair as it trailed behind her. She felt the sting of the pull, heard the strands as they tore out, burning her scalp.
She winced. Her feet hit the ground and another car screeched to a stop in front of her.
“Get in.”
Riley’s heart stopped when her feet did.
“Get in!” JD repeated, yanking her arm.
Somehow, she opened the door. Somehow, she sat down.
“Wha—how did you know?” Riley managed as JD slammed on the gas.
“Lucky guess,” he said, jaw set hard.
Riley slammed back in her seat and fumbled for her seat belt, her eyes checking the rearview mirror, catching the sedan behind them. The driver was staring straight forward. There was a deep frown cut into his face, and though his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, Riley was sure they were boring through JD’s back windshield, trying to cut through her.
“He’s following us! What are we going to do?”
JD didn’t answer; he just drove. He cut across streets and turned down ones Riley didn’t even know existed. Within moments, the blue sedan dropped out of view.
Once they were going at a normal pace—obeying traffic laws and stop signs—JD turned to her. “Are you going to tell me what that was about?” His words were clipped, voice tinged with exasperation.
Riley was still struggling to breathe. She clamped a hand over her mouth, fairly certain her heart would pop out if she tried to speak. She looked at JD and tried to force her shoulders to shrug, but she was completely disconnected. She expected JD to grumble at her or kick her out of his car. Instead, he reached into the backseat and handed her a semi-warm water bottle.
She cracked the seal and drank gratefully.
Finally, “Thank you. For…everything.”
JD grinned despite his previous veneer. “Hey, thank you. I’m always looking for a little adventure in my life.”
Riley folded herself forward, tucking her head between her legs and rolling the water bottle over the back of her neck. “If I ever ask for adventure in my life ever again, promise you’ll shoot me.”
“Will do.”
She popped her head back up as the car slowed down and scanned the horizon. “Where are we?”
Branches thunked against the rooftop and gravel popped under the tires until JD pushed the car into park. “Nowhere. Just an old frontage road. Seriously, Ry, what is going on with you?”
She swallowed hard. “Someone tried to attack me last night.”
“It seems like someone tried to attack you just now.”
Riley gritted her teeth. “I think someone is following me. I think someone is—is trying to hurt me. For revenge.” It sounded as crazy in her mind as it did out of her mouth.
“And this has to do with Jane?”
Riley perked up. “Jane. You said you found Jane’s brother, Tim.”
Jane and Tim O’Leary were two separate entities to Riley. She wasn’t Jane O’Leary and this whole thing wasn’t happening.
“Maybe. I mean, at least someone claiming to be her brother.”
Riley’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want to be Jane. She didn’t want to be Jane with a brother. Tim flashed in her eyes—his blue eyes that nearly matched hers, his strawberry blond hair just a few shades darker.
I can’t believe a stranger over my own parents. They only lied to me to keep me safe—because they had to.
“Why do you say someone claiming to be her brother? I mean, why would someone claim that?”
JD shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he wants Jane’s money or there’s an inheritance or something.”
Riley thought of her nice home, her parents’ nice cars. They were comfortable, but they weren’t rich. At least not rich enough to lie over.
“Who knows? People pretend to be other people for all sorts of crazy-ass reasons.”
Her first instinct was negative, but now she wasn’t really sure.
“So what did you find out about this Tim guy?”
JD twisted in his seat and dug in his backpack. “This.”
He hand Riley a curl-edged piece of printer paper, and Riley wished he hadn’t. She didn’t recognize the web address, but she recognized the picture—it was the man from the mall.