Free Almost Innocent by Carina Adams

flying. I was so pissed off, I almost didn’t see the car that pulled out of the empty lot next to where we’d been. The car that followed close enough not to lose me but far enough back that I wouldn’t notice. I took the long way back to my house, half convinced I was overly paranoid and imagining it.
    When it made the right turn onto my street after me, I knew we were being followed. I knew every car in my neighborhood, and the late model piece-of-shit Ford Taurus wagon didn’t belong there. The beat-up silver Mitsubishi Eclipse, parked on the street outside my neighbor’s house, proved I wasn’t going crazy. When my neighbors had company, they parked in their driveways, on the correct side of the gate, not out on the street.
    Someone was going to a shitload of trouble to make a point.
    Or they were going after Gabby.
    My mind whirled. It might be retaliation for today, but even those boys didn’t have the balls to come after me in my hometown. Not to mention that it was too early for blowback from that fiasco.
    It could be someone checking in on me—word travels fast in this business, and the fact that I’d lost so much money would be common knowledge by now. They’d want to make sure I wasn’t going to run. I hoped my Ireland family would have more faith in me than that, but money makes people do funny things.
    “Dec?” Gabby’s concerned voice broke through my inner monologue. “Where are you going?”
    I got to the end of my street and turned left, heading back toward the main road. “I’m driving you home.”
    “What in the hell is wrong with you? We’re right here. Take me to my car.”
    “Don’t move, but look in your mirror.”
    She glanced to the side as I pulled out my phone, hitting the contact without even looking down. Mark answered on the second ring, slightly out of breath and very irritated. His libido could wait—this was important.
    “There’s a car following me. Another parked outside my house.”
    Gabby’s head snapped back in my direction the same time Mark swore.
    “Where you at?” he asked.
    I rattled off the intersection I was approaching, telling him I was headed south.
    “On it.”
    I tossed the phone onto the seat next to me. “I’m taking you home.”
    “It’s two hours away. You’re already exhausted.”
    Fucking Gabby. Most women would be worried, scared even, asking questions that I couldn’t answer. Gabs was only concerned about how far I’d have to drive.
    I shrugged. “I’m not letting you drive yourself.”
    “What about my car?”
    “Where are the keys?”
    She held up her purse. “There’s a spare set in the glove compartment, but I think I locked it up.”
    “It’ll be in your driveway when you wake up tomorrow.”
    She didn’t respond. After ten minutes, another set of lights joined the one behind me, and the car following us disappeared. The panic in the back of my mind lifted, and I felt as though I could breathe again. I twisted the knob to turn on the radio, desperate to drown out the silence. We didn’t speak for the next two hours.
    When I got to her city, I almost drove straight to her house. I caught myself at the last minute, but not until after I had turned onto her street. Turning down the radio, I glanced at her. “You gotta tell me where to go.”
    “How’d you know I lived here?”
    “Your letters,” I replied, the lie rolling off my tongue. “But you gotta tell me which house.”
    “The last one on the left.”
    The house was pitch black when I pulled into her small drive and shut off my engine. “I’ll walk you in.”
    Gabby only nodded, pulling keys from her purse, and walked up the stone path onto the small farmer’s porch. She unlocked the door, opened it, and reached inside to flip on the outside light. “Thank you for driving me home. And for dinner.”
    I’d completely forgotten about the uneaten food. “You want me to check out the inside?”
    Her eyebrows rose, and she laughed bitterly. “I’m going to