Page 125 of My Dark Prince
“Damn tailgaters, always up to no good.”
The Uber driver stroked his thick mustache, curling his fingers tighter around the steering wheel. At his words, I craned my neck and peered through the back window. A sporty Fiat surged dangerously close to us, almost kissing our bumper. The driver flashed his headlights, signaling us to stop at the curb.
Nothing but heavy woods and pitch darkness surrounded us. The windy road snaked toward the city, completely empty except our Prius and the Fiat. Pine trees sprouted from either side. If he rammed into our car, no one would save us.
I pulled out my phone, unlocking the screen. “Should I call the cops?”
“What the heck is his problem? He’ll get us all killed.” My elderly driver sped up, both hands tight on the wheel. “Yeah. Call the cops, sweetheart.”
“Wait.” My heart stuttered. “Can you see his face?”
You’re such a masochist, Briar.
I didn’t recognize the Fiat. But on the off chance itwasOliver, I couldn’t bring myself to report him. In fact, the possibility of him chasing after me pleased me.
I seriously needed to get back in touch with my therapist.
“Not really.” The Uber driver squinted at his rearview mirror. “Can’t make much out of his face. He’s wearing a black mask and a baseball cap. His hair is long, though.” He shimmied his mouth from side to side. “Fair hair. Curly, maybe.
Handsome fella. Young-ish. Riffraff, probably. They vacation here from time to time.”
No way.
No freaking way.
“Pull over,” I ordered, my heart cartwheeling in my chest.
“What?” His lips collapsed into a scowl. “Why?”
“Please. Just do it.”
He released a short sigh, rubbing his mouth. “Fine. But I’m counting it as an additional stop. You’re going to have to change it on the app.”
“Okay.”
“And you better five-star me, lady.”
He signaled to the right and pulled up to the shoulder. The Fiat followed suit, parking behind us. I got out of the backseat and slammed the door, rounding the trunk toward the other car. The driver got out, and all the air in my lungs rushed out.
Sebastian.
He left his wing.
He left the house.
“You’ve got some nerve. You know that?” He balled his fists, shoving them into his jacket pockets. “Up and leaving without saying goodbye like that.”
Seb trudged back and forth, refusing to look me in the eye. His entire body quivered, and I knew it wasn’t from the cold.
Oh, Seb.
He reminded me so much of the kid that used to follow me and Oliver around as we played pretend pirates on the jungle gym and raced each other down slides. Before he became the star student athlete, he was the only baby brother I’d ever known.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, meaning it. I hugged myself, feeling the urge to hughim, but he would recoil if I did. “I meant to say goodbye. It was all very sudden …”
“You didn’t.” He raised his hand to adjust the ball cap on his head. No one could see what he looked like. Not that anyone had passed this road in the past five minutes. “Howlong have you planned this for? How long have you had your memory back?”
“I remembered after I returned from Baylor,” I admitted. “On the lake. It just slammed back into me, and all of a sudden, those scraps of memories I couldn’t make sense of made all the sense in the world.”
