The Deal Changer (Book IV)

Chapter Three - Scream and Shout

                                                                                 Chapter Three

                                                                            Scream and Shout

HE WAS STILL THERE AFTER THIRTY MILES.

I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. I didn't expect him to actually come after me. Maybe send a few guards to monitor me, of course, but not come after me himself. He even left his guests behind, which was completely unlike him. I had actually been counting on Matthew being so caught up in the company that he wouldn't follow me. He has always been worried about his appearance and showing professionalism. Why is he chasing me?

My car was hitting over a hundred nearly the whole time, but Matthew's car seemed to stick on my bumper nearly the whole time. I couldn't see his expression because for one, he doesn't have a reflection in my mirror; two being his windows are so tinted, no one can see inside them. I knew I couldn't escape him because he always knows my location, thanks to a spell a witch put on me a few years back. But if I made a few shortcuts, I may get a few minutes alone.

The car behind mine made a hum, quickly growing into a growl as the speed increased. His car was faster than mine—I'm sure that was intentional when he bought mine—and he quickly drove next to me and rolled his window down. I refused to roll mine down, making it impossible to hear him. I did see him gesturing for me to pull over several times before he finally gave up and drove ahead of me.

When he slowed down in front of me, trying to get me to slow down, I felt this wave of panic shoot through my veins. It didn't occur to me until a minute later my panic was because of a memory from a few years ago. It was just like this, only less snow and a lot more humid. I was escaping from a deadly vampire, who happened to be the boyfriend of the girl I was supposed to assassinate for Matthew. I was injured and driving my rental as fast as I possibly could and then the vampire ended up in front of me and I couldn't avoid it. I died on that road, and Matthew found me and brought me back.

The memory of that night distracted me from the fact my car had been beeping like crazy. I looked down and noticed the fuel light was on and I had about five miles left to drive before I was out of gas. If I hadn't of just driven from my house to Matthew's, and hadn't of been speeding, I'd have had enough to get me to another state entirely. To make matters increasingly worse, I didn't have my wallet on me because I didn't think I'd need to when I went to socialize with Matthew's people. I also didn't have my cell phone, which I'm sure Matthew has blown up with all of his messages. I had no idea what to do. If I pulled over, I'd face Matthew. But clearly I couldn't not pull over because my car was about to die.

We were entering one of the small cities nearby where there were gas stations around. I didn't have money, but it was a public place where Matthew was unlikely to want to make a scene. I, on the other hand, might just make a scene.

I veered off the road and pulled into one of the parking spaces. Unsurprisingly, Matthew pulled into the spot next to mine and got out of his car. I thought about locking my door and ignoring him, but I knew he had a spare key to my car and I would just be prolonging the inevitable. So when Matthew opened my car door, I hopped out and stomped towards the gas station where people were going in and out of. But Matthew caught my wrist, keeping me from leaving his side.

"What the hell was that? You could have gotten yourself kill!" he hissed low enough to not draw attention.

I thought he was going to scold me for running out in front of his company, but he seemed more concerned with the speed I was going than anything. "Guess it'd be the third life taken tonight, huh?" I replied venomously, yanking my arm away from him.