Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 2] chapter twenty-four: alex becomes a smitten kitten

As I walked, the warm gentle breeze outside was blowing my hair around, so I leafed through my bag to find a hair tie. I found a small black hair tie but when another gust of wind blew past me, I dropped it on the sidewalk. I knelt down to pick it up, casually peering over my shoulder as I did, and I froze when I saw a car a few metres behind me, stopped in the middle of the road. Slowly, I stood up and walked very cautiously. Much to my surprise, the car lurched forward, matching my pace. I sped up and so did the car, but when I slowed down it did the same. My heart was beating against my chest and my palms got clammy as I recalled the car from a couple of days ago. I continued walking, pretending like nothing was wrong although I paused my music to ensure I could hear the car. 

When I caught sight of the café not too far ahead, my walk turned into a sprint, the car following closely behind. I ran into the parking lot, and the car did the same, making a sharp turn and stopping in front of me. The windows were too tinted for me to see inside, but my breathing hitched as the car closed in on me. I took a step back, mentally plotting an escape route, but another car that must have been following the both of us stopped behind me, also with the same tinted windows. I gulped as the door to the car in front of me slowly opened, but fate just happened to be on my side today.

A loud honking sound made me jump and the person in their car close the door. Behind the car was a truck with two angry-looking men inside. "Move up!" the driver yelled through his open window as he honked the horn. "It's our lunch break and we're hungry!"

Now that we had potential witnesses, both cars drove off, leaving me with the strange and hungry truckers. Without wasting a moment of hesitation, I ran across the parking lot and inside the café.

Holden, who was in the middle of wiping down the counter, smiled when he saw me. "Take a seat at the bar and I'll grab you a menu."

With shaky legs, I walked up to the front counter. Holden continued cleaning but when I didn't sit down, he looked at me with a confused expression.

"I saw it again," I said in a hushed voice.

He set his cleaning rag down, his eyebrows furrowed. "What did you see?"

I swallowed hard. "The car. It cornered me in the parking lot."

His expression turned stoic. "Where?"

"It's gone now."

"We have to tell someone," he urged. "We should call the cops."

I folded my arms across my chest, hugging myself in an attempt to calm my nerves. "I don't know, Holden."

"What about Adam?" he offered.

I cocked an eyebrow. "So my mom can find out? Hell no."

He looked at me before peering over his shoulder at his colleague. "Pete, can you cover for me?"

Pete, who was a nerdy and lanky teenager, glared at Holden. "Who's going to do my job then, wiseass?"

Instead of arguing, Holden clapped his shoulder. "Thanks, buddy, you're the best!"

He hopped over the counter —a habit Mr. Rollins absolutely despised— and walked out of the café, me following in tow. None of the cars were in sight when we went outside and got into his car, and for that I was relieved. The entire drive home I peered out my window, eyeing any car or person who looked suspicious. Holden must have gotten fed up at some point because he put my window up using the driver controls.

"The driver has too much power."

"You're just going to fill yourself with worry if you do that," he chided, ignoring my comment.