Dangerous Boy

Chapter Thirty

"I won't be long."

*

One of my hands hold the carton of milk and the other holds the aspirin. I'm well aware of the two men who have been following me down the aisles since I arrived. They've been staring at me, even when I turn around they still stare - it's like they both want me to know they're watching me.

It doesn't help that they're both dressed in black, they're large men with hard faces and they intimidate me straight away. I hold my cellphone closely to me as I place the items on the counter, smiling nervously at the young cashier as she scans them.

I hand her the money and almost sprint out of the shop to my car, horrified to see the two men walking out as well. I lock the doors straight away and back out of the car park. My hearts thumping and I breathe anxiously. I wish Xavier was beside me to reassure me that I'm just being paranoid and it's only a coincidence that they needed to go down the same isles as I did. And leave at the same time.

I click my seatbelt into place as I turn onto the main road,  glancing in the rear-vision mirror and nearly having a heart attack. There's a large black SUV following me, they're following me.  I can see them through the window.

"Oh shit" I whisper, taking a random turn at the light. Sure enough, they turn in the exact same direction too and stay directly behind me as I pull up to a red light.

I don't think twice as I pull my phone out from my pocket, shaky fingers pressing down on Xavier's contact number without a second thought.

"Please pick up Xavier" I beg, my hands are tight around the steering wheel. I decide to drive around the block, they can't do anything to me if I'm in public. Right?

The phones been dialling for a long time, I wait for his voicemail to play and try to hold in my tears. "Please Xavier, please answer."

"Grace?"

I sigh so loudly in relief hearing his voice at the other end of the line. My hearts pounding, but knowing he's here, that I can talk to him - that calms me down slightly.

"Xavier" I croak, it's the only thing I can say. The SUV's still directly behind me, except now there's two instead of one.

"Grace?" he can obviously hear the fear evident in my words because the tone in his voice changes. "What's wrong?"

"Xavier there are these men, following me in their cars. I don't know what to do. I'm scared." My voice cracks slightly but I refuse to cry, I have to be strong and pretend like I'm not completely freaking out.

"Following you? Where are you?" His voice is calm and slow, he's not panicking like I am and that makes me feel less frightened. If he can be calm, then so can I.

"I went to the store, on the corner,  and there were these two guys following me. So I left, but now they're following me around the city and another cars come as well. I don't know what to do Xavier."

I can hear shouting from Xavier's end of the line for a moment. "It's okay, I'm coming to get you. Where are you?"

"Um" I drum my fingers against the wheel of the car. I try to think straight but I gasp when I see a third SUV now following me. "Xavier there's another car-"