If I’d known today was going to be the last one like it, I never would’ve taken it all for granted. Sometimes, though, it’s better you don’t see what’s coming.

The wind tosses little wisps of my hair around my face while my sunglasses protect my eyes as Alex hits the throttle. Every Sunday, for as long as we’ve been together, we’re on his bike riding down all the back roads this part of Florida has to offer. During these moments I always feel so young and free with my arms wrapped tight around his middle. Today is no different until he pulls off the road behind an old run-down gas station and kills the engine.

“Why are we stopping? This place is kinda creepy.” We never pull off at these kinds of places.

“We’re being followed,” he says as he climbs off the bike. “I’m hoping they keep going. I tried to lose them around the last bend in the road. I didn’t see them when we pulled in.”

“Followed by whom?” I ask, wondering what he’s talking about.

“I’m in a little trouble, honey,” he says, like using that little term of endearment at the end will make it better.

Alex’s nervous pacing and the sudden sweat above his brow tells me he’s freaked out. This isn’t some little thing; whatever it is, it’s bad.

“What kind of trouble?”

“I have video footage that I shouldn’t have. I did it for the right reasons, though.”

What the hell kind of footage would have us being followed? This sounds like the plot of some movie. “Well, get rid of it. I don’t care what it is, if you’re in trouble, dump it.”

“I can’t. I’ve got proof that these dudes from Detroit are selling people here in Tampa.”

“What?” My eyes bulge out of my head. “Human trafficking? Oh my God! Alex…”

“Listen, I’m going to make it right. We aren’t out on our normal Sunday ride. We’re meeting a guy right outside of Gainesville in 30 minutes to turn over the evidence. He’s with the FBI and he’ll know what to do with it. Just in case something happens, though, I want you to know that I love you, more than anything.”

“But—” I’m ready to ask a thousand questions and he knows me well enough to know it’s going to happen.

He leans in close and brushes his lips across mine lingering there long enough to say, “Not now. If we make it out of here I’ll tell you everything. We have to go. These guys are in a black van so we have to make sure we lose them completely before we get to Donovan. Once we’re on the bike, hold on tight.” He kisses me hard and fast one last time.

Fear like I’ve never known courses through me as I climb on behind him on to his Harley-Davidson Street Glide. Usually I love this bike, but right now it feels like a death trap. If we’re running from someone, I want a vehicle that’s more like a tank to protect us. We’re right out in the open on this thing.

As I lower the helmet onto my head and wrap my body around his, I think about all that is Alex. I’ve been in love with him since freshman year of college when he charmed me right out of my biology notes. He was born with a charisma that few people have and he used it to his full advantage when he was trying to get my attention. I fought it for a while, but eventually gave in. The day I graduated with my BSN he asked me to marry him and we got married the following year with all the hoopla a huge wedding is expected to have. That was two years ago.

Alex has always been the life of the party and the man everyone seems to know and love. We can’t ever go to dinner or a movie without him having to stop and talk to several people. What I don’t understand is how he could get wrapped up in something as sinister as this. Sure, he’s turning evidence over to the FBI, but how did he end up with it in the first place?

Now I wish I’d been around more. I’ve been working six days a week for the last three months. I’m a hospice nurse and we’ve been short-staffed. Nursing in general is difficult. Six days a week dealing with dying patients and their families wears on me, so by the time I get home I don’t have a lot left over. I thought in a couple months, once we get all the new people hired and trained, I could take a week off so Alex and I could go somewhere and reconnect, to catch up on everything and start working on making a family again. But now I realize I should have tuned in sooner.

A few minutes back into our ride, Alex starts whipping in and out of traffic and passing people every chance he gets. He’s driving like a maniac. He peels off down a back road that we rarely travel and hits the throttle again. I grip his middle tighter and pray as hard as I can that we walk away from this.

He looks back over his shoulder and cusses loudly before passing two cars and speeding up. We’re going around a bend when Alex crosses the double yellow line to pass the car in front of us and I glance up, ready to cuss him out, when I see the semi coming straight at us. He swerves and heads off the road. The last sound I hear is the blaring of the truck’s horn and my own scream as we drive straight into a tree and my world goes black.