As soon as they got to the hospital, Charlie was handed the admitting paperwork by the EMT officially working the shift. “Would you mind filling this out?” he asked. “We’ve got another call, and you’ll know Stone’s details better than us, anyway.”

She forced a smile as she took the clipboard. So much for a quick getaway. “Sure, no problem.” The EMT thanked her and then jogged off down the hall to catch up with his partner. Charlie gritted her teeth and took a seat near the admitting desk. Maybe this would work better anyway. Alex had already been taken back for examination, and this way there wasn’t anyone around who knew where she was supposed to be going—or, more precisely, watching that she didn’t take off. She was sure Mason had nearly read her mind back at the scene, but in the end, he’d let her go.

Once word got back to Scott about the incendiary device, someone would put the pieces together the same way she had. It was inevitable. Charlie had to be well clear of Monroe before that happened.

She looked down at the chief’s paperwork, scribbling half answers, but her mind was elsewhere. Had Scranton been responsible for the other fires, too—the one at the warehouse? Or was it all just a terrible coincidence and her imagination running on overdrive and not enough sleep? He could have used the device at the chief’s house simply so he could be in two places at once—setting the fire at Alex’s while he was attacking Shane. A shiver ran through her, as if eyes were boring holes in her while cold fingers crept up her spine and wrapped around her neck. She had to get out of there before someone found her—someone from 81, or Scranton. She stood and dropped the half-complete form on the desk in Admitting when the triage nurse’s back was turned, and walked out the door.

The sun that hit her face when she cleared the ER’s doors was bright, and she held up a hand to shield her eyes. When had it gotten so late in the day? Charlie squeezed her eyes tightly shut and rubbed at them, desperately trying to expel the cobwebs. It had to be nearly lunch time, but already she felt like she’d aged a thousand years in a day. First, Scott’s visit that morning, then Shane’s attack, ending with the near tragedy at the chief’s house. The sun warmed up her cold limbs, but somehow that only made her seem more tired.

Where was she going to go? First, she needed a car. Her pulse skittered at the idea of going back to her apartment, but she had no choice. She wouldn’t stay, just duck inside long enough to grab her car keys and a few changes of clothes and then get the hell out of Dodge. Anything else, she’d figure out when she got to wherever the hell she was going. That much, she could decide on the road. As she raised her arm up to hail a cab, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out—Jesse’s name was on the screen. Crap. She’d forgotten about that. She couldn’t afford to ditch it just yet, and so she swiped into the options screen, disabled GPS, and then turned it off. She’d get a new one when she arrived at God knew where, but until then, that should keep her safe.

One short taxi ride later, she pulled up in her street, several houses down, just in case. After deciding there was no one parked near her house that shouldn’t be, Charlie paid the driver in cash and then hopped out, walking quickly back to her apartment. She felt exposed, even just walking down the sidewalk in her own neighborhood. What she wouldn’t give for a scarf or a ball cap. She rolled her eyes. She’d been watching way too many cop shows. Still, she had to be quick.

* * *

Ten minutes and one stuffed-full duffle later, she was out the door. She leaned down to swing it over her shoulder and nearly fell flat on her face on in the hall. Damn it. She hefted it up again and this time managed to get it over her shoulder and make it down to the residents’ parking lot. She was too tired to scope it out again and so pulled the cap she’d dug out of the bottom of her closet low over her face and stepped out. Every muscle was tensed, half waiting for a shout of recognition, or for someone to tackle her from behind. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until she got to her car and couldn’t manage to get her fingers to press the unlock button on the remote.

She heaved in a deep breath, and then another, but the world still stayed slightly fuzzy around the edges. Shit. The concussion plus her lack of sleep was going to be a problem. Plans of driving halfway across the state were going to have to wait. She’d be lucky to get halfway across town before she crashed the damn car. She pulled out her phone and switched it on, making sure location services were still disabled, and quickly skimmed through the maps to locate a route through back streets to her temporary destination, then fumbled with a paperclip on her keyring to remove her sim for good measure. She’d be able to pull up the map she’d left downloaded and open if necessary, but she’d stay off grid.

Finally, her trembling fingers found the right notch on the side of the phone. After throwing the duffle in the trunk, Charlie started the car and pulled out, turning the opposite way down the highway than she’d originally planned. There was a series of rest stops just outside the town, along with a BYO-tent or van campground. The place was rarely used this time of year, and she’d be able to pull her car in out of sight from the road and catch a few minutes of sleep before heading off on the long-haul drive. As she drove, her phone vibrated with a text. Actually, more than one. It sounded as though a small swarm of bees was buzzing away on the passenger seat, and Charlie swore she could see her phone actually wiggle at her out of the corner of her eye. She frowned. How was anyone texting her with her sim out? She thumped the steering wheel as the answer occurred to her. Fucking Wi-Fi. Thank God she’d had the idea to turn off her GPS. Once she’d cleared the center of town, the Wi-Fi would drop out, too, and she’d finally be clear.

Finally, she reached the campground and pulled in. After switching off the engine, she gingerly reached over and picked up her phone, as if whoever was trying to reach her would be able to sense her through the hardware. God, she must be tired. She was being utterly ridiculous. She tried to read the texts on the screen, but names and messages blurred into each other, and after a minute she gave up, dropped the phone back on the seat, and closed her eyes. The world was going to have to wait. She needed sleep.

* * *

It was the distant dim slam of a car door that woke her what felt like seconds later. It must have been longer, as the sun was now low in the sky, but it felt like her eyes had only been closed a few seconds. Before she could wake up enough to work out what the sound meant, her own door was being wrenched open, blasting her face with cold air. Charlie blinked, her mouth hanging open. She had to be asleep. That was the only explanation for what she was seeing.

Shane was standing in front of her open door, his breath fogging in the cold. His jaw was clenched and his gaze burned into her. He lifted his cell to his ear. “I got her. We’ll be back at the house. Soon.” He almost spat out the last word, still glaring at her. He jabbed at his phone to end the call, then walked around to the passenger side of the car, swiping her stuff onto the backseat and climbing in. He slammed the door closed and then turned to her. “Are you serious?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Charlie said. Her stomach churned with guilt. They both knew she was lying.

Shane’s voice was hard and cold. A small movement caught her gaze. His fingers were twitching with his attempts to stay calm. “I’ve been out of my mind looking for you. I thought you were gone. I thought you might be already dead.” His voice broke. “What were you thinking?”

Charlie’s eyes closed as her heart sank. “I honestly don’t know. I didn’t know what to do. He knows everything about me, Shane, and he’s not afraid to hurt anyone I care about. I had nowhere to go.”

“So your answer is to run away to the middle of the woods? Alone? Not telling anyone where you went?” Shane’s voice was so loud that it echoed off the windshield. “Jesus, Charlie. We could have barricaded you in 81; we could have taken a flight to Jamaica. We could have done anything if you had just talked to me.”

She looked down, tears pricking her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“If I hadn’t broken pretty much every rule there is and tracked your phone, I still wouldn’t have found you. You can still do that, you know, even when you pull the sim.” His gaze was still angry. At her or something else, she couldn’t tell, but the same emotion surged through her.

“You tracked my phone? That’s way over the line, Shane.”

He laughed. “That’s what you’re angry about? That I tried to find you when you’re being stalked by a psychopath who wants to kill you?”

Charlie took a deep breath. She didn’t want to say it, but he had to know. “It’s something he would do.”

Shane’s face went soft, understanding her anger. He leaned over to her, pulling her to him across the center console and kissing her hard. “I can’t lose you,” he said against her lips. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

His touch, the feeling of being in his embrace again, broke something inside her. A sob broke through and Charlie launched herself at him, climbing across into his lap. He pulled her against his chest while she straddled him, his arms like bands of iron. He squeezed her so tightly that she could barely breathe, and she didn’t care. “I need you,” she whispered. “I need you inside me.”

Shane was already a step ahead of her, undoing his belt. He slipped a condom on his already erect cock. It wasn’t easy in the small space, but Charlie shoved her pants down to her ankles and straddled him again, not caring enough to do more. Shane’s cock was rock hard, and she sank onto him in one long roll of her hips. He kissed her wildly, tongue dancing with hers, and she wanted this. She’d been so desperate, so scared, but it had been a mistake to run. Scranton wanted to destroy her life, and she’d just about helped him do it. Thank God she had people who loved her enough to never give up, even when she was being an idiot. She’d nearly given up and let Scranton win. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

She rode Shane, hips rolling. He held onto her hips, supporting her, guiding her, and letting her take what she wanted. She needed this, and he would give it to her. It was enough to be in his arms again and know she was safe.

It didn’t take long until her head dropped back, lips parted as she moaned from the feeling. She squeezed down on his cock, and Shane’s entire body tensed to keep from moving, to let her take and take and take.

He reached down, stroking her, her clit slick with her own juices. This was what she needed, to remember what it was like to be alive and loved. “I love you,” she said to him. “I love you.”

The look on Shane’s face was like the sun—pure and perfect and in absolute awe. Pleasure cracked through her like a whip, spiraling up from his fingers on her clit and outward. It encompassed her whole body, her whole being. She felt her orgasm flood down onto his cock as he came, too, in jerking thrusts deep inside her.

Charlie’s breath caught as she came down from the high.

“I love you, too,” he said, voice quiet in the aftermath. “Let me take you home, and show you exactly how much I mean it. Please.”

He was still inside her, hardening again as he waited for her answer, and she nodded. “Okay.”