Page 69 of An Eye For Illusion

“Right. SJ and Nora will be attending as well. They’re driving up from Sutter Creek.”

I smile. “Good deal, we haven’t seen them since they moved to Sutter Creek permanently.”

“I’m gone for the evening, Li. I’ll be in early again tomorrow. See you then.” Willow’s voice echoes in the background of the call again.

“I’ll walk you out,’ Liam says, and my brow quirks. “Colin, Donovan, you both better be on time Friday. Don’t make a mess for me to clean up, got it?”

“Got it,” we answer in unison before the call ends.

“I know damn good and well he’s railing Willow,” I say, voicing my thoughts out loud.

Donovan chuckles. “Well, if you don’t want Liam to know you’re railing the Foster chick, you better cover that hickey before Friday.”

My eyes widen, and my hand instinctively goes to my neck where Jade’s mouth had been a short time ago. Donovan really lets the laughs fly now. Dammit.

I rub the spot on my neck, like that’ll help it disappear any faster. I groan. Fuck it. What’s he going to do anyway? SJ and Nora met while he was her bodyguard, and they’re doing great.

The car is silent for a while other than the quiet hum of the tires on the road. Donovan doesn’t reopen the conversation we were having before Liam called, and neither do I. Pushing him to open up will only have the opposite effect. He’ll talk when he’s ready, and I’ll wait until then.

“Vinny’s birthday party is Saturday, and the charity ball is Friday. When are we delivering the car?” Donovan asks, breaking the silence with a damn good question.

“It’ll have to be Saturday, before the party.” There’s no other option.

“We’re being followed,” I say, breaking the silence again.

I glance at Donovan just as he checks the passenger side mirror. “White pickup truck?”

I change lanes, and the truck follows suit. “That’s the one.”

I accelerate quickly and cross two lanes of traffic as I approach my turn. The truck speeds up to keep me in sight. I make the right turn onto the road where the warehouse for Dunn is.

“Whoever is tailing us won’t be bold enough to follow us through the gate.” To my surprise the truck is still there, hanging back further now, but continuing the chase.

As soon as I see the entrance to parking lot, I click the remote on my visor to open the gate.

“C’mon, you pokey fuck,” I curse the slow-ass gate.

“The truck is backing off,” Donovan says, checking the side mirror again.

The gate is barely open enough to allow my car to pass through, but we make it, and I quickly click the button to close it. A truck that size would never fit through the space we squeezed through, so it definitely won’t make it through while closing.

In a maneuver I learned in an evasive driving class just for this job, I quickly whip my car around one-hundred-eighty degrees so I face the gate as it closes. The truck stops before the tires hit the turnoff for the parking lot, and I squint to make out the face of the driver. With his headlights brightened, I can’t see anyone’s face.

The truck shifts into reverse and retreats back down the road from where we came. The gate closes automatically. I sit and wait to be sure it closes completely and that the truck is out of sight before I turn the wheel and steer my car to the back of the building.

“What the fuck was that about?” I ask as we make our way around the building. I park beside the truck I’m taking to pick up the car for Vinny.

I mentally berate myself because I don’t know how long that truck followed us before I noticed. I was preoccupied with getting Donovan, the call from Liam, and then getting this damn car picked up. I had tunnel vision because all I can think about is ending this for Jade.

“Oh, fuck. Jade. What if they followed me to Jade’s?” The words leave my lips as fast as they pop into my mind.

“Whoever it is isn’t interested in Jade. They followed us here. If I had to wager a bet, I’d say whoever is in that truck is tied to Vinny.” Donovan opens the passenger door and steps out before slamming it behind him.

I scramble out of my seat and slam mine also. “Why would Vinny have someone follow us? He gave me this job. He told me to find the fucking car.”

Donovan crouches beside the driver’s side front tire and feels around in the fender well. When he pulls back, he has a small, magnetic box containing the key to the truck in hand. He slides the box open, takes out the key, and tosses it to me.

I unlock the truck and check to make sure we have everything inside that we need to pull the trailer and car back with us.

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