Page 6 of Protecting Vera

She nodded, unsure what else to say. He handed her an envelope, and her eyebrows shot up as confusion filled her.

“What’s this?”

“Your ticket. Hop will be there when you arrive.”

“Hop?”

“Um, Ben. We call him Hop. He’ll be there.”

“Again, thank you. I owe you all my life.”

“You’re welcome, and it’s all good. You deserve to have peace. Take care.”

She waved one final time and headed into the station. It looked like she had an hour to kill. The last thing she wanted was to be found here by either someone taking a photo, or one of Logan’s friends coming in, so she hid in the bathroom. When women came in, she worked on her makeup, not that she wore much, but it gave her an excuse for being in the bathroom.

She couldn’t believe this was her life. How had she gotten to this point where she was hiding in a bus station bathroom. Logan had bullied her for the last time. She would be free of him just as soon as she left Texas. There wasn’t any way he would find her in California. She knew that meant she had to stay off social media, but she could do it.

Logan didn’t show up before she loaded on the bus. She could breathe a little easier now that she knew she would really escape him. Still, worry filtered in, taunting her with the idea that she would never be free from that bastard. Logan could find her if he looked hard enough.

The hotelwhere Vera was staying had cameras, and he knew they were monitored. One of his buddies did some work there and found out the hard way that they had someone watching the feeds. If he entered the hotel, they would have a record of him being there. He should have acted when he saw her at the restaurant.

Maybe there was another way to get back at her. She’d walked away from him, and that wasn’t okay. She had no right to end it with him. Who did she think she was walking away?

Logan swung back by the hotel where Vera was staying, thinking of a way to get her room number. Maybe he could burn down the hotel. But the hotel’s video surveillance would pick him up. He was pushing his luck.

His friends in the police force would forgive him for being a little rough with Vera. They all knew what a bitch she was. But another building going up in flames would be difficult for them to excuse. Not that anyone knew he’d burned down the apartment building, but a few of his buddies suspected.

Taking out the hotel would get his name on a list. He had to find her, though. Maybe she would show up in the next few days. And then, he would do more than just chain her to a tree or burn her out of an apartment. He would make sure she never escaped from him again.

CHAPTER FIVE

Worry filled Hop as the bus emptied, but he didn’t see anyone who fit Vera’s description. He was about to give up when a woman with very short hair stepped from the bus, her gaze flashing from one side to the other. She looked very nervous.

He moved to her, trying to seem friendly but not overly friendly. “Vera?” he asked when he was close.

She nodded and tried to tuck her hair behind her ear, but it was too short. “Um, yes. I’m Vera. You’re Ben—uh, Hop.”

He couldn’t help the smile. “That’s me.”

“Thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Besides, my sister asked, so of course. She vouched for you, too.”

Vera chuckled and rolled her eyes. “She’s very trusting. I once had to stop her from bringing home a homeless dude when we were in college.”

He stopped walking as worry for Frizz increased. “You don’t think your ex will go after her?”

Vera shook her head. “No, Frizz lives within the city limits of Austin. The police there don’t like Logan. I thought about moving there, but it’s expensive, and he would still be able to keep track of me. Moving here will make it impossible for him to find me. At least, I hope so.”

“It should be very difficult as long as you don’t post on social media.”

She shook her head as she deposited her bag in the back seat of his car. She slid into the front seat, looking a little nervous. He needed to find out more about her social media habits. Just being on social media would open her up to being found.

“Social media makes it very easy for people to locate you.”

She sighed. “My phone is gone, and my computer, too. I’ll have to buy a new one and download everything from the cloud. I don’t plan on going back to social media, at least not for a long while. Not that I posted much on there in the first place. I kept everything private, but I know he could have been spying using someone else’s profile.”

“Before you connect your device to the cloud, I want one of my friends to set you up so you can’t be tracked.”

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