Page 67 of Unraveled Love

“Yeah.” She shook her foot, wet mud flying and dripping off her. It splashed my sweats and her own leggings. “Funny, I don’t even work out, but I got these for some dumb reason a couple years ago thinking I’d take up running and then remembered how much I hated it. I only threw them in my bag to make it look like I was packing for my honeymoon in case we went hiking.”

She made a grossed-out face as mud plopped from her shoes to the ground. Her socks, which had been white, matched the mud.

The last thing I wanted to think of was her honeymoon, the fact that there was a chance she could have actually gone on it, that she hadn’t truly decided to run until it was almost too late.

“Let’s get you back to the house and out of the mud.”

Before she could take a step, I picked her up, carrying her like a bride. “You don’t have to carry me.”

“I like you in my arms. Don’t argue.”

“No way.” She rested her head against my shoulder, wrapping her hands around my neck, and once I got her back in the Jeep, she pulled off her shoe and then her wet sock. As she shook off her shoe, the lining came loose, and I grabbed it before it fell completely. As I did, something else came with it.

What in the fuck?

I bent down, picked up the flimsy strip of metal. “Addi, when did you say you bought these?”

Icy tendrils pierced my chest and trickled down my spine. There was no way this was what I was thinking it was.

“What?” She was using her clean sock from her other foot to wipe down her dirty one, and her other shoe was on the floor mat. “I told you—a couple years ago. Why?”

“Give me your other shoe.”

“Shawn—”

Before she could finish, I grabbed it and flung the liner to the ground because who gave a shit about the shoe now.

“What are you doing?” She gaped at her torn-apart shoe before giving me a wide-eyed look.

Her other shoe was clean. No metal the thickness of a strand of hair.

My pulse pounded in my ears, burned deep in my chest. My vision went hazy before setting itself right.

“This is a tracking device,” I told her, holding it out.

“What?” She shook her head. “No. No way.”

“Get buckled up. We need to get back.” I barked the words so loudly she jumped in her seat and dropped her other sock. “Now,” I stated when she didn’t move.

I waited until she moved her feet inside the vehicle and slammed the door.

What in the hell was going on? No wonder that asshole knew where I lived, where her apartment was. But if that was the case, why even call her? Why not run right to her?

This made no sense, and I wanted to bang my head against the wall. He could have grabbed her that first night, could have chased her down and followed her as soon as she took off if he’d been tracking her.

I hurried to my side and got in, cursing the fact that I couldn’t call Jaxon without cell service.

I picked up the CB radio, and every second it took for one of them to answer felt like a million years. “What’s up?” Lincoln’s voice came through.

“Addi has a goddamn tracker in her shoes.”

Fuck!My fist slammed against the Jeep’s dash so hard it was a wonder I didn’t shatter it. But damn! Every goddamn time I thought we were getting closer to busting these assholes, some new roadblock tumbled into our path, and I was so fucking sick of it.

Addi’s hand covered my fist and she brushed my knuckles. “Hey. It’s okay,” she whispered. Her attempts at soothing me were futile. I needed to punch something, needed to dropkick Daniel’s ass into a Mexican prison. So much for the relaxing day we were having. “It’s okay, Shawn. We’ll figure it out.”

“You fucking serious?”

“Deadly. We’re on our way back, ETA twenty minutes.” While I spoke, Addi continued running her hand around my fist, gently brushing my knuckles and then brushing her hand up my forearm, back down to my hand. Slowly, my fingers relaxed, and I took her hand in mine and brought it to my mouth. I kissed the back of her hand.

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