Page 36 of Rival for Rent

That had to be it. Maybe I’d felt sorry for Kai. Maybe the memory of high school had stirred something in me, and I’d acted on impulse. Maybe it had been a pity kiss.

Since when have you ever pity kissed anyone? my brain whispered.

I ignored it and gripped the bar again, trying to focus. I pushed the weight up again, and my phone buzzed. With a sigh, Ilowered the weight and fished my phone out of my pocket. I had a text from Kai.

KAI

Mason, I need you

I found him standing inside the grocery store entrance, one arm folded across his chest, the other clutching his phone. His knuckles were white, and he looked pale. He was in workout clothes too, but his shorts were a lot shorter than mine, and they showed off the long, lean muscles of his thighs.

His eyes went wide when he saw me, and I walked fast to reach him. I had the impulse to pull him into a hug, but I stopped myself. He looked freaked out, but that didn’t mean he wanted comfort from me. Not that kind, anyway.

“My car’s out there,” he said, nodding towards the doors. “I couldn’t bring myself to get inside it and drive home.”

“That’s probably for the best,” I said. “Do you want to stay in here while I take a look?”

He hesitated, then shook his head. “No. I’ll—I’ll come with you.”

Trying to seem like he wasn’t rattled. I’d seen it before. He didn’t need to come, but I nodded. “Cool, that could be helpful.”

He kept looking around as we walked out of the store. He’d parked close to the entrance, so we reached his car quickly. I took in the cracked windshield, the giant rock nestled in it, and the otherwise untouched car. I walked around the vehicle,crouched down to check underneath, then asked him to pop the trunk.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Just…”

“A feeling?” he cut in with a dry, humorless laugh.

He’d wrapped both arms around himself now. Not from the cold—hell, it was still seventy degrees out. It was fear, plain and simple.

“I guess,” I admitted.

Honestly, I didn’t expect to find anything on the car. Why bother with a tracker when the stalker already knew where he lived and worked? And explosives? Too risky. Whoever was doing this was focused on psychological damage, not collateral. Not yet, anyway.

I leaned over and peered at the rock in the windshield. It was huge, jagged. A piece of clear tape fluttered off one side of it in the breeze. My stomach dropped.

“Was something taped to this?” I asked.

Kai’s face twisted, and I didn’t think he was going to answer. But then he reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, thrusting it at me.

“Can you open it?” I asked. “The fewer people who touch it, the better. Cops might want to check it for prints.”

He grimaced. “I don’t want the cops to see this.”

“Why not?”

He just stared at me. I sighed. It wasn’t worth fighting about. Not right now, anyway.

“Okay. But it’d still be helpful for me not to touch it. Can you show me what it says?”

He grumbled but unfolded the note. He held it out to me, and I leaned closer, squinting under the bluish parking lot lights. The message was typed.

Stop the center, or I’ll show the world what you did.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

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