As we walked out into the sunny parking lot, a car backfired as it rolled by and Blade instinctively moved in front of me.
 
 “It was just a car,” I muttered, nudging him out of the way.
 
 “Yeah, I know that now.” He shook his head.
 
 This was going to be the longest week and a half of my life. Things had always been tense between us, but we couldn’t say a word to each other now that one of us didn’t snap at the other. Blade still didn’t feel well, and he was edgy and even pissier than usual.
 
 We got in the car, and he backed out of the space, heading toward the main street. He seemed uneasy as he stared into his rearview mirror.
 
 “What’s up?” I asked.
 
 “I could swear that same black car was behind us on the way over.” He turned down a street that I didn’t recognize, probably trying to see if the other car did the same. “Shit,” he swore under his breath.
 
 “They followed?”
 
 “Yep.”
 
 I glanced carefully over my shoulder to study the car. “It’s missing its front license plates.”
 
 “I noticed.” He took another side street and headed back toward the main drag. His body was stiff, and he shot me a quick glance. “You have your seat belt on, right?”
 
 “Yeah.” I frowned. “Why?”
 
 “Just dotting all my ‘i’s.” He drove past the turnoff for our street.
 
 “You really think they’re a problem?”
 
 “I don’t know. But I would rather figure that out before I lead them straight to my house.” He still had his eyes pinned on the car behind us.
 
 “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
 
 He grunted.
 
 “I talked to Tork yesterday, and he said he hadn’t heard any more chatter about that Russian.” I adjusted the air-conditioning vent. “Maybe we can cut the two weeks short.”
 
 “Hey, sounds great. I just need the okay from my boss.”
 
 “Darcy’s so cautious he’ll probably never let you off your leash early,” I grumbled.
 
 “Well, we still need to prove I’m not carrying your invisible baby.” He smirked.
 
 My face warmed and I held up the plastic bag that contained the tests. “Once you’re done peeing on five of these suckers, we should be in the clear.”
 
 “I just hope I’m up to the task.”
 
 “Feeling dehydrated?” My lips twitched.
 
 “Yes. I cried myself to sleep last night.”
 
 I snorted. “Right.”
 
 He narrowed his eyes, and then he sighed. “Okay, they turned off onto another street.”
 
 I was relieved. I didn’t think there was any substance to the Russian threat theory, but I knew Darcy and Tork weren’t stupid, and if they took the gossip seriously, I probably needed to as well.
 
 He drove around for another ten minutes until he was satisfied no one was following us, and then he headed home. We walked into the house, and he went straight into the kitchen and downed a big glass of ice water.
 
 “You just have to get some urine drops on the stick.” I undid the top two buttons on my shirt, feeling overheated. “You don’t have to fill five cups.”