Still fuming from my fight with Peter and the memories of why I was even running this fucking trail spurred me on. I burst from the tree line, ready to dash across the intersection, but some asshole in a black minivan pulled out too far as he came to a sudden stop at the stop sign, and I almost ran into the side of it. Angry, I smacked my hands on the hood.

“Hey, watch where you’re going,” I yelled as I kept running.

The final hundred meters were in sight, and I pushed my body to move faster, loving the breeze in my face and the pounding of the blood in my ears to lull me into feeling something that wasn’t disappointed, annoyed, or trapped.

That’s what I was, a rat in a trap, and I wanted out before I suffocated to death. I needed to find a way to get my dad to agree to have me move there with him. I knew I shouldn’t have to beg, but at this point, I was desperate and desperate times called for desperate measures.

I ran past the coach, and he clicked the stopwatch. He wrote down the time with a smile on his face.

“Great time Lawson. You almost beat the school record.”

Coach was a hot man. My gaze flicked over his muscular frame covered in standard-issue shorts and a white T-shirt. I wondered if I could talk him into a fun fuck-session once I got rid of Peter—maybe we could fulfill a fantasy or two about a dirty coach in his office. I’d read a book or two that started that way, and I had to admit that I was curious to try it.

I shook my head and noticed the minivan I almost collided with drive past. It wasn’t doing anything unusual. In fact, it was doing the speed limit and driving in a straight line. I couldn’t see the driver because of the darkened windows, but I would swear that the driver was staring at me. It felt like the vehicle was stripping me naked, and I shivered.

I seriously needed a good lay and to stop watching unsolved murder cases so late at night. My brain was a mess, and Peter was useless.

CAIN

A truck flew past where I was sitting, and the wind shook my tow truck, pulling me out of my thoughts.