Only Her Best Friend - Cami Checketts Page 0,11
girlfriend in every city or small town they spent time in. She knew she was nothing special to him. She thought she knew Cruz so well, but it’d been twelve years since they’d been close, and it seemed the fame and women had changed him.
Josh had tried to walk her inside, but she’d insisted she had a headache and firmly told him goodnight. Throughout the night, she could’ve sworn she heard vehicle tires crunch on her gravel drive and even footsteps outside her bedroom window like she’d heard in the past. She didn’t see anyone on the security cameras, and her sensor lights hadn’t gone off, so she was probably imagining it.
It all combined to make her not sleep well and wish that she didn’t live alone. Since being abducted and almost sold to human traffickers, she’d wished she was still living with her parents or at least had a roommate. She’d been so proud a few years ago when she’d bought this small cabin on the south side of the lake and had slowly fixed it up with a lot of help from Cruz’s handyman dad, Jay. Jay and Devon had come by shortly after the abduction a few weeks ago and helped her install the security cameras, alarms on her doors, and sensor lights. She hadn’t heard or seen anyone outside since the abduction. Right when she started feeling safe, she was almost certain someone was prowling outside her house at night again.
Grateful it was finally light outside, she pulled on shorts, a t-shirt, socks, and walking shoes, downed a glass of water and some Ibuprofen, gripped one of her canisters of handheld pepper spray, and headed out into the gorgeous summer morning. Her head pounded with each step as she waited for the Ibuprofen to kick in. It was probably fate kicking her in the behind after she’d lied to Cat last night and claimed she’d gone home from the party because she had a bad headache. She couldn’t think of a time in her life that she’d lied, but last night it was warranted as all of her silly hopes of her and Cruz together crashed around her ankles.
Staring at the thick greenery around her, she took a trail that paralleled the road, not wanting to be too far from the safety that cars and cabins represented to her this morning. Everything seemed better in the light of day as far as her safety was concerned, especially with her pepper spray in hand. She had probably imagined the footsteps outside her window and the cars in her driveway. Infrequently throughout the past several years, she’d heard what she thought were footsteps outside and had even called Sheriff Greenwood, Hope’s dad, a few times. It always turned out that nobody was there. She was afraid the kidnapping had turned her into a paranoid wimp, but could anybody really blame her?
Thinking of the sheriff and Hope led her back around to her angst from last night. She’d been so excited for the party and the chance to spend more time with Cruz. Then she’d met Josh, and he’d confirmed her fears that Cruz was the worst kind of player. To top it all off, as they’d talked, Cruz had been wholly focused on the beautiful Hope Greenwood and hugged her multiple times.
Meredith loved Hope and felt awful for what she’d gone through recently with her divorce. Her husband lied, stole, and crushed her dreams, so she had no choice but to return home. Meredith should be happy that Hope had an appealing, strong shoulder to lean on, but dang if Meredith wasn’t a selfish brat and wanted Cruz all to herself.
No. He was a player, and he didn’t want her. She needed to somehow move on from her stupid Cruz fantasies. Maybe she should warn Hope not to trust him as well. It was all so depressing she felt her shoulders sag.
A branch snapped behind her, and then a couple of birds launched into the air. Meredith jumped, and her heart pounded faster as she heard loud footsteps approach.
“Hello?” she called.
Nobody answered, but the footsteps paused, and she could swear she heard heavy breathing. Prickles broke out on her neck and arms. Darting a glance over her shoulder, she couldn’t see anyone. She upped her pace and took the next trail that led to the main road. Hearing the footsteps pick up behind her again, she broke into a jog, clinging to the pepper spray with sweat-slick fingers.
“Who’s