Only Her Best Friend - Cami Checketts Page 0,12

there?” she screamed, spinning around and trying to look through the thick, dense trees.

No answer, but the footsteps were getting closer. She was certain of it. She upped her pace to a sprint as the pounding behind her grew louder. She checked over her shoulder constantly and saw a shadow not far away.

Meredith was more of a hiker and walker, but she would run flat out if it meant getting away from some creeper. She prayed her imagination was just in hyperdrive, and the person wasn’t really chasing her with ill intent. At the same time, it wasn’t just imagination for her, as she knew how it felt to be manhandled, tied up, and more terrified than she’d ever understood a person could be. She could not allow herself to be in that position ever again.

She hit the main road at a flat-out sprint and saw a small pack of mountain bikers coming her way. Relief poured through her, and she waved madly at them. The group slowed and stopped right in front of her. Meredith’s heart started racing even faster but for completely different reasons than someone following her in the woods. She darted a glance back at the woods but couldn’t see anyone.

“Mer!” Cruz greeted her happily with his big smile, as if last night hadn’t happened, she didn’t know exactly what kind of a player he was, and her heart wasn’t breaking in two for all of her fantasies concerning him dying.

The rest of his crew were unfamiliar to her. She’d seen some of them last night but hadn’t met them officially.

“This is my friend, Meredith,” Cruz said. He gestured behind him. “This is Taylee, Scott, and Jaxson.”

She lifted a hand. “Nice to meet all of you.”

“You okay?” Cruz asked. “You were waving like you needed help.” He grinned bigger. “Or maybe you were just ecstatically happy to see me.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “I heard someone behind me. I called out a couple greetings, but they didn’t answer. They were chasing me.”

“Mer!” Cruz slid off his bike and set it on the side of the road, unstrapping his helmet and putting it down. He waved to his friends. “Can you all head through those trails and see if you see anyone while I stay with Mer? Jax stay with Taylee.”

They all nodded as if they were part of some clandestine mission.

“I’m sure they’re gone now,” Meredith said, looking around to confirm it.

“We’ll see. On the bikes, they can move a lot faster than someone who was on foot.”

His group took off through the trail she’d just exited. Meredith appreciated their fast action, but what were they going to do? Accuse someone of chasing her? At least she wasn’t alone now. Yet as Cruz clacked to her in his bike shoes, she backed up. He put out his arms as if she would throw herself against his chest like she had yesterday outside her shop. A lot had changed since yesterday.

“I’m sorry you were scared, Mer.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, backing up again.

His arms fell to his side, and a muscle popped in his jaw. “I’m sorry I brought Josh here. We know he’s after you, and we’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt you.”

“Josh?” Her brow wrinkled. “Josh has been nothing but kind to me.” He’d opened her eyes to exactly what Cruz was like, not that she hadn’t feared the truth. The confirmation sealed her need to be leery around this man who had always held her tender heart in his hands without knowing it. If he’d known, would he have cared? She doubted it. He liked to date a lot of different women. Did men like that ever settle down?

Cruz eased in a bit closer. “Josh likes to … be with a lot of women, and he told me he’s after you.”

“Is it such a shock that a man would be interested in me?” she hurled at him, feeling hurt and defensive.

“That’s not what I said at all. Any man would be interested in you.”

Meredith had numerous men hitting on her, but she only wanted Cruz to be interested in her.

“I’m just explaining that Josh is not the guy you want after you, and I made sure last night that he wasn’t lingering around your house.”

“That was you?” Cruz obviously wasn’t the one who’d been walking around her house on random nights over the years, but last night he had been?

He nodded. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t scare you, but I had to make sure you were safe.”

“You