"I got my ways. Don't you worry about that." She winks at each of us before taking out the next paper. "It appears like Tommy's interest with you started about a year ago. Back when you gave a couple art lecturers."

King turns and looks at me.

I think back to those nights. Back when I first came to Portland and Jean thought it would be a good idea for me to do some guest lectures at the local college. To get business churning for his gallery and myself.

"I don't remember him there," I say. That's the truth.

"Well, we know he has a way with hiding himself. But he definitely remembers you." Cat places a piece of paper in front of me. I take it and King comes next to me, his hand resting on my shoulder as he reads over it.

It's the attendance sheet for one of my guest lectures. Half way at the bottom of the list is Tommy's name. He wasn't as careful as he thought.

"We can get him," Cat announces, opening the fridge and grabbing a beer. She opens it off the counter, leaving a slight chip in the gray slate stone. I might have been angry with her. If she hadn't just given me the best news of the day.

I look the sheet over and see my name at the top of the page. I could almost picture that night. Me standing in front of at least one hundred students talking about my work. It was one of my proudest nights before I became a success with Jean's help.

Oh shit!

The piece of paper falls to the ground like an autumn leaf. I rush to my living room and grab for my purse. King's right on my heels.

"What's the matter?"

"Jean!" I shout, already punching in his number.

One ring. Two ring. Three ring.

Come on, Jean. For once in your life pick up the damn phone.

"Cami? Is everythi-" Jean's voice breaks through on the other side. He sounds out of breath. Probably had to run outside the gallery to answer the phone.

"Jean, where are you right now?" I interrupt him half way.

"At the gallery. Why? What's the matter?" There's a little panic in his voice. His New Orleans accent bleeds through a little more than usual.

"Oh, thank god," I answer, dropping down on the couch behind me. "I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. We got some new information on the guy who's stalking me.

"Who is it?" he asks, almost making me pull the phone a good couple inches away from my ear.

I fill Jean in on everything. When I finish, I can see him nodding to my words. I know that the next couple words will be the hardest."

"Jean, I need you to close down for a couple days. At least, until all of this blows over." I bite down on my thumb-nail. If anything happens to Jean in all this, I know for a fact that I won't be able to forgive myself.

"Not a problem," he shoots back. I can practically hear the jingling of his keys as he slams the front door of the gallery. "I'll be at your place in less than ten minutes."

"No, don't do that," I shout back into the phone. "It isn't safe here." But I'm met with silence on the other end. I try to call him back a couple more times, before I shake my head to Cat and King. "He's on his way here."

The last thing that I want is for us to all be in the same place. Gathering like this would only benefit someone crazy like Tommy. The further apart Jean is from me, the better it is for the both of us.

King swears under his breath and Cat drinks the rest of her beer.

Chapter 16.

I pace around the living room, constantly checking out the street. It's been well over ten minutes since Jean hung up on me. Every car that turns onto my streets gets my hopes up. Only for them to be dashed away when it passes the house.

Every possible bad thought has crept inside my head in the last ten minutes. I want to remain positive. To think that Tommy would never go after someone else, but there's not much I can count on. He proved that he's pretty crazy when he swung that axe at my door.

Meanwhile, King's been putting in favors all over the city. He's only been here a couple months, but he already has clout with the locals. Probably more out of respect for his reputation in New York and from the last race.

He slams his cell on the table and runs a hand through his hair. His chiseled arms glow from the moonlight behind us. I hate to be checking him out in this situation, but I can't really help myself. I'll have to reward him big time after this whole ordeal.

Who knows? Maybe a vacation for the two of us.

I roll my eyes at the thought. How quickly things change in less than 24 hours.

This morning, I was still unsure of what our relationship was. But now, after everything that's happened... Since Cat's shown us what she found and him calling favors , I see how much he cares about me. And not just me. Jean as well.

He's willing to throw all caution into the wind to protect me. Even after all these years apart, it feels like he's never stopped loving me. That he doesn't want that one mistake to keep us apart for the rest of his life. And I would be lying if he isn't winning me over more and more with time.

I walk over to him and press my forehead against one of his arms. He strokes his fingers through my hair and kisses the top of my forehead.

Cat takes another swig of her third beer. She's got nothing else to do. She also figured that it would be safer for her to stick around here until Jean gets to my apartment. Just in case Tommy decides to do something insane.

"How you doing?" he asks, holding his lips against my forehead. He runs a hand through my long hair and rests it on my shoulder.

I push up against it. "I just need Jean to get here already. The longer he stays out, the crazier my thoughts get." I move my head underneath his chin and bring his hands up to my waist.

Why is this all happening to me? Why can't I just have a normal, boring life without all this shit?

I let out a sigh and look around the small apartment. It's taken a couple weeks, but we finally have most of it put back together. There are paintings on the wall, beside the one I knocked down earlier, and everything is in place.

For a moment it feels like we are one big happy family. Besides the mounting pressure that comes with every passing minute that Jean doesn't show up. I'm about to lean over and give King a kiss on the cheek when I see a red fire out of the corner of my eyes.

I push King away as the orb crashes through my window. I hit the other side of the living room hard and get the air knocked out of me. Before I can do anything else, everything around me is in flames.

"King!" I yell, but I can't see anything. The fire spreads across the floor and I bring my hands up to cover my eyes.

Sweat pours out of every pore in my body and I start to cough. A plume of dark smoke rises to the ceiling and sinks into my throat.

I try to lift myself off the ground and navigate through the blaze. With each step that I take, a new trail of fire blocks my way. It's not long before I'm forced into a corner, my painting hanging behind me. The fire nips at my toes and I cry out in pain.

"King!"

I drop to the ground, underneath the dark rising smoke. The fire inches toward me and I push my body as far as it goes. None of this is making any sense. I close my eyes and try to think of a way out.

That's when the dark smoke around me swirls away and a black leather coat rushes at me. Scared, I push against the wall with my hands out.

"Cami!" King shouts, his hands gripping hold of my waist.

I can't answer him. There's too much smoke going down my lungs. He lifts me off the ground and holds his favorite leather riding coat in front of him as he rushes through the flames.

The smell of burning hair fills my nostrils, but for the most part I'm safe in his arms. Somehow, through the darkness and fire, King gets us out into the hallway. He lays me down on the ground and presses his palms on his knees. The leather jacket singed and lying on the ground next to him. He coughs a couple times and I follow his lead, trying to get out all the smoke toxins out of my body.

"What happened?" I ask. Each breath that I take, it feels like my lungs are going to explode. Almost like they are not expecting the fresh air, and had gotten used to the smoke.

"Molotov," Cat coughs behind me. I turn around and throw a frail smile. I'm glad that she was able to make it out. "Tommy."

I nod. I'm not surprised at all. Nothing he does surprises me anymore.

King takes me by the wrist and pulls me down the stairs. I hobble along after him, counting the steps all the way down. I take a peek over my shoulder and see the torrent of flames that escapes my front door.

Just when I was getting everything back to normal for the third time. It all goes up in flames. Literally.

Outside, the cold Portland air cools our damp bodies. It isn't long before all of us are shivering. King throws his jacket on me and I pull it down over my shoulders.

King's got a couple of burn marks on his shoulders and forearms. Cat's hair is a little bit fried at the end, but beside that nothing else to serious that I can see.

I pat away the soot of my knees and give myself a look over. The tip of my socks are burnt, giving way to red little nubs. I can't feel it for now, probably because of all the adrenaline. But, beside all of that, I was all right.

Boom.

A gust of wind blows from behind us. King throws his hands over me and moves us into the middle of the street as the apartment explodes. There goes the gas line. I would have shut it had I known that this was going to happen. If we'd been up there for even a minute longer, we'd be toast.

Behind us, there' s a screech of tires. King grabs both Cat and I, pushing us out of the way. He uses the force to falls backward as van speeds past us. Inches away from hitting any one of us.

The van stops at the end of the street and does a U-turn. The high beams blind us all for a moment, but we don't need to see the markings on the van to know who it is.

"Get to the Camaro," King shouts. He points to the other side of the street.

I bolt for his Camaro as the squealing of tires sounds behind me. My heart races and for a moment I feel like Frogger from the video game. Only if Tommy hits me, I won't be able to come back and play another round.

The van zips so close to me that I can feel the wind blow passed me. King opens the door and throws Cat and I inside. He flies over his hood, leaving a nice little dent in it, and starts his engines.

"Let's see what this fucker's got." He peels down the street after Tommy. I, on the other hand, manage to barely get my seatbelt on before King rams the back of Tommy's van.

I recoil forward and hit my head on the dash.

Lights out.

Chapter 17.

"Camilla!" someone shouts next to me, hands pulling me back into my seat. My head feels like it's split in two. I manage to look in front and brace myself as Tommy reverses his van into us.

King grabs the clutch and pulls it into reverse. Tommy drives backward, chasing until King swerves into a nearby alley, sending Tommy whizzing by and slamming into a parked car. The crumple of metal sends me shivering.

"Are you okay?" Cat's head appears by my side and looks me over. Her hands hold me back in my chair as I slowly regain myself.

"I think so. Didn't expect that." I look at King, who is turning down the street. Behind us, the lights from Tommy's car blind everything inside the muscle car. Cat lets go and drives her body back into the seat as Tommy gives us another push on the back of the bumper.

This time I'm ready. I have my hands out in front of me and my palms hit the front of the dashboard. The wind gets knocked out of me, but beside that, everything else is fine.

King's swerving in and out of traffic trying to out-maneuver the rusty van behind us. I'm surprised at how well Tommy is able to keep up with us.

He blares down on the horn, attracting the attention of every car and pedestrian on the block. Several people are pulling out their phones.

Tommy gives us a couple of more taps before King presses down on the gas pedal. He whizzes in and out of traffic. It doesn't take long before the roar of the engine pushes us forward and we are at least two blocks ahead of Tommy. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tommy turn down a street and vanish from sight.

"He turned back," I say. I look over at King, whose hand is still throttling through the shifts with his foot on the gas. I rest my hand on top of his and he looks at me before my words seem to finally register with him. Once he's in race mode, it takes a little bit of willpower to get him out of it.

He pulls down into a dark alley and shuts off the car. Off in the distance I hear the roar of police sirens and firetrucks. I'm sure that there were plenty of calls to the police after our little drag race through the streets. I close my eyes and let my heart rest for a moment, the throbbing pain in my forehead still not passing.

Slam.

When I open my eyes, King is slamming both of his fists on the top of his steering wheel. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" he yells. I throw a hand over his shoulder and pull him in, taking his hands away from the wheel before he does anymore damage to his Camaro.

"What's the matter? Talk to me," I whisper into his ear.

He looks up at me with those translucent blue eyes. "I failed yet again."

He looks down my body at the burnt ends of my socks and the small burn marks on my thighs. "He hurt you." He lets out a shallow breath into my shoulder. I can feel the anger surging through him as he continues to stare at my burns.

"There's nothing that you could have done," Cat pulls up between us and offers a comforting hand on his shoulder. "None of us thought he would throw a fucking Molotov through the window." She pats his back before she pulls away and pulls on her burnt hair. "Looks like I'm going to need a haircut though," she laughs.

King looks over my shoulder at her and gives her a weary smile. "I should have been more vigilant. Protected you better." He looks up at me and brings a hand to my cheek. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you tonight." The image of King jumping through the blazing fire and hoisting me up like some kind of hero comes to the forefront of my mind.

"And if you didn't jump through that fire to save me, I probably wouldn't be here right now." I tremble at the thought of it, but it's the truth.

There was no other way for me to get out there. And jumping through the fire in my pajamas had not crossed my mind.

King took a bigger risk than I ever could. All to protect and save me. Right then and there, I feel my heart growing to twice its size. This is the man that I need to spend the rest of my life with. The one who throws caution into the wind to make sure that he saves me.

I bring a hand up to his cheek, taking in the scorched parts of his beard, and pull him in. Cat looks the other way as King and I kiss. His tongue flicks into my mouth and his hand holds my face near his. This kiss is different than any from before.

Almost as if it marks a new point in our relationship. The point where I can forgive him and I can let him love me again.