Hot Pursuit by Jo Davis

stress than usual, and I’ve been sleeping fine until recently.”
    â€œYou need to get to a doctor, Chris. Those symptoms can overlap with a bunch of different conditions, some of them dangerous.”
    â€œI will, I just . . .” Trailing off, he looked away. “What if it’s something really bad? I don’t even want to speculate what.”
    â€œAll the more reason to call today and make an appointment. Don’t wait.”
    â€œI don’t want to think about it, much less go through a crapload of tests and then have to hear what the doctor will tell me.” Chris was really freaked out.
    â€œI know you don’t, but you have to do it. You could be wasting valuable time,” he said bluntly.
    That got Chris’s attention. “God. Don’t even say that.”
    â€œYou
needed
me to say it. That’s why we’re here.”
    â€œI suppose so,” he admitted quietly. “Thanks, Taylor.”
    â€œDon’t mention it.”
    On the tabletop, Taylor’s cell phone buzzed and the display lit up. His heart jumped when he saw an incoming call from Cara, and he grabbed it without thinking twice. “Hello?”
    But the voice on the other end wasn’t the one he expected. “Taylor?”
    â€œBlake? What’s up?”
    â€œSomeone ran us off the road,” the younger man blurted, breathless. “Cara didn’t want me to call you, but—”
    Taylor shot to his feet, almost knocking over his latte. Chris rose, too, expression concerned. “Where are you?”
    â€œAbout a mile east of Walmart. We’ll be the ones on the side of the road, with Cara’s truck smashed into a telephone pole,” he said dryly.
    â€œAre either of you hurt?” For a second, he couldn’t breathe.
    â€œJust a couple of bruises, nothing serious.”
    Thank God.
“On my way.”
    Leaving behind his drink, he was barely aware of Chris on his heels. Sliding into the car, he fired it up and was out of the parking lot before the other man could get his seat belt buckled.
    â€œWhat the hell?” Chris sputtered.
    â€œCouple of friends of mine were run off the road out by Walmart,” he said.
    â€œShit. Are they okay?”
    â€œBlake said they had some bumps and bruises. But I’m worried because he used Cara’s phone, instead of her calling me herself.”
    â€œBlake? He’s that kid you’ve been trying to get off the streets?”
    â€œHe’s twenty now, not exactly a kid, but that’s him. You saw him last night. He’s started working for Cara and the band.”
    Chris’s eyes widened. “You mean Cara
Evans
, your hookup from last night?”
    He winced at the term
hookup
. It implied something less than what their time together meant to him. But for simplicity’s sake, he nodded. “The same.”
    â€œJust friends, huh? Right.”
    â€œBarely, if that. We have great chemistry in bed, but I don’t think she likes
me
very much.” And didn’t that suck?
    â€œAnd yet Blake thought you rated a phone call, and you’re running off to the rescue. Interesting.”
    â€œCalling her a friend is a stretch. But Blake
is
, whatever
she
thinks of me and whether she likes it or not.”
    Chris made a thoughtful humming noise, but thankfully let it rest for the time being. “They catch the other driver?”
    â€œI don’t know. But if they did, it damned well better have been an accident and not road rage or something. If that’s the case, the bastard’s in for a world of pain.”
    The drive across town had never seemed to take so fucking long. Taylor swerved around slow-moving traffic and construction barricades, ignoring Chris’s occasional curse. After an eternity, he spotted a black pickup off to the side of the road, front end crumpled into a telephone pole. A quint and an ambulance were on the scene, and a tow truck