Blurred Lines 1: CHASE
Chapter 101

~Sofla~

My pulse racketed in my head, an ear-splitting noise rang in my ears. I peeled my eyes open, squinting at the blinding light above me. I tried again, making out the blue sky with thin strips of white clouds moving at a snail's pace.

"Sofia," Derek's voice sounded as if we were in a dungeon. His calm tenor bounced off the walls until it fades. "Sofia, can you hear me?" I focused on his question, pushing away the pain all over my body. Everywhere hurts. A thousand needles were stabbing my fingers and toes, my knees and legs were boneless, and my hips felt like they had been jarred so hard they were detached from my body.

"Derek," I rasped. His calm and watchful blue eyes were the first thing I spotted.

He touched my arms, my neck, and my face. His fingers were rough and warm against my skin.

"Is she okay?" I heard someone ask. She sounded like the boutique clerk. I wasn't sure.

Derek ignored her question. "How do you feel?" He checked my eyes, moving his forefinger from left to right, checking my vitals.

"It hurts ever," I groaned. He supported my neck with his hand and slowly pulled me into a sitting position. "There was a car. It hit me."

"That wasn't the car," he explained. "That was me."

"You?" our eyes locked, and fear broke through his calm facade for the first time since I gained my bearings.

"Fck, Sofia," he blew out. "That was close. If I hadn't reached you in time and tackled you to the ground-" he shook his head.

"You tackled me?" I giggled. When we were little, I used to come barreling at him with all my might when I played football with him, Leo and Miles. He'd always been so solid and strong; it was like trying to break a concrete wall all the time. No wonder it felt like I'd been bulldozed down to my as.

His worried gaze slnted. "I don't think anything's broken. But since you're giggling, I think you banged your head pretty bad." A smile ghosted his lips. "Let's get you to the hospital."

My eyes flickered down on my hands. They were shaking, my palms had been skinned, and I had a strawberry on my left knee. I lost one of my sandals. My toes were shaking too, or was it my vision spinning? I'm not sure. Dizziness rolled all over me, seeing two Derek. "I feel funny."

Derek scooped me up in his arms. "You might have a concussion."

"That sedan tried to run me over," I murmured. Like a porcelain doll, Derek put me inside the car and secured my seatbelt.

"Stay put," he instructed.

I didn't even realize I lost my bag. Just my sandals. Derek left for a moment, then came back with my stuff, along with the paper bag containing Elise's dress.

"Why would someone try to run me over?" I mulled over my unanswered question, not that I expected an answer from Derek.

He started the car, shoulder checking, then backing out of the parking lot. "We'll find out soon enough."

As the car's wheels rolled, Derek opened his phone and pressed a number. He put it on the loudspeaker. The quick rumble of his speed dial filled the car.

"Hey, D. What's up?" A cheerful voice responded on the other side. "Changed your mind about retirement already?"

"Can you run a plate for me?" Derek's tone was no bullshit.

"Hold up." There was rustling, then the guy said. "Go on."

"KEW 1750 New York plates." Silent rapping of fingers against the keyboard set off from the line. "Black sedan. Tried to hit my sister in front of Big Gerry's grocery store."

The guy blew out a breath. "Got a match. The car belonged to Nikki Pearson. Reported stolen three weeks ago."

The driver was a white female, 30-40 years old. She had black hair and wore a Yankee baseball cap and sunglasses"

I hadn't seen Derek in this light before. Sure, I knew he worked for the military, and being a SEAL requires a particular skill set. in the middle of coming to my rescue, he only got split seconds to ID the driver and the car. That was some kind of fast thinking and reflexes. I'm fcking lucky Derek was there. I don't even want to ponder what would've happened if he wasn't.

Then I remembered the sedan following me the other day Chills coated my aching body. "Last week, a black sedan followed me from the mall."

"What?" Derek slid his gaze in my direction, brows furrowed deeply.

I clasped my hands together, wincing. I forgot about my abrasion. "I thought I was going crazy. But given this situation, it could be the same car that followed me."

Derek made me tell the events from the mall until I met Miles at the gasoline station. Chuck, his friend on the line, promised to put this on top of his priority until we get a name.

In the hospital, Derek and I repeated what happened to Detective Alice Jacobson. As per Derek's instruction, I also told the detective about the possible stalking of the sedan on me last week.

"We'll run the plates and see what the street camera caught from Big Gerry's." Detective Jacobson tucked her notepad and pen into her jacket pocket. Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on FindNovel.net. Visit FindNovel.net to read the complete chapters for free. Her piercing stare made me uncomfortable since her questioning started. The way she fired her question made me feel like I was the suspect and not the victim. She carried herself with such confidence that it made me squirm on the ER cot. "If what you're saying is true, this would be considered attempted murder."

I gasped, eyes flinging towards Derek. Observing and listening to the detective and me, he stood on the end of the bed, arms folded over his chest. His face gives nothing of what's going through his head.

"Sofia?!" Chase pulled the curtains of my hospital bed so roughly, he almost ripped the fabric from the curtain rings. "Are you okay?" He cupped my face, tilted it side to side. His hands skimmed my arms and held up my bandage-covered hands. "What the fck happened?"

"I'm okay," I pressed my unbandaged hand on his forearm. "I'm fine," I reassured him with a weak smile.

His eyes locked with mine, his irises were coated in fear. Releasing a huge breath, he pawed my nape and pressed my face into his chest. "If anything happened to you-"

"I'm fine," I repeated. "Just a few scratches."

Detective Jacobson cleared her throat. "I didn't know you were back in town, Mr. Clark."

Chase's body tensed. The knot on his shoulders was tight as he turned to face the detective. "Alice."

The detective raised an eyebrow. Surprise was the first emotion that flickered in her light brown eyes, replaced with curiosity morphing into annoyance, followed by anger. "It's Detective Jacobson."

Derek and I exchanged glances. Chase stood before me, covering me from the detective's line of sight. "What's your relationship with Ms. Collins, Mr. Clark?" He used Chase's surname before he left for Rio. "She's my fiancee," Chase's tenor was grim.

She raised an eyebrow. "When did you come back?"

"Does that have anything to do with this case?"

"Now that she's involved with you, I think it might."

Chase's hands clenched; I could practically hear his bones grinding. "Ask me again when you're sure."

Detective Jacobson chuckled. "I bet my money this is not a random hit-and-run. Every fcking time we crossed paths, trouble erupted in my town. You're a trouble magnet, aren't you, Mr. Clark?"

"Get my name right first before you mock me. If you're done here, I'd like to talk to my fiancee." He pulled out his wallet and produced a card from it. "That's my contact. Anything you have to ask Sofia, you go through me, understood?" "I don't report to you, Mr," she trailed off, eyes dropping to Chase's card and flinging back to my fiance's face.

"Montiero."

Chase gritted his teeth and stepped forward. He towered over Detective Jacobson's five-foot-five reach. Derek uncrossed his hands, taking a defensive stance. "Take this case seriously, Alice."

"Or what?" She was unphased. In fact, she even sounded delighted.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to know."

"I think I do. Maybe this time around, I could finally put you behind bars."