I feel a stinging pain between my eyes, and the force of the blow makes me fall. My head throbs as I taste copper in my mouth. Everything is off center. I can’t see straight. He grips my arm and then I’m being pulled to my feet, toward the car, though I keep stumbling.
He pushes my head down and I fall into a familiar seat. My eyesight slowly levels out while the driver’s side door shuts. The car starts, but it makes a winding sound. His hands slam on the steering wheel, making me jolt. He tries it again, and it turns over and starts, though it backfires and the engine is louder than normal. A familiar beep signals the lock on the doors. As he reverses slowly, metal screeches as the vehicles pull away from each other.
I’m on the edge of my seat, my eyes scanning Elena. The side windshield has shattered, and there are patches of blood on her arm.
Her head turns our way and she blinks, but she looks disoriented. Her mouth moves, but I can’t understand what she’s saying because the motor is loud. Worry slices through me. I hurt Beau’s pride, so he may still stop to hurt her. He doesn’t, though; he keeps driving, and at least knowing Beau won’t hurt them provides a small bit of relief. I hope the men get to them in time.
My heart is heavy because I never told Reaper I love him. In a short period, he’s shown me more about life and love than anybody I’ve met. He’s become my sanctuary. Being with him has allowed me to finally feel safe, secure, and at peace with who I am and what I want in a partner. The thought of never seeing him again fills me with terror. We needed more time. I turn my head to look out the window as I try to hide my tears.
“What are you crying about?” The disgust in his voice is unmistakable. “Your dog, your sister, or that criminal? I should be the one upset.” He takes one hand off the steering wheel and points to his chest. “Me, not you! Me!” he screams.
His eyes return to the road, but his hands clench the steering wheel. “Where are we going? You know the other men from the MC will be back soon. So just leave me here, and you will have enough time to escape.”
He veers off to the side onto an overgrown dirt road. “If I can’t have you, then no one can.”
I look down at my hands tightly folded together. I loosen them and focus on my escape. I subtly move my legs to the side to see if there’s a weapon or anything by my feet, but there’s nothing. Then to the center console—nothing. I remember there being only registration papers in the glove compartment.
The car rocks as it travels over the rough ground.
“I gave you everything.”
My eyes dart back to him. I bite back my reply because I know it wouldn’t help me, but I can feel that burn of anger. I shove it down. “I know you did,” I reply in the fake loving voice I know all too well.
“Then, why did you leave me? You had everything. You didn’t work. I stayed with you, even though you couldn’t get pregnant.”
I flinch at the pregnancy taunt. It always wounded me when he mentioned it.
I clear my throat and sit up straighter in my seat. “I panicked.”
His face scrunches as he glances at me, then his gaze returns to the road. “It was your fault! If you didn’t carry on the way you did sometimes, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten angry.”
My jaw clenches, my knuckles white, as I hold my emotions in. I wait and try to breathe out some of the tension. “I’m sorry.” I’m proud of how calm my voice sounds.
“It’s too late now!”
I knew this when I looked into his cold, dead eyes. He came here to kill me. I try focusing again. If his gun is back in his holster, I could try to go for it. But he’s much too strong for me to overpower him.
The steep mountain forces me to slide farther back into my seat. The car jolts forward, once, twice, then stops. Hope releases some of the pressure from my chest as I watch him turn the ignition over from the corner of my eye, but nothing happens.
“FUCK!” Beau screams and slams his hands on the steering wheel, startling me.
Now that the car is off, there’s the sound of another car in the distance, and I pray that it’s Reaper. Beau whips his head to see out the back window of the car. The beep signals the car’s unlocked.
He pulls out his gun and aims it at me. He slowly opens his door and gets out. He rushes around the front of the car and to my side. I grip the door handle. There’s tension on the other side of the door as he pulls it, but I lean back, gripping the door with everything I have. He bangs on the window, but the sound of the car is getting closer. If I can just hold on...
Glass shatters over my skin. My ears ring as he yanks the door open. I’m being pulled out to my feet. I search around my body, expecting to have been shot, but there are no wounds, only a couple of small specks of blood from the glass.
He tugs my arm hard again as the familiar MC van stops, with Reaper in the driver’s seat, his eyes trained on us.
“Get out slowly!” Beau yells. “I’ll kill her if you do anything stupid!”
The door opens and Reaper gets out. His muscles tense as he walks toward us. My eyes scan every inch of him. I can’t see any injuries.
“Not any closer!” Beau warns as he shoves the cold gun hard into my temple, making my eyes close briefly as he forces my head to move an inch to the side.
Reaper is still, but a vein is popping out in his neck.
“I know you’ve got a gun. Slowly, put it on the ground.” Reaper’s hand goes to his holster, but Beau yells. “I said slowly!” Reaper follows his command and grabs his gun. “Now, throw it away.”
