He peered over his shoulder, a cold gleam in his eyes and a smirk before he pushed through the door, dragging Mia along with him.
“Fuck out of my way,” I barked at the man who had just emerged from the men’s room, standing between me and the end of the hallway. He jumped out of my way right before I barreled through his ass.
I chased after Taggert and Mia, bumrushing the door just before it closed in my face. It slammed against the outside of the club.
“Brutus!” Mia’s voice carried, calling for me.
I chased in the direction, seeing Taggert pushing her into a dark sedan. She fought to get free, but it was useless. Taggert overpowered her by slamming his fist into the side of her face. When her body went limp, a sound came out of my mouth that I’d never heard before.
It was a mix of a growl, a curse, and a plea. I was going to kill that motherfucker, rip him from limb to limb. And then I’d mail his body parts, piece by piece, to anyone who loved him.
Taggert hopped over the roof of the car and was able to get into the driver’s seat right as I made it to within inches of the passenger door. I reached for it, but he peeled off, almost running over my foot.
“Fuck!” I bellowed, feeling more helpless than I’d ever felt in my damn life. My heart pounded in my ears as I started to search my pockets for my car keys. When I found them empty, I racked my mind to figure out where they were. That’s when I remembered that I’d left them along with my wallet up in the VIP lounge.
“Son of a …” I started to take off to head back inside to get my keys, cursing myself for letting Taggert get a head start on me.
“Brutus!”
I spun to find Joshua standing a few feet away. He tossed me my keys, which I easily caught.
“Go. We’ll follow.”
I didn’t wait for him to finish his before I was in a full-on sprint to my car. Though it felt like hours had passed, it must’ve been only a few seconds because right as I reached my SUV, I saw the dark sedan that Taggert drove pass right in front of me.
I jumped in my car and peeled out of the parking lot, hitting the curb on my way out. I pressed the palm of my hand against the steering, letting Taggert know I was on his ass. He hit the gas and sped up, blowing through a red light. I narrowly missed a head-on collision as I kept on his ass.
My only focus was the car in front of me. I would chase this dumb fuck all over the city and beyond to get Mia back. And then I’d bring all the havoc and rage I felt in my body down on his head.
He turned off the main road and led us down more isolated streets. A few of them were pedestrian roads. Due to the late night, however, most of them were empty. I thought about ramming the back of his car, but there was too much of a chance of injuring Mia.
I tried to play this out to figure out where the hell he was going. If I could figure that out, maybe I could get ahead of him somehow. But Taggert didn’t have any property out this way. We were close to exiting the city limits. An area that was slightly more rural.
Right when I was about to make a move to pull up on Taggert’s driver's side to force him over, I saw Mia leap across the center console and attack Taggert. That made my heart leap into my throat. She was up and fighting, which had to be a good sign.
Yet, from behind them, I could see that her distraction caused Taggert to swerve all over the road. He drove up on a curb and just narrowly missed hitting a fire hydrant. I wanted to yell and tell Mia that I was right there. She didn’t have to fight. I would do it for her. But also, I was proud of her for not going down without a fight.
I honked the horn again. At the same time, Taggert came up on a side street with more empty lots than actual houses. Much of the road was overgrown.
“Where the fuc—No!” I yelled when Taggert swerved in what looked like an attempt to regain control of the situation in the car. He overcorrected and ended up driving right into a tree head-on.
I slammed on my brakes and screamed again, seeing how still the car was. My entire body shook in fear. Somehow, I managed to get out of my car. As I ran to the passenger side, I could only think how much this was my fault.
It was my job, my fucking business, that had put Mia’s life in danger. The past month I’d been questioning Mia about who could have something against her, but I never stopped to think that it was someone with a beef against me that put her in harm’s way.
“Mia, baby,” I cried as I tried to yank the door open. It didn’t budge. Realizing the door must’ve been locked, I put my elbow through it. The glass shattered and allowed me to unlock it from the inside. As soon as the door opened, I heard Mia groaning.
“No, no, no,” I repeated when I saw a trace of blood across her forehead. “Baby, please be awake.”
“Brutus,” she mumble-whispered.
“I’m here,” I consoled. “I’m here.”
I didn’t want to move her due to possible spine injuries, but smoke rose from the front of the car, and I could hear and see sparks flying. We were in danger of an explosion. I had no choice but to pull her out.
“You’re okay,” I told her as I carried her feet away from the car.
“Brutus,” I heard Carter call as I knelt to the ground. I hated to place her on the street, but I needed to check over her injuries.
