“Feet too please,” I growled.
A small grin pulled at the corners of his mouth as he ran the knife down the binds on my ankles. One flick of my eyes and I calculated that my backpack was a mere five feet away. The top zipper was already open about five inches. I had to go for it. Otherwise I was either dead or on a flight to South America or God knows where, to live a life as Jane Green.
When he was cutting the last rope, his eyes flicked up to mine with a grin. The second the rope freed my foot. I yanked it back and Krav Maga’d his mother fucking face. My heel slammed into his cheek, sending him backward, and I launched off the bed, ignoring the pain in my body. In three seconds, I had my backpack in my hands and wrenched it open. Scrambling with my fingers inside, I searched for the black zipper gun case Ethan had gotten me.
“Looking for this?”
Click.
I closed my eyes for a moment and accepted my death right then and there.
I’d fucked up. I’d misjudged how smart he was, and now I was going to die.
Standing slowly, I turned to face him and stare down the barrel of my gun. Using the last weapon I had left.
“I still remember the first time we kissed,” I muttered. “Homecoming, on the football field, raining. It was the best night of my life,” I lied and took a tiny step closer. “My God, you were Bryce Conner and you picked me. I was so enthralled with you.”
His face softened, and keeping the gun pointed at my chest, he nodded. “No one will ever love you as much as I do, Hailey. When will you see that?”
I nodded. “I see it now. I see that you’re willing to kill me rather than let me go. That’s the deepest love there is.”
If I made it out of here, I was using my two hundred a month savings from living with Ethan rent free and going to therapy.
Another step closer.
Bryce smiled. “I remember taking your virginity. My parents were in Europe that summer.”
I inwardly cringed at that memory. It had hurt and he’d been rough, not stopping when I whimpered, but I thought that was normal, that he’d been an eager hormonal teenage boy.
“Remember your proposal?” I laughed, really deserving a fucking Emmy award after this.
Three slow steps closer, the gun was lowering.
He defended himself: “I was so nervous, the words got jumbled!”
I was right near him and I decided to go for the kill. “We should have had a baby together. You would make an amazing father.”
His eyes lit up, mouth going slack a little as he fully lowered the gun.
I took my chance then and leapt. I fucking jumped from where I stood knowing I had about five more feet to cover. My ankle was sprained too but I jumped, ignoring the pain. As I sailed through the air, he recoiled and tried to bring the gun up, but I was already on top of him. With a crash, I collided with him and we both went down. Tucking my left injured wrist in between our bodies, I tried to put out my right wrist and soften the landing. My head ended up smacking against his and we both groaned in pain.
I’d taken all of two Krav Maga classes.
Two.
I was on the floor with a man holding a gun that was trapped between our bodies and I had no idea what to do.
Krav Maga was all about powerful strikes, delivering deep blows to muscle or bone that shocked the system. My left wrist was out of the game, so I raised my right elbow and came down with every ounce of power I had, right on his collar bone.
He cried out in pain and I didn’t let up. I pulled my body back and rammed my knee into his groin, causing him to curl into a ball.
Reaching down, I tried to yank the gun from his grip but he was strong.
“You bitch!” He spat in my face, and then out of nowhere he headbutted me so hard that blackness exploded behind my eyes and I was thrown off of him. Losing my grip on the weapon, I was completely thrown to the side.
Bryce started to stand up, shakily, like he was disoriented, and that’s when I heard Ethan’s voice.
“HAILEY! Are you here?!” Ethan’s muffled, panicked voice sounded from outside the motel.
