“What are you doing?” he drawls. “I mean, I’m sitting right next to you. Do you think I can’t see you?”
“Hey, Siri, call Rafe,” I call quickly instead.
“Calling Rafe,” Siri drones through the car.
“Siri, hang up. Hey, Siri, hang up!” he shouts, but my phone isn’t synced to his voice and it starts ringing.
I hear Rafe’s deep voice on the second ring. “Hello?” He’s out of breath.
“Rafe!” I scream. “Jayson.” That’s all I get out before my head bounces off the side window. I blink slowly for a second, but then my eyes shut with my scream still ringing in my ears.
Before I can even open my eyes, I register a headache. “Dumb, stupid girl.” I feel the wind and then the door next to me slams. I want to try the handle, but it hurts to open my eyes. Everything feels too bright.
Another door slams, and the car lurches forward. I must lose consciousness again, because the next thing I know, someone is pulling me out of the car. I swat the hands away, but my attempts are weak.
“Sit still. Where the hell is everyone? Help me with this,” he says louder. A few seconds later, the black BMW he was originally in pulls up.
“Oh my God, Lucy!” Gwen squeals, and I feel a soft hand touch my face, but I push her away too.
“He’s gonna be pissed. She doesn’t even look like she can talk,” a male voice comments.
“Yeah, well, she used voice dial to call Rex, and I needed to shut her up. Open the door.” As he hauls me up a few stairs, my head starts to clear. We’re in a pretty nice neighborhood with big, manicured lawns and no cars in sight. I look for anything that may indicate where I am, but I don’t see any addresses or street signs. I could be in Ohio for all I know, since that’s where Gwen said he was from.
“Jay!” he shouts near my ear, and I try to block the noise with my hand. “Where the hell is he?” he mumbles and pulls me deeper into the house.
“Let me help her.” I feel Gwen’s small hand on my back. I want to recoil, but that would require energy I need to conserve.
“Here.” The man gives me a slight shove toward her, and I don’t even try to brace myself. She lets out anoomphbut manages to keep us both upright. “Bring her in here,” he instructs, and we follow him down a hall toward two large doors with the other guy behind us.
The man raps his knuckles on the door. “Jay, you here?” He pushes the door open, and his back goes ramrod straight. “Oh fuck!” he hisses, and his voice is so low, I don’t even think he realizes he uttered the words aloud.
I try to peer around him, but there’s no use. The man is frozen in place, and the door is barely open. The guy behind us pushes his way to the front and shoves the door inward the rest of the way. It takes me several seconds to understand what I’m looking at, but even then, my mind can’t make sense of it.
Gwen screams, then covers her lips, as if not to draw attention to herself, but the screech is still emanating from her. I look back at the scene before me and the arcs of red painting the walls. My eyes are drawn to the ceiling where fat, crimson drops are raining down.
A man is standing in the center of the room. He has a gun pointed in our direction and a baseball bat dangling from the fingers of his other hand. His shirt is ripped, exposing a chest full of inky swirls. He has blood on his jaw, but I know his face.
Oh my God, I know that face. “Put your weapons on the ground,” Rafe demands. The two men look at each other as if they’re deciding whether or not to listen. The one who hit me puts his hand behind his back, and Rafe snaps, “Slowly. Don’t make a mistake and think I won’t end you right now.” The man closes his eyes, then complies.
It takes all of three seconds before each man has a black gun lying at their feet. “Any blades?” Rafe urges, and both shake their heads in denial. “Both of you move to the right.” He motions with the gun until the men are several steps away from the door and the weapons.
Rafe scans me quickly before returning his focus to the men. His head tilts to the side, and he points the bat in my direction. “Which one of them touched you?” he asks softly. His voice is at odds with our surroundings.
I take a step to the right and dislodge Gwen’s grip on my arm. Rafe’s eyes are wild, and his pupils are so large, they are nearly black. “Are you okay?” I approach him slowly. Gwen starts sobbing.
He lifts his hand with the gun. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer when you called,” he says conversationally.
My God, what happened in this room? I look around, but I don’t see anyone else. The blood can’t all be coming from Rafe, there’s no way he would still be standing.
“Move or speak, and I will put a bullet in your head,” he snarls. His face is trained in my direction, but his gaze is focused to the right.
I’m so confused, but I’m not afraid anymore. Not for myself anyway. “How did you know I would be here?”
“C’mere.” He drops the bat and opens his arm. I walk over to him, mindful of the blood on his shirt and arms.
“Do you have your phone so I can call an ambulance?” Mine is still on the floorboard in the car.
He wraps his arm around me and tenderly presses his lips to the top of my head. I think I’m in shock, because none of this feels real. “We don’t need an ambulance. I have a car coming for you.”
