Page 4 of One Forbidden Moment

She flinched, fingers tightening around the metal bar in front of her.The vibration rattled through her bones.She didn't know where he was taking her.She didn't know why.She didn't know if she'd ever see her mom again.The thought made her throat close.

The bike shot forward, gravel spitting out behind them as he tore down the road.The wind hit her like a wall, cold and sharp, stealing her breath.She ducked her chin to her chest, trying to shield her face, but it didn't help much.The night air sliced across her cheeks, numbing her skin.

Hours passed.Or maybe minutes.Time blurred into the endless rumble of the engine and the ache in her muscles from holding on.Her eyes kept drifting shut, her head bobbing forward before she jerked awake again.She was so tired.So cold.Her fingers were stiff, her arms shaking from gripping the bike.

Then his arm and his hand came off the handlebars.

She tensed, breath catching, but he didn't hurt her.He didn't grab her.Instead, he pulled the side of his leather jacket open with one hand, holding it out toward her like an unspoken command.

She hesitated only a second before grabbing the edge of the jacket and tucking her arm under it.Warmth hit her immediately, the heat from his body seeping into her frozen skin.She kept her other arm wrapped tight around his forearm, terrified that if she let go, she'd fall off the bike and he wouldn't stop.

Her eyes drifted closed again.

The next thing she knew, the wind slammed against her like a fist.

She jerked awake, gasping.Afraid of falling off the motorcycle, she held on to her kidnapper's arms.The warm cocoon of his jacket was gone.She blinked rapidly, struggling to understand what was going on.

The air was wild and full of electricity.Lightning flashed across the sky, bright enough to burn through her eyelids.The clouds above them churned, black and furious.He was riding straight into a storm, or she was having a nightmare.

Sharp stings peppered her face and arms.Rain?No—pine needles, ripped from the trees by the wind.They hit her skin like tiny needles.She curled forward, trying to shield herself, but the storm was hitting them from all sides.

The trees bent at the roadside, branches thrashing.Panic took hold of her, and there was nothing she could do without endangering her life.

A dark fog rolled across the road ahead of them, thick and unnatural, swallowing the beams of the headlight whole.

Her heart lurched.She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact.They were going to hit it.They were going to crash.She was going to die on a stranger's motorcycle, and no one would even know she wasn't here by choice.

No one would explain to her mom that she was gone.Or maybe they would, but it wouldn't matter because her mom wouldn't remember or understand.

But instead of hitting a wall, the wind stopped.

The air calmed.The storm vanished.The world stilled except for the steady rumble of the motorcycle beneath her.

She lifted her head slowly, her chest quivering.

Jillian blinked.The road stretched out in front of them, but it wasn't the same one they'd been on.The pavement looked older, cracked in places, like no one had driven on it in years.Weeds were growing in the deep cracks.

The road led to a town.It looked like a scene out of an older movie.A place where someone would stop for gas and keep traveling.

The trees were different too.They were taller, darker green, their branches hanging low like they were resting.

She swallowed hard, her throat dry."Where...where are we?"

The words barely made it past her lips, carried away by the low rumble of the motorcycle.She never would've talked to him, but she had to know where he'd taken her.

His arm tightened around her middle, steadying her as he slowed the bike to a crawl.His breath shifted, and the tension rolled off him in waves, embracing her.He braced for trouble.

The silence pressed in on her, thick and unnatural.No wind.No frogs croaking.No moths fluttering around the streetlights.No traffic.Just the steady thrum of the engine and the pounding of her heart.

He guided the bike forward, creeping down the road like he expected something to jump out at them.Jillian's fingers dug into his forearm because, like it or not, she had no one but him to rely on if something bad happened.

A shape appeared past the trees, hanging over the street.A sign.Faded white paint.Black letters barely visible in the dim light.

EVERSTILL

Her stomach dropped.She didn't know this place.She didn't know how they got here.She didn't know how they were going to get back home.Panic clawed up her throat, sharp and choking.

She'd never traveled growing up.Her mom was a single parent who worked two, sometimes three, jobs to keep a roof over their heads.