Page 81 of Her Devoted HERO

“Dude? You with me?”

“Yeah,” Dex said breathing through his nose.

“I’m going to hang up now. Drive safe. You getting in a wreck isn’t going to help things.”

“I don’t need a mother or a fucking grandmother.” He pressed end on the call but made sure he was on track enough to drive.

Chapter Thirteen

She slammed her hand against the steering wheel.

“Tsk Tsk, Kenna. Don’t hurt yourself. That’s for me to do.”

She wasn’t going to cry. It was useless. She needed to think. There wasn’t a fucking chance in hell she was going to leave Austin without a mother. Her hands were slick with sweat. She was on Highway Fifty-Six, headed towards Poway. She’d been driving for what seemed like forever.

“Take the upcoming exit,” the raspy voice said.

“Use your own voice. You don’t have to hide any longer!” she shouted.

“I like this voice. Jean especially liked it. She said it was sexy.”

Kenna heard herself whimper.

“Ooooh. I like that sound. Do it again.”

Kenna blinked rapidly.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. There’s no crying in baseball. Don’t let the whackjob see you cry.

“Whimper!”

“Go fuck yourself!”

“I’m going to fuck you.”

God, she didn’t even know if the women were raped or not. Had they been?

“Why are you doing this? Why me?”

“Because everybody wants you. Because you’re the focus, and your death is going to matter.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“Go left at the bottom of the ramp.”

“No. I’m going to pull over.”

“I’m still here at the beach. I’ll shoot Austin.”

It was like a Rubik’s cube. He had to have a GPS on the phone, plus he had a camera trained on her. Was he really at the beach? Wasn’t he going to meet her at wherever she was headed? The fucker couldn’t be at two places at once. Wait a minute, there wasn’t a chance in hell Austin was still at the beach. Not if she had disappeared. Nope, Hunter would have been on the search for her in a heartbeat.

She saw a gas station to her right. Her fingers were clammy. Could she take the chance? She had to. She couldn’t leave Austin without a mother. She couldn’t. She veered over to the right, the car hopped up over the lip of the gas station entrance because she was going so fast. All of the pump stations were full.

Shit!

She pulled over to the side in front of the air station.

“What are you doing?” he yelled. “Get back on the road and turn around.” The man’s voice came in clearer. Did she recognize it?