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I don’t even realize I’m sending up a panicked prayer.
The first attacker swings, and Rowan steps forward instead of ducking. He catches the man’s arm, slamming his palm into the guy’s elbow before yanking him to the side. The one who seems to be in charge crashes into him, then Rowan strikes fast, his fist connecting with the first man’s throat, and as he falls backward, Rowan delivers two quick punches to the leader’s ribs before shoving his palm into his nose.
My eyes flit to the men, the leader dead with blood trickling from his nose, and the other guy suffocating as if he’s being strangled.
Oh my God.
Unable to hold it back, I gag and quickly look away from the five bodies to Rowan, who’s frighteningly calm.
The scariest part is how fast he took them down.
My heart beats out of my chest and breaths saw over my lips as Rowan walks to the phone and picks it up. He puts the device to his ear, and I hear him growl, “I will kill every fucking one of you.” I can’t hear what the other person says, but Rowan responds with, “It’s your funeral.”
He ends the call, and stopping beside me, he holds the device out to me. “You get fifteen seconds.” When I take it from him with trembling hands, he adds, “Just tell Miles you’re okay. Nothing else.”
I nod while dialing the bar’s number, because I don’t know any of their cell phone numbers by heart.
The line connects, and as I listen to it ring, Rowan finishes filling the tank.
“Miles’ B—”
“Miles, it’s me. Annie. I don’t have much time. I just wanted to say I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me at all.” Rowan indicates for me to scoot over, and I quickly do so. “Thank you for the time I got to work there and for being my friend. I’ll miss you, Harlan, and Vanessa.”
Not even a second later, he takes the phone from me and ends the call, then he wipes the device off and tosses it out the window.
“Why are you wiping off our fingerprints on the phone, but you didn’t with our devices and the gun after we left the bar?”
“It didn’t matter at the bar, but I don’t want anything out here being traced back to you,” he replies as he starts the engine.
“And you?”
His eyes touch on mine. “I don’t have fingerprints. I burned them off.”
Jesus.
My gaze snaps to his hands, and it’s only then that I notice the smooth scar tissue.
I pick up our bag of snacks and set it down on my lap, my mouth dry and my mind all over the place.
“That will be the last time you contact anyone from your past.” Rowan suddenly drops a bomb on me.
“What?” I gasp, giving him an incredulous look as he steers the truck away from the pump.
Before I can say anything else, his eyes lock with mine. “You will only put them in danger. It’s for their safety, Annie.”
My shoulders slump in defeat. Even though I don’t like it at all and I’m not ready to say goodbye to the people who mean so much to me, I also don’t want to put them at risk.
At least I got to call Miles. They know I’m okay, and it makes me feel a little better.
“Do you understand?” he asks as he pulls out onto the road.
“Yes,” I whisper. I glance over my shoulder at the gas station, my gaze only touching on the bodies for a second.
“Don’t look,” he orders.
I quickly turn my gaze to the road ahead as it sinks in that Rowan just killed five more people, but this time, a part of me understands it had to happen. It was either them or us.
God, am I already getting used to death? So fast?
