Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
The engine stayed on.
Then the car shifted as Gray climbed out, slammed the door, opened the back door, and fiddled around for a minute.
Another slam.
The crunch of footsteps.
I had to run.
It was all I had left to do, right?
I didn’t know where we were, but we couldn’t be far from the trailer park. We hadn’t been driving for very long.
Surely, wherever we were, we couldn’t be far from other people.
I could run and scream until someone helped me.
The trunk popped, making my whole body tense.
The light spilled in, and I looked up in horror as I saw a needle stuck between Gray’s lips.
My lethal dose of heroin.
My death sentence.
But wait.
Was that a siren?
Had someone seen after all? Me being dragged around, thrown into a trunk, hauled away?
Or, maybe, had Melissa had a change of heart?
Had she called it in?
That seemed less likely, but the siren did seem to be coming closer.
“Fuck,” Gray murmured around the needle in his mouth as he looked at my exposed mouth.
With him momentarily distracted, I just… threw out my legs, catching him in the stomach, and sending him stumbling back a few feet.
I didn’t hesitate.
I pushed my legs out, then got to my feet.
And I ran.
Suddenly, I wished I hadn’t been so dedicated to pilates and the occasional elliptical session.
I wish I’d taken up running.
I wish my body had been honed for this sort of activity. I wish my mind had hardened itself to ignore the way my heart was slamming, the tightening of my chest, the ache in my knees and ankles as my feet pounded the ground.
I was on the other side of the park.
Closer to the schools.
But I’d run without thinking, so I was running deeper into the woods, heading back toward the damn trailer park. Where I was less likely to get help than if I’d run toward the schools.
It was too late, though.
I couldn’t turn around now.
Not with Gray gaining on me.
Unlike Gav, Gray was more fit. He did spend time at the gym. On the damned treadmill too.
He was also taller, longer-legged.
I didn’t have long before he caught up to me.
I broke through the tree line at the other end of the park when I felt his hand close around my forearm, wrenching me back so hard that I think he dislocated my shoulder.
A cry escaped me.
But I stopped it.
Then sucked in a breath as I saw the police cars a couple dozen yards away.
And I screamed like my life depended on it.
It did.
My throat ached as a sound escaped me that felt bigger than something I could make.
I saw people.
Were they coming toward me?
I didn’t know.
What I did know, though, was that a needle pricked my skin.
My gaze slipped over, and I watched as the plunger shot the drugs into my system.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Detroit
My gun was out as I tore open the door to the trailer where Melissa lived.
Her whole body jolted as I charged inside.
“Where is she?” I demanded, suddenly, for the first time in my life, not giving a single fuck about scaring a woman.
Melissa stepped backward, dropping her ass down into one of the folding chairs in her small dining space between the kitchen and the living room.
“She’s not here,” she said.
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” I seethed.
“I’m not!” Melissa squeaked. “She was here. He just left with her.”
“When?”
“Just… just a couple minutes ago!”
“Where?” I growled as Colter came in behind me.
Distantly, I could hear the sirens as the cops left the station. It wouldn’t be long until they got here. Until my chances of getting information out of Melissa with intimidation fell away.
“Where the fuck did he take her? What is he doing to her?”
“He’s going to make it look like an overdose!” Melissa said, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.
“Where?” My voice was so loud that she shrank into herself, shoulders coming up, hands moving outward at me.
“I don’t know! I swear!”
“What kind of car?” I asked.
“Black sedan. With a missing hubcap on the front passenger side.”
“Detroit,” Colter said, voice calm. “It was pulling out as we were coming in.”
“Fuck,” I growled, the sirens pulling into the neighborhood.
I tucked my gun away, turned, and walked out of the house.
“She’s not here,” I told Slash as he looked over at me. “He took her out as we were coming in. To drug her into an overdose,” I added.
Two uniformed cops were exchanging looks, confused. Understandably so.
I ignored them.
And beelined for my brother as he climbed out of his car instead.
“You fucking did this,” I yelled as I made my way toward him. “If something happens to her because of your fucking ass, you’re going to regret it,” I added.
“No,” Dallas said, holding his hands up. But not to me.
When I looked, the uniforms were reaching for their guns.
“What happens to who?” Dallas asked, brotherly disgust pushed back behind professional curiosity.