“Fuck you, assholes,” I shouted at the car behind me, taking another vicious turn too fast, the backend fishtailing.
Thankfully, I managed to get the car under control, and I was picking up speed on the straightaway when my cell phone rang. I grabbed for it but fumbled, the damn thing falling into the floorboard.
This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go.
I’d gone to TJ’s party to say my goodbyes to my closest friends before I fell off the face of the earth and they believed me to be dead. Call it closure or whatever. I’d needed it. Unfortunately, my plan was thwarted when I got a notification from the security system I’d installed outside Braelyn’s apartment door. It had taken all of a second to recognize the man who’d stepped into the hallway. But that second was all I had before the camera had been decommissioned.
As I ran out of TJ Arlington’s house like my ass was on fire, I’d attempted to call Braelyn, hoping to warn her to make a dash for it, to no avail. My heart had been pounding in my chest even as I floored it toward her apartment. I hadn’t been on the road a solid minute when I noticed the tail. At that point, the only thing I could do was drive in the opposite direction and pray that my sister would get out of that damn apartment before Jimmy got in.
Now, as I meandered through a neighborhood, going faster than I cared to, my cell phone rang again, the damn thing completely useless beneath the brake pedal. My creative driving did nothing to dislodge it even as it beeped, notifying me of a voicemail.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
With my focus on the road, I saw the next curve up ahead, then glanced in my rearview mirror. The dark blue sedan was close enough to kiss my bumper, so I kept my foot on the floor, sending up a prayer to a God I didn’t believe in, asking Him to let me live through this. For Braelyn.
The curve came faster than I anticipated, so I jerked the wheel, hugging the edge of the narrow road, the backend sliding on, yes, what I assumed was black ice. I tried to adjust but overcorrected, sending the car into a spin. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, my car out of control—spinning ninety degrees, one-eighty, then finally three-sixty. At that point, the tires caught traction. As luck would have it, I was once again righted, the car propelled forward with a violent lurch.
I breathed a sigh of relief, trying to dislodge my stomach from somewhere in my throat.
That was too damn close for comfort.
Unfortunately, the sigh was a bit premature, because the next thing I knew, I was careening off the road, bouncing down an embankment. The terrain was rocky, the car jarred and jolted. I nailed my foot to the brake pedal, but the car was having none of it. I flew past a few scraggly trees, grateful they weren’t—
The enormous tree rising proudly from the dead grass and ice-covered dirt was the last thing I saw before the car came to a jarring stop, my body maintaining the momentum despite the lack of movement. The airbag blew, but not before the front of the car accordioned, pinning me to the seat.
Pain bloomed hot and bright, ignited into a firestorm of agony, and the blackness took over.
“Ransom!”
I was vaguely aware of the rough, gravelly voice, hating that it had drawn me back to the brink, back to this godforsaken, pain-filled reality.
“Can you hear me, Ransom?”
It came from somewhere outside the car, muffled by the dull roar that filled my ears.
“Ransom! You gotta wake up, man. Come on.”
I managed to lift my head, coughing from the smoke filling the inside of the car. For a second, I thought it was because the airbag deployed, but I felt the heat, saw flickers of orange and red.
Not from the airbag.
Nope. Not that damn lucky.
The fucking car was on fire, and I was trapped, my legs twisted at an odd angle, the steering wheel lodged into my sternum, making it nearly impossible to take a deep breath.
Instinct had me twisting in a desperate attempt to free myself. Pain had my head fogging once more, my eyesight dimming.
“I’m gonna break out the back glass!”
Yeah, you do that. Whoever you are.
I barely had time to process it as a warning before I heard something hard slam from behind me. A few more tries and then it shattered. I jerked my head away as the shards began raining down into the car thanks to a big booted foot kicking it out of the way. It was then I realized the car was tilted at an angle, one door pinned by the ground, the other trapped by what looked to be a wall of trees. Not quite on its side but not upright, either, hence the reason this guy was making a path through the back.
I craned my neck around in an attempt to see who he was.
“Oh, good. You’re awake.” He sounded amused. “Ready to get your ass outta here?”
I had no idea who the Good Samaritan was, but I wasn’t about to tell him to leave me be. Getting out of this inferno was the only hope I had of saving my sister.
Then it hit me. Was this guy a Good Samaritan? Could be he was one of the assholes who’d been chasing me and he wanted me out of the car so he could execute me the old-fashioned way.
“Ransom, I need you to help me here,” the raspy voice demanded.
It still didn’t register that he knew my name, even as I dug for the seat belt release, my shoulder screaming in pain.
“That’s a start,” the man said as he crawled in through the gaping hole in the back. “You might wanna brace yourself. I’m gonna break the seat.”
Break the seat? What the fuck?
He didn’t hesitate, gripping both sides of the driver’s seat and yanking it violently until something snapped and it abruptly reclined. Guess he didn’t know there was a button for that.
Good news: if he was going to kill me, he didn’t sound eager to do so. Bad news: torture was still a possibility.
I could see flames in front of me, feel the heat on my legs.
“Goddammit, Ransom. If you wanna live, you’re gonna have to give it your all here, man.”
Oh, I wanted to live. If only to ensure my sister was safe. She was my motivation, the reason I managed to work through the godawful pain igniting in every nerve ending. It took effort and a good three minutes, but with the guy’s help, I managed to get out of the car with him dragging me. Once out, I tumbled onto terra firma, rolling away from the heat. I tried getting to my knees, but my arm wouldn’t work, so I fell, gasping through the pain.
I screamed when he got a good grip under my arms, dragging me a few feet away, telling me not to move.
I expected the bullet. Waited for it, even as I turned my head to the side, looking for something that might save my ass here.
It was then I saw a body. The guy wasn’t ten feet away, and despite the smoky haze in the air, I could see the neat little bullet hole in his forehead, his eyes wide and lifeless.
“The men who ran me off the road…” I said, turning back to the guy who’d helped me.
“I took care of them.” He didn’t sound affected by the fact he’d shot a guy in the head.
“And you are?” I coughed, which only made the pain intensify, causing darkness to crowd my vision.
“Zion Sisk,” he said. “Talon sent me.”
“My sister,” I demanded, fighting the blackness that threatened to take me under again.
“She’s safe, Ransom. She’s with Talon.”
Those were the last words I heard before I stopped fighting.
*
ZION SISK
“Hey. Tell Talon I got him. He’s in bad shape, though,” I explained when Tiegan answered the phone.
“How’d you find him?”
“GPS on his phone.”
Note to self: make sure he doesn’t have that damn phone.
“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “What happened?”
“Couple of guys were chasing him. Ransom’s car went off the road, kissed a tree.”
“Where are you now?”
I had to admit, it was odd yet reassuring to hear the concern in Tiegan�
�s tone. Not that I could let her know that. It would only piss her off. Everything I did seemed to piss her off.
“Gonna load him into my truck. Meet you at the airstrip.”
“How long until you get here?”
“Are you worried about me?”
“Not even a little,” she countered hotly. “Talon’ll want to know.”
Of course he would.
“Half an hour. Three quarters, tops.” I smiled to myself when she sighed. “Ransom’s in bad shape, but he’ll live. Got some bumps and bruises, definitely a concussion, maybe a broken bone or three.”
Another sigh. “You’re just trying to get on Talon’s shit list.”
“Yes, yes I am.” I rolled my eyes, staring up the embankment to where my truck sat waiting. “That’s what I live for, love.”
“Don’t call me that,” Tiegan hissed. “Is Micah with you?”
“He is,” I confirmed, referring to my male possession who went wherever I went. “Is Memphis with you?”
“Screw you, Zion,” she bit out before disconnecting the call, something she seemed to like doing to me.
Speaking of Micah…
“You stay right there for a sec,” I told an unconscious Ransom. “Don’t go anywhere.”
I made the trek up the embankment, slipping a few times before reaching the top.
Opening the driver’s door, I spoke directly to Micah. “Need your help.”
Without hesitation, he was out of the truck and at my side.
Returning to where Ransom was lying, I glanced around, wondered what the hell I could use as a brace so as not to jar him too much. We were royally fucked if he had a neck injury, because I’d already manhandled him in an effort to get him out of what was quickly becoming an inferno. Damn good thing it had snowed recently and the ground was still wet or we’d be fucked.
A groan sounded, and then Ransom was rolling to his side, attempting to get to his knees. I noticed his shoulder buckled, and he cursed loudly before retching.
I gave him a minute, but only a minute.
“Let us help you,” I told him. “It’ll hurt like hell, but it’s better than the alternative. Think your legs are broken?”
“No.” He grunted. “I can walk.”
“Good. You haven’t got much of a choice.”
Nodding for Micah to get on Ransom’s other side, the two of us managed to get him vertical, learning some interesting and rather creative curse words from Ransom while doing so.
He took a hesitant step forward, then another.
“You got your phone on you?”
Ransom frowned over at me like it was the stupidest question he’d ever heard. “It’s in the car. Why?”
“Good. Let’s get the hell outta here before they send backup.”
I’d already killed two men tonight. Didn’t need to add any more tick marks to my already lengthy list.
SEVEN
Braelyn
At some point I would probably wonder why I allowed a man I did not know to usher me out of the house where the New Year’s party continued to rage on as though the world hadn’t started tipping on its axis.
Granted, it was merely my world that was off-kilter, but still. As overwhelming as this was, shouldn’t everyone be feeling what I was feeling?
I hurried along, attempting to keep up with Talon’s long strides, but my sore feet, likely sporting some fairly good gashes thanks to my ten-mile dash through the ice and snow, had me taking hesitant steps. I didn’t even want to know what they looked like, and I feared if I stopped walking on them for too long, I’d be useless.
I ground my teeth together, not wanting to make a sound. I refused to be some damsel in distress, and I sure wasn’t going to let this man see what a wimp I was. Not after he’d already witnessed my crying jag.
“Where are we going?” I asked through clenched teeth when Talon led me out of the warm house and into the brutally cold night.
Because there’d been so much adrenaline flooding my system, I hadn’t registered the cold earlier. Now that I was calmer, its icy fingers seemed to slap at my overly sensitive skin, causing goose bumps to form on my flesh as I shivered.
In a gentlemanly move that I’d only ever seen in movies, Talon stopped, shed his tuxedo jacket, and draped it over my shoulders before pulling me closer to his side, his big hand gliding up and down my arm.
“Almost there,” he said softly, motioning with a hand.
I followed the gesture to see a black town car waiting for us, a handsome dark-haired man dressed in a pair of jeans and a brown sheepskin-lined bomber jacket standing beside the opened door.
“I need your watch,” Talon stated before I climbed into the car.
“What?” I frowned. “Why?”
“It’s a smart watch, is it not?”
I glanced down at it. “Yeah.”
When I looked back up, he had cocked one black eyebrow.
Oh. Right.
Talon was taking my watch so I couldn’t be tracked. I’d endured this sort of behavior from Ransom long enough to understand why I needed to part with it, but I still didn’t like the idea. He would’ve done the same with my phone if it wasn’t sitting on my kitchen counter right now. Along with my laptop.
But I liked this watch. My brother had bought it for me.
Talon continued to stare, patiently waiting.
Another shiver raced through me as I reluctantly unhooked it, handed it to Talon.
As I was getting in, the man standing near the door removed his coat, passed it over without being prompted.
A moment later, Talon was joining me, the jacket being gently draped across my lap. I shouldn’t have been surprised by how smooth the leather was or how soft the interior lining was. Considering the suit Talon was wearing, it was obvious the man had money. Evidently those who worked for him did, as well.
Because Talon’s tuxedo jacket still draped over my shoulders, I simply dragged it over me like a blanket, relishing the warmth and inhaling the spicy, rich scent of the man who’d been wearing it. I had no idea what cologne that was, but it was intoxicating.
The man whose jacket I now had did not get into the driver’s seat but rather into the front passenger seat. A moment later, the luxury car was pulling out of the circular drive.
Before I could rattle off the questions pinging around in my head, Talon was on his phone.
“I want an update, Tiegan.”
I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I watched Talon’s expression, which did absolutely nothing to clue me in to what the update was. That did not stop me from staring.
He was … I wasn’t sure what to think of Talon, whose last name I did not know, aside from the fact he was by far the most attractive, best-dressed man I’d ever met. I’d thought the same thing after our initial encounter a year or so ago at a party very similar to the one we’d just left.
Although I’d heard Ransom mention Talon’s name on numerous occasions, I’d never really gotten a good understanding of him. Not like I’d learned about the others. Not even from the stories I’d managed to pry out of my brother, which, unfortunately, had been few and far between.
He was impeccably dressed, in what was probably a ten-thousand-dollar tux. Okay, maybe not that much. I had no idea what the going rate for a tuxedo was, but I could tell you, this one was not rented.
Rich. Talon looked rich.
And he was definitely sexy. Rugged … not really, but he also wasn’t beautiful the way some men were. The inky-black hair and slate-gray eyes were a nice combination on his chiseled face, lending him an inscrutable air.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but looking at him was the equivalent of feasting on the richest, most decadent chocolate and knowing you wouldn’t gain an ounce of weight. Unbelievable and addicting.
Okay, and now I was waxing poetic about the man’s face.
Could someone say adrenaline overload?
Forcing my gaze away from him, I watched the night slip
past us outside the car, one streetlamp flashing by at a time. I didn’t bother mentioning my apartment wasn’t in the direction we were going. Clearly if that had been where Talon was taking me, he would’ve said so.
“Thanks,” Talon’s deep baritone rumbled through the car. “I’ll see you shortly, Tiegan.”
I fought the urge to look at him when he disconnected the call. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the sort of patience that required, because I found myself gazing over, waiting for him to tell me what was going on.
He did not.
“Well?”
Those keen eyes shifted my way.
“Did Tiegan find my brother?”
“Yes.” He did not elaborate.
“Is he all right?” Surely he realized I wasn’t going to stop asking questions until I was satisfied.
“They’re bringing him to the airstrip.”
Evidently, I was supposed to be satisfied with that, because he turned his attention to his phone, tapping out a message.
“Did my brother put you up to hiring me?” I prompted when I finally got tired of the strained silence.
Talon’s head slowly turned, his gray eyes scanning my face. “Do I look like a man who does something he does not want to do, Miss Bishop?”
“That did not answer my question,” I countered.
Talon didn’t respond.
I made a face, looking away as I mumbled, “I don’t know you. Perhaps you are,” under my breath.
His laugh was deep and rich and sent a frisson of warmth along my spine. I found that my anger had dissipated mostly, but my fear for my brother’s safety was still there, still churning.
“Zion’s with him,” Talon said softly when my eyes once again met his. “He’s safe.”
I briefly wondered if the man was a mind reader. “Would you lie to me, Talon?”
He never looked away. “Only if I had no other choice.”
I wanted to be angry at that admission but found his honesty refreshing. Everyone lied, no matter who they were or what they said. Lying was as natural as breathing, and eventually everyone did it. Even if it was simply by omitting information they felt would hurt someone else. So the fact that Talon admitted as much had me relaxing.
Owned (Office Intrigue Book 8) Page 8