“Come on, Damon,” McReed taunted. “You know you want to take a swing. Come on, do it. What are you waiting for?”
Damon took another deep breath and without turning around said, “You aren't worth my time, asshole. Got better things to do than spend my time beating your ass.”
McReed's chuckle was low, predatory. “You sure you ain't just getting soft? Or maybe you're just a pussy. Is that it? No wonder you're not a Marine anymore. Last I heard, the Marines don't want pussies wearing their uniforms.”
His face was burning with rage, his jaw was clenched so tight that it hurt, and he felt the adrenaline surging through his body with the intensity of a nuclear explosion. But he forced himself to get back on his bike rather than walk over and give McReed a poke. It was only after he had his helmet back on that he trusted himself to look at McReed again. The cop's face was dark with anger – Damon's failure to bite the hook he'd baited had obviously pissed him off.
“You wouldn't know the first thing about being a Marine,” Damon said. “You're a pathetic piece of shit. You're a parasite, McReed. You're nothing.”
If he said anything in reply, it was lost in the roar of the bike's engine as Damon gunned it and shot off into the night. He had better things to do. He needed to find his girl.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Cassie stopped and looked around. If her plan had been to get truly and completely lost, she'd succeeded beyond her wildest imaginings. As she looked at the forest pressed close around her, she realized that she had no freaking clue where she was. She knew that if the cops were to scoop her up then and there and tried to force her to lead them back to where she'd stashed the bag, she genuinely would not have been able to. Between the fact that it was dark and everywhere she ran in the damn forest looked exactly the same, Cassie had zero clue where I was.
Cassie felt a small nervous knot in her stomach. She didn't know how to get back to the hotel, let alone some ruined cabin out in the middle of nowhere. She could still hear the helicopter out in the distance, but thought it sounded like it was still moving away from her. She wasn't so concerned about it at the moment. She was, though, starting to get a little concerned about finding her way out of the forest at all.
“Calm down, Cassie. Just calm down.”
With a sigh, she sat down on a fallen tree and took a few minutes to focus her mind and catch her breath. Cassie knew she could keep running blindly out into the darkness and keep getting herself more and more lost. Or she could take a couple of minutes to catch her breath, clear her head, and try to sort it out. She knew that she needed to stop panicking and just think things through.
Cassie pulled the phone out of her pocket and checked it. No signal.
“Of course not.”
She hadn't been able to get a signal ever since running out into the woods. Cassie loved small town life for the most part, but this was one of those things she didn't really love about it – spotty cell service. Especially when she needed it the most. She put the phone back into her pocket and sat on the log for a few more minutes.
“Okay, think,” she said to herself. “I need to think.”
She looked around, searching for any sort of a landmark that might tell her where she was, but saw nothing that stood out. Truth be told, she didn't even really know what she was looking for in terms of a landmark. Cassie wasn't familiar enough with the area to be able to pick out this pile of rocks from that pile of rocks, or know this bunch of trees from that bunch of trees.
Part of her worried she was running in big circles. The log she was sitting on sort of looked the same as a log she'd passed – perhaps a few times. It all looked the same to her. Especially in the middle of the night.
Cassie was beginning to worry that if she kept running blindly, she might be lost out there forever. She picked up a large stick and propped it up against the trunk of a tree, stacking a few rocks around it to give herself a landmark. If she was indeed running in circles, she figured that she was going to see this again. Which was going to suck.
Cassie stood up and listened for a few minutes. All she heard was the sound of crickets and a few birds chirping in the trees. Rustling in the brushes nearby sent a jolt of adrenaline through her until she realized it was probably just a squirrel or something. Whatever it was made less sound than say, a bear would have made. At least, she hoped that was the case since she was no expert in wildlife. But given that it was a small rustle of branches and didn't sound like something large stomping through the bushes, it seemed like a reasonable assumption.
Cassie leaned her head back, closing her eyes. She was trying to really listen. To hear more than what was immediately around her. She knew how ridiculous it sounded, but she'd seen it on television shows. If you sort of put yourself into a state of sensory deprivation, you might be able to extend your senses in a way. At least, you could on TV. As stupid and naïve as it sounded, it was all she really had going for her at the moment. And she wasn't going to sit there and do nothing – she was more than willing to entertain even the most ridiculous of ideas. Nor was she going to continue to wander around with no idea where she was or where she was going. Cassie knew that she wasn't great when it came to geography, but she knew enough to know how vast some of these forests were.
She'd read enough news stories to know people went missing in forests like this around the world all the time, never to be found. There was no way in hell she wanted to make herself a statistic.
Cassie took a deep breath and strained her ears, listening intently. She tried to slow, or at least silence, her breathing so the sound of it wasn't ringing through her head and filling that void. She must have stood that way for a few minutes, trying to shut everything out and really trying to listen for something – the sound of cars on a road, perhaps – or anything that would give her some direction or point of reference.
And just as she was about to give up, she heard it. It wasn't necessarily what she wanted to hear, but it was something. It was the sound of running water. A river. And where there were rivers, there were likely to be bridges. And where there were bridges, there were roads. Which is what she wanted and needed.
Cassie turned in the direction she'd heard the sound of the water coming from. Or at least, the direction she hoped it was coming from since she was learning that sound had a way of being distorted out in the middle of the forest. She stretched herself out a bit and then started off at a jog toward the sound of the water. She smiled and felt a wave of relief wash over her. She ran and the sound began to grow louder.
“Yes!” she pumped her fist. “Finally something goes my way.”
Though, things going her way might have been a bit of an overstatement. But she was at the point where even the smallest of victories counted. It sounded like she had a way to go yet before hitting the river, but at least it seemed like she was headed in the right direction.
And that's when the wheels fell off the cart and her small victory was washed away in a rising tide of panic and fear.
Out of the darkness of the forest came a sound that was possibly the last sound she wanted to hear. Dogs. Quite a few of them, from the sounds of it.
Their howling and braying came to her from the inky blackness of the woods and sounded like the gates of hell had sprung open and the demons were pouring out into the world. And mixed in with the sound of the dogs was the sound of men shouting. Cops, no doubt. Her heart stumbled over itself when she realized they'd literally released the hounds on her.
“Shit,” Cassie muttered. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Unlike the helicopter, the dogs – and the cops they were leading – sounded like they were headed in her direction. She stood frozen in place, not sure what to do. Looking around, Cassie thought she could make a run for the river. But she knew that if the dogs had her scent, it was entirely possible, if not likely, that they were going to run her down before she made it there. But she also knew that she had no choice. She had to try. Even if they were likely going to get to her bef
ore she got to the river, she was going to try. She wasn't going to go down without a fight. Or at least, without making a good run at freedom anyway.
Cassie turned and fled, doing her best to be as quiet as possible but knowing she was still making quite a bit of noise. Even if the cops didn't hear her crashing through the brush on the forest floor, Cassie was sure the dogs did. Sound was not only distorted in the woods, but it traveled really well. Or in her case, really badly.
Cassie knew she still had a good lead on the dogs and the cops, but knew it wouldn't last if she didn't keep moving – and moving as quickly as she could. With the group behind her, Cassie found she was picking her way more carefully than she had before. Somewhere in her head, she realized now would be about the worst time possible to fall into a hole or trip over an exposed tree root and break an ankle.
She ran as hard as she possible dared, given the circumstances, but it sounded like the dogs had gained ground. Cassie's heart was racing and there was so much adrenaline coursing through her body that she was shaking. She knew there was no way she was going to beat them to the river. But then another entirely chilling thought entered her mind – even if she did beat them, what then?
For the first time since she’d grabbed the bag and ran from the hotel, Cassie wished Damon were there with her. She knew that he was better at keeping his cool and coming up with a plan in a time of crisis than she was. He knew the area, had more experience in things like this. And frankly, Cassie thought he would have done a hell of a lot better job than she was doing at staying one step ahead of the cops.
But Damon wasn't there. She knew she was all alone in this. And if she had any hope of getting out of the mess she'd created for myself, she only had herself to rely on. She knew that nobody was coming to her rescue. As she listened to the sound of the dogs howling and baying, their voices echoing through the darkness, fear stole over her once again. Cassie's heart raced and, despite the chill in the air, she felt the beads of sweat rolling down her back.
She knew that if they caught her, it was all over. She was all but certain to go to prison – unless she rolled over on Damon and the club. Cassie was sure that they'd offer her a deal – perhaps even blanket immunity – if she gave up the Dragons. And as much as she wanted to say she would never do it, that she would never turn on Damon that way, Cassie feared the threat of a lifetime sitting in a prison cell might prove too much for her.
She loved Damon but she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in a box. And she didn't know if she had the strength to resist the temptation to turn if she were offered a pass on everything. Cassie wished she was stronger. Wished she could say unequivocally that she'd never do it. But the truth of the matter was, the mere thought of prison scared her and Cassie just didn't know what she'd do.
The sound of the dogs was growing ever closer. It pulled her out of her head and back into the here and now. Cassie knew that if she didn't want to have to answer those questions rattling around in her brain, the best thing for her to do was to not get caught. The best thing for her to do would be to get moving again.
And that's what she did. Cassie turned and ran into the darkness ahead of her and away from the ever closer sound of the dogs – and the men with them.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Cassie plunged through the darkness, running and not stopping for what seemed like an hour. Truthfully though, it had probably only been fifteen or twenty minutes. But it wasn't like she was a marathon runner and that kind of exertion took its toll on her. She'd finally made it to the bank of the river and stopped to catch her breath. It was a small river, not very wide and, looking at it, probably not very deep either. In reality, it was probably more of a glorified creek than an actual river.
Leaning against a tree, she stared up at the nighttime sky and continued to breathe heavily. The breath poured out of her in thick plumes of steam and rose upward like the venting of some ancient volcano. It took several minutes, but Cassie's heart rate finally slowed down to something under a million beats per minute and she was slowly getting her wind back.
The trouble was, she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. She was tired. Exhausted. Her body was cramping up and her energy reserves were dangerously low. Cassie moved to the river's edge and got down on her hands and knees, scooping the cold water into her mouth, drinking greedily. The cold river water was soothing and seemed to be quenching the fire that had erupted in her throat. Cassie knew she couldn't drink too much or she'd risk getting cramps when forced to get moving again.
Cassie sat down on a log next to the river to stretch out her aching muscles and to listen. The sound of the rushing river made it more difficult to hear clearly, but she could still hear the dogs – though, it sounded like she'd put a little more distance between her and the cops. At least, she hoped there was more distance between them and it wasn't just a trick of sound played by the forest and the river.
But the next sound she heard sent a chill all the way down to her bones – it was the sound of the dogs in the forest behind her, but also the sound of more dogs in the forest ahead of her on the other side of the river.
Cassie realized that she was trapped. Caught between two groups of dogs and two groups of cops.
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
The muscles in her legs and back burned and felt like they were on the verge of seizing up. She wasn't going to be able to do this for much longer. Tears stung her eyes and her body was trembling. Cassie was pinned and there was nowhere for her to go. Part of her, some dark little voice in her mind told her to just sit down on the bank of the river and wait for the inevitable. What else was there for her to do? She'd given it the best she could and it hadn't been anywhere near close to good enough. That dark, brooding voice in the back of her mind told her that it was time to pay the price for what she'd done – or what she hadn't done and just tried to help cover up, anyway.
But then another voice, a different voice whispered in the back of her head. It laughed at her. Mocked her. Told her how weak and pathetic she was. It was Andy's voice, of course. And what she was hearing was nothing new. They were things he'd told her a thousand times over every single day they'd been together. The tears, hot and fat, rolled down her cheeks, but she was too tired to care, too tired to bother wiping them away.
You're disgusting. Look at you. Pathetic.
Cassie shook her head as if to deny what he was saying, and when she spoke, her voice was nothing more than a trembling whisper. “No. I'm not.”
I should have killed you. It would have been a mercy. You're too weak to live.
She continued to shake her head. “It's not true.”
You've always been weak, Cassie. You'll always be weak. It's just who you are. Better to give in to it now and accept your fate. You'll be doing yourself a favor.
“Shut up.”
The sound of Andy's laughter reverberated around inside of Cassie's head. As the tears continued to flow, she remembered the feeling of his hands on her. Recalled the sting of every slap. Felt the air rush from her lungs as he drove his fist into her stomach. Cassie remembered how he'd drag her into the bedroom by my hair, slap her, humiliate her, degrade her – and then use her. She remembered lying there, feeling him on top of her as he did his thing, and wishing she could just die.
It's not too late, Cassie. You can still have your wish granted. You can still die. And you probably should.
And then she remembered watching Damon kill Andy. Cassie recalled the way his limp body sounded as it fell to the ground. Remembered staring into his lifeless eyes and seeing the blood trickling out of the hole in his forehead. And she remembered trying to control myself, trying to keep in the laughter that threatened to spill out of her.
And she remembered at that moment, vowing she would never be the weak, pathetic woman who endured his torment and abuse for so long ever again. Cassie remembered vowing that from that point on, she was going to be different. That she would be stronger. That she would stand up
and fight.
Cheetah can't change its spots, baby. But hey, good luck with that.
And as she remembered her vows, Cassie felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through her body. She felt a steely determination she'd never known before, infuse her body, her mind, her spirit. She stood up and listened to the dogs closing in both sides of her and though still scared, was no longer crippled by that fear.
That's cute, Cassie. But it's all for nothing. You're pathetic. You always have been. That's not going to change just because you think you're a big girl now.
“Shut the fuck up,” she snapped.
Cassie stood on the bank of the river, listening to the barking and baying of the dogs floating through the darkness and felt strength coursing through her as she renewed those vows in her mind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Get yourself together, Cassie,” she smacked herself in the face to punctuate what she was saying. “Pull it together. You are not giving up, goddammit.”
Merrick: Harlequins MC Page 43