by Anne Jolin
“Are you sure?” I ask, sliding out of my own seat and glancing at her over the hood.
Grinning, she goes to hoist my purse over her shoulder but drops it instead. “God, I’m such a klutz,” she whines, bending over.
After rolling the window up, I pull my keys from the ignition just as she comes to stand beside me.
“Sorry,” she apologizes, handing me the bag. “I don’t think I broke anything.”
Hooking my arm through the straps, I shrug. “Nothing important anyway.”
Then I follow her across the parking lot to an expensive-looking Mini Cooper. Some nasty memory tries to fight its way through from the back of my brain, and it must show on my face.
“It’s a bit much, I know.” She rolls her eyes. “My uncle got it for me as a graduation gift.”
Upon climbing into the passenger’s seat, I buckle myself in. “Nice uncle.”
“He’s the best,” she says, her voice ringing in my ears.
Be nice, Peyton.
She taps out a quick message on her cell phone before pulling out of the lot and stopping at the large four-way stoplight in the middle of town. Left goes towards Colt’s and Jayden’s houses. Right goes towards the highway to Vancouver. Straight takes you to the ski slopes. To my surprise, she turns right.
“Uhh . . .” I hesitate. “I think you made a wrong turn,” I say, looking over my shoulder, back towards where we should have gone.
I shiver every time I’m on this highway now, the highway that broke Jayden when it stole Michelle from him.
She giggles, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. “They all love you. Did you know that?” Her high voice is climbing even higher.
“What?” I ask, a familiar sickness pooling in my gut.
She presses down on the accelerator, and my heart rate starts to pick up.
“Of course you don’t know. You’re like the bloody Virgin Mary or something to them,” she snarls.
The warning bells in my head are ringing so loudly that I can barely hear myself think. I try to pick up on the nagging memory in my brain, but still, I come up empty.
“I just wanted someone to love me, but no, they all love you and you couldn’t care fucking less.” The honey in her voice is gone now, and in its place, the hint of an accent is creeping through. “Pute ėgoȉste,” she spits in French.
My mind seizes. A memory blasts through to my consciousness.
I never told Colt what city I was from.
“Alyssa,” I say calmly.
Rule number one: don’t panic.
“What?” She snaps her head over to me.
“Who is your uncle?” I ask. I already know the answer, but it’s an attempt to distract her long enough for me to locate my phone.
Stupid big-ass fucking purse.
“You won’t find it in there.” She cackles loudly.
My eyes widen in shock.
“Do I look stupid to you?” She smiles, clearly proud of herself.
Ripping my gaze off her, I empty the contents of my purse onto my lap.
Keys.
Wallet.
Makeup.
No phone.
“I’m terribly clumsy,” she giggles, turning one of the bends too quickly, and I slam into the door.
My phone’s on the ground, next to my dead car.
Grabbing the handle on the roof, I try to keep my voice steady. “You need to slow down, Alyssa. This road has too many bends. If you keep at this speed, we’re going to crash.”
She opens her mouth to argue with me, but the Bluetooth system in her car starts to ring. After slamming the answer button on her steering wheel, she launches into a heated conversation in French with a man whose voice I recognize.
“Help!” I scream against the speakers.
She laughs at me before swearing and ending the call abruptly. “He’s not going to help you. He’s the one who sent me here to watch you.” She grins, taking yet another corner too quickly. This time, I feel the wheels pick up off the cement.
“He was trying to rape me,” I argue with her, hoping to sympathize with the woman in her.
“You’re a fucking liar!” she roars. “Daniel was a saint.”
Clenching my jaw together, I lose control of myself for a minute. “Daniel was a sick bastard. If I hadn’t killed him, it would have been my corpse in a body bag that day,” I snarl at her.
“You bitch! Take that back!”
I’m unable to keep quiet at the insanity that Daniel got anything less than what he deserved that day. “I would do it all over again. I would kill his psycho ass in order to save my life because it was not my fault he was fucking twisted in the head.”
“Doesn’t matter.” She smiles, pressing the accelerator down again. “September’s going to be a beautiful month for your funeral.”
She comes into the next corner, mountain banking the outside shoulder, and I make the decision that will either kill us both or save me. Reaching across the console, I shove down on her right foot with the left side of my body, putting both of our weight on the gas pedal, and simultaneously yank on the steering wheel with my right hand.
“What the fuck?” she screams when the car starts to roll.
My head slams into the doorframe and my vision blacks out.
Footsteps.
I can hear the sound of sirens in the background.
“Help me.”
I’m not sure if I say it out loud or beg for it in my own head.
Footsteps.
There’s ringing in my ears. I try to open my eyes, but there’s too much blood.
Footsteps.
We’re upside down, I think. I can feel the seat belt digging into my chest.
Footsteps.
I blindly pat my body down, feeling for injuries. When I touch my forehead, I feel the warmth.
Blood.
The footsteps stop.
As I blink rapidly, the sound like I’m underwater plays in my brain. Then someone’s hands slides into view. There’s the sound of a blade cutting through something before I fall face-first onto the ground. I’m pulled from the wreckage and lifted into someone’s arms.
The sirens get louder.
When the blood starts to clear from my eyes, I look over my rescuer’s shoulder, sobbing when I see Alyssa’s still body halfway through the windshield.
She wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
“Shhh,” a male says, his voice skittering over my wounded body. “You’re coming home, belle pétale.”
Blue and red lights glow on the horizon.
My eyes fly to the man holding me.
Axel.
“FASTER!” I SCREAM at Colt from the passenger’s seat.
It’s been ten minutes since I found Peyton’s cell phone and her car in the parking lot of her work.
She was late.
My girl is never late.
When I called and she didn’t answer, my thoughts instantly went to that creep from the tattoo parlour.
I never should have let her drive there on her own.
“I’m going as fast as I can. We’re two minutes out from the crash site,” he snaps back at me.
I slam my fists down as hard as I fucking can on the dash of his Crown Victoria police car. “Fuck!” I roar before placing my head in my hands.
I’m so fucking scared.
When I found her car there, my girl nowhere in sight, I fucking lost it. I called the number I had for Colt in complete hysteria. It wasn’t until the call about a crash on the highway came through that we figured we had a break.
The only problem: the car matched the description of Colt’s girlfriend, Alyssa’s, Mini Cooper.
The crash reported one female fatality.
No other details.
Something didn’t feel right.
Turning my head, I peek over at the brick shithouse of a cop beside me and pray that, if God had to take another girl on this highway, he didn’t take mine.
Leading the
barrage of three cop cars, a fire truck, and two ambulances, we round the corner. When the crash site comes into view, I fight the urge to vomit.
The car is flipped upside down, glass is everywhere, and a petite body lies wedged through the front windshield.
Closing my eyes, I’m assaulted by memories. Michelle’s and Peyton’s accidents blur together inside my heat, my heart seizing in pain.
“Who the fuck is . . .” Colt’s voice trails off.
Looking up, I can tell we are closer now, but what I see has me pushing the door open before the police car is fully stopped.
Walking halfway between the overturned vehicle and a black Sedan is fucking Axel, the creep from my bloody shop, and in his arms . . .
Peyton.
Part of me wants to drop to my knees and thank God that she’s alive, but the part of me that wants her out of his arms is stronger, more deadly.
“Stop!” I shout at him as I climb out of the vehicle.
He scowls at me, halting dead in his tracks. He positions a weak Peyton to stand in front of him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and covering her mouth.
“You motherfucker!” I start to stalk towards him, and he laughs, shaking his head.
Colt’s moving body tackles mine to the ground just as the first bullet from Axel’s gun whizzes past me.
“Are you trying to get her killed, you asshole?” he rumbles in my face, shoving us towards the safety of the open car door.
“That was a warning shot!” Axel’s voice booms across the open highway. “Take another step towards us and I’ll blow her fucking brains out all over the road.”
When I peek out from behind the door, I see him press the muzzle of his handgun against her temple.
Please, God, no.
Colt stands and pulls his gun from its holster, holding it out limply in front of him, while raising his other hand in surrender. “I’m not armed,” he announces, tossing the gun onto the ground roughly ten feet in front of him. Then he holds both of his hands above his head before whispering under his breath, “Run left in ten seconds.”
I barely have time to answer when he steps out from behind the door and slowly walks towards Peyton and her captor.
Ten.
Colt folds one finger down. Peyton’s eyes widen.
Nine.
Another finger down. Peyton nods.
Eight.
“Don’t come any closer!” Axel growls.
Seven.
The fucker is counting down with his hands and Axel hasn’t even noticed.
Six.
I steady myself on the ground.
Five.
Peyton blinks.
Four.
Colt’s muscles tighten.
Three.
I start to stand.
Two.
Axel notices me.
One.
I take off running.
Everything feels like it happens in slow motion.
Axel moves his gun from Peyton’s head towards my charging frame.
Colt drops to the ground.
Ankle holster.
Peyton cracks the back of her head against Axel’s face and his gun jerks.
One shot fired.
“Fuck!” Axel roars, blood gushing from his nose. He releases his hold on her to steady his gun again.
Peyton drops to the ground.
Second shot fired.
I stop running as Axel’s body falls backwards onto the road. Colt approaches him cautiously, kicking the gun away before rolling him onto his stomach.
He shot Axel in the shoulder of the arm belonging to his trigger finger.
I rush to Peyton, dropping to my knees in front of her. “Are you hurt?” My voice shakes as I visibly examine her body for any injuries.
“You came for me,” she whispers, tears streaming down her bloody face.
Cupping her face in my hands, I press a kiss against her lips before resting my forehead on hers. “I’ll always come for you, Pey. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she chokes out as the paramedics begin to swarm us. “You’ve been shot,” she gasps grabbing my arm.
Glancing down I see blood on my sleeve and wince at her touch. “I’ll be okay sugar.”
Another cop takes a bleeding Axel away from Colt, and I watch his face become shadowed by hurt. By loss. By grief.
Peyton stands on shaky legs, and I help her walk over to where he’s standing.
“I’m so sorry,” she cries, wrapping her small hands around his arm.
He lets her hug him, all the while looking over her shoulder at the dead body of his girlfriend.
“ARE YOU READY TO give us your statement, Miss Callaghan?” the detective asks nearly three hours later.
I lean against Jayden’s chest, nodding my head slowly. We’re sitting in the waiting room at the hospital. I’m flanked by the two men I can always count on. Colt is sitting wordlessly on the right side of me, and Jayden’s on the left. It seems I have no injuries aside from the gash on my head, which I received fifteen stitches for, and some severe bruising from my seat belt. The bullet Axel fired when I broke his nose grazed Jayden’s bicep, but all in all, we remained whole.
I start by relaying the events of my past in Quebec and subsequently how I ended up in Alyssa’s car.
“Your assailants’ names were Alyssa and Axel Dubois,” the detective says.
“I only met them once.” I hesitate, recalling the one Dubois family barbeque I attended years ago. “It’s why I couldn’t place them. It’s been so many years, but something started to click when I saw her car.” I look over at Colt, hating that I have to say this next part in front of him. “They are Daniel’s cousins. I put the pieces together in the car at the mention of her uncle, his wealth, and having known where I came from. I think they’d come here to kill me.”
The detective nods in agreement. “Axel has agreed to cooperate in return for a lesser sentence.”
I feel both men stiffen against my sides.
“We received his statement about a half hour ago.” He refers to the document on the iPad in front of him. “Axel admitted to having been the spearhead behind it all, having played on his sister’s jealous antics to get her involved. Flight manifests show Alyssa arriving in Vancouver four months ago. Our best guess is she came straight to Rock Falls at the direction of her brother. He relayed that she was to get close to you by any means necessary and, thus, began dating Detective Cross in order to find out more about you.”
Colt grinds his jaw beside me. My heart breaks for his betrayal.
“Alyssa became increasingly unstable the longer she remained here alone. Her brother admits that she was blind with jealousy. Everything she’d ever wanted, her cousin included, you had. Flight manifests show Axel arriving a little over two months ago. He came to take hold of the situation as his sister began losing touch of reality. Then the con began to slip.”
The thought that these people invaded my life and hurt the ones I love in the process was enraging and terrifying at the same time, and it made me shudder.
“Axel took it upon himself to survey you both at your work and the work of Mr. King”—the detective nods towards Jayden—“and choose the opportune time to take you. However, his sister broke protocol when she decided to kidnap you earlier this evening. It would appear as though the negative battery cable was removed from your car, in turn allowing her to offer you a ride. Miss Dubois texted her brother prior to you leaving the parking lot, and he subsequently called her to try to stop the events that led to your crash.”
The voice on the phone was his. Axel.
“Unable to calm his sister down on the phone, he proceeded to follow you, arriving only minutes after the accident.”
Tears stream down my face. “I thought he was saving me,” I choke out.
“He wasn’t,” the detective answers sadly. “Realizing his time frame had shortened dramatically, Axel chose to act on the opportunity put forth by his sister’s actions.
”
“Was he going to . . . ?” Jayden’s voice trails off angrily.
“Kill me?” I finish for him, my voice shaking.
“Yes,” the detective nods. “Axel admitted that he planned to transport you back to Quebec and leave your body in the place his cousin died. They blamed you for the death of Daniel and believed that, at making you pay for that with your life, the scales would be balanced.”
“What are his charges?” Colt spits.
“That motherfucker better be doing time,” Jayden growls.
Closing the case on his iPad, the detective nods. “He’ll be charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. I’m sorry.” He nods before stepping out of the room.
Colt kneels down in front of me. “Peyton, I don’t know how to apologize. I’m so—”
Cutting him off, I wrap my arms around his neck. “Don’t.”
“I pushed her on you,” he starts. “I should have known.”
“You couldn’t have known,” I say, hugging him tight. When he pulls away from me, I nod between him and Jayden. “You two saved my life.” I draw my gaze back to the hollow eyes of my friend. “I don’t know how to thank you for that,” I whisper.
After kissing me on the forehead, he starts to back out of the room. “It’s the least I could do, after . . .”
“Colton.” I say his full name to reprimand the guilt in his voice.
This was only the second time Colt has fired his gun at a scene. The first time had resulted in a fatality and brought him to a support group—the place I’d met him.
“Be good to her.” He nods towards Jayden. “I have to go fill out paper work, slugger. I’ll call you tomorrow.” With that, he walks out the door of my hospital room.
“Come here.” Jayden opens his arms to me.
I curl up on his lap, burying my face into his neck. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”
Resting his chin on the top of my head, he folds his arms around me. “I’m not sure, sugar,” he sighs. “All I do know is he’s damn good at his job and I am thankful as fuck for him.”
“Me too,” I whisper.
Standing with me in his arms, he nods towards the door. “How about that surprise?”