9 | Red
I crumple to the floor, dazed by Wolfe’s slap. I hate that he can knock me over with a swat. Like a grizzly bear pawing at a helpless squirrel, he effortlessly puts me down with a thud. Even though I’m dizzy, I push myself back up onto my forearms, blinking hard before struggling to get my feet under me. Wolfe’s thin lips twitch up at the challenge, almost merging with the long, pink scar slashed down the length of his face. His dark eyes glint down at me, soaking in my body since I only managed to get a bra and panties on before he stormed in here.
I want to cover myself up. I want to hide from him. I thought I could escape, but I was wrong. And now, all I’ve done is put Ryan in danger too. Glancing over at the bathroom door, I hold my breath and hope Wolfe doesn’t kill us both.
A steel-toed boot nudges me hard in the meat of my thigh and my attention snaps back to a man I’ve spent more time being terrified of than ever loving. How did I get myself into this mess?
“Ready to stop being such a bitch?” He says it like it’s an offer, and I suppose it is. An offer to temporarily end the violence as long as I’m willing to say and do whatever he wants.
I give him my best wide-eyed doe look. I watch his shoulders slide back and his terse features soften slightly as I force a sweet smile to cross my face. “Fuck you, Wolfe.”
Angry clouds roll over his already black eyes as he narrows his gaze down at me and sets his jaw. “I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into you...” He lurches over me and grabs my hair in one hand, painfully yanking me back to my feet.
“Oww, Wolfe, let me go.” I try not to howl like a wounded animal caught in a trap, but tears streak my face as he manipulates me with just one tattooed hand.
“...But I’m gonna knock this attitude the fuck outta you. I gave you a few days to sort yourself out, Red. I guess that’s what I get for being a nice guy. You’re just like everyone else. You need to learn the hard way.” He squeezes my cheeks tight in his free hand and it’s like a vice is pressing all the air from my mouth.
“Don’t fucking touch her!”
Wolfe’s hands immediately spring open, leaving me swaying on my feet like a delicate flower in a windstorm. I blink the blur of tears free from my eyes as Ryan bursts out of the bathroom, his body completely exposed as he didn’t even have time to try to wrap a towel around himself.
I’ve never seen Wolfe shocked before. His eyes grow with surprise before shutting back down into narrowed slits. He snarls over his shoulder at me, understanding exactly what happened here last night and probably believing that his refusal to accept my breakup makes this some kind of betrayal I’ll need to suffer for. His cold stare slides over my skin like the steel edge of his knife might later. I shiver at the memory of the last time Wolfe felt like he needed to put me back in my place. I push the thoughts about that knife and his rage free from my mind. If I don’t, I’ll freeze up with terror and never leave this place alive.
Fight, flight, or freeze. They say it’s not a choice, but here I am, fucking choosing. And I’m not going down without a fight.
Ryan lunges at Wolfe just as he spins back around to face him and knocks him off balance. The two of them fall to the floor, Ryan on top, delivering hard but ineffective blows to Wolfe. Even though Ryan’s completely naked, his thick cock out on display as he fights for my freedom, nothing could be further from my mind. The only thing it makes me think of is how vulnerable he looks in this fight. Wolfe rolls out from under Ryan and gets a couple deep jabs into his ribs.
I gasp and then immediately hate myself for being the useless damsel in distress while these two battle. I refuse to stand here wringing my hands together while Wolfe beats Ryan down. I search my small apartment for something to use as a weapon. You have no idea how much I regret not buying a gun right now.
Ryan ducks Wolfe’s fist and swoops under him, burying his own fist into Wolfe’s gut deep. I can hear my ex struggle for breath as I scan the room, my eyes sweeping over useless objects like the remote control and my hairbrush. Wolfe stands taller, but Ryan isn’t letting him recharge his batteries, tackling him back to the ground. He grinds his palm up over Wolfe’s nose like he’s trying to suffocate him and he thrusts his forearm over Wolfe’s neck, hanging onto him tight as he’s bucked around like a cowboy on a bronco.
As soon as my gaze hits the kitchen, I lunge forward, wasting no time. I wrap my fingers around the silver handle of my Teflon frying pan, wishing desperately that it carried the weight of one of those cast-iron skillets my grandmother used to cook me pancakes on. My pan might be flimsy, but it’s better than nothing. I turn back and see that Wolfe has managed to sit back up and both men are struggling for control.
Rushing the short distance between us, I lift the pan high over my head and don’t hesitate to bring it down flat over the crown of Wolfe’s skull just as Ryan smashes his jaw hard with a perfectly lined punch. For a second, I watch as Wolfe just sits there. Dazed but motionless. Fear grips my guts as I realize that we really might not make it out of here alive. Wolfe twists his neck, glaring over at me, but the anger seems to seep out of his eyes until only a vacant stare remains. He falls back on the floor, and I’m not sure if he’s knocked out or dead. To be honest, I’m hoping for dead. I know knocked out doesn’t buy you much time.
“Is he...?”
“He’s breathing,” Ryan answers tersely. “Thanks for that.” He nods to the pan I’m still holding in my hand.
I glance down at it and realize Wolfe’s blood is dripping down the side and let it fall to the floor with a clatter. I don’t know why I’m so shocked, I’ve seen Wolfe bloodied up before. Just never at my hands, although I can’t say he returned the favor. My astonishment boils away to anger as I remember all the times Wolfe split my skin with his meaty slaps and punches.
“We don’t have much time here, Red. Let’s get going.” Ryan reaches into my dark memories and pulls me back out to the present.
“Do you know how to tie strong knots?”
“What? We’ve got to go,” Ryan presses me.
“No, not yet. We’re tying this fucker up.”
10 | Red
The crisp autumn wind whips through my jacket and I cling onto Ryan a bit tighter. His helmet is too big for my head, probably doing very little to protect my noggin if we crash, and absolutely nothing to protect his, but he insisted I wear it until we can stop and buy me one that fits. I guess on a road trip like this, nothing will ever be exactly perfect. Honestly the helmet thing is the least of our worries for today after getting this trip started by tying up Wolfe.
The trees glide by us in a streak. When I was a kid, I hated the way they looked this time of year with all their leaves dropped off. Like the snarled hands of giant monsters we long forgot we buried that are bursting free from their shallow graves to haunt us again. A shudder runs through me. Not from the imaginary beasts I feared as a child. No, I know all too well that the real monsters do exist and once you’ve met one, with their unmistakable dead stare and lust for blood, it makes the most frightening stories you can dream up look like Disney fairy tales.
My mind drifts to how Wolfe’s limp limbs revived as Ryan was finishing his last knot. He thrashed around on my apartment floor like a shark would on the sandy shore of a beach. And just like that shark, even though he couldn’t do anything to hurt us, he still made my body stiff with fear. And just like that shark, he snarled his teeth at me and stared me down with his dark eyes that promised my death.
When Ryan hogtied him, I stuffed one of my socks in his mouth. I didn’t intentionally grab a dirty one, but I don’t regret the choice either. I thought it would buy us some time from him just yelling above the bar until someone decided to free him. However, it wasn’t like the movies when the person tied up can’t manage to squeak out a word around whatever gets shoved in their face. Instead, he slowly and deliberately talked around it.
“Just so you know, Red, I will find you.” His voice was eerily calm. “And when I do, I’m going to
take my time killing you.”
I froze, his words paralyzing me. Even though I had quickly grabbed everything I could shove into my backpack and purse, even though I was only a couple steps from the door, something about how calmly he spoke made me feel the truth in what he said.
“Let’s go,” Ryan hissed, breaking the spell over me.
I managed to find my feet again, to bring myself back down from where I was floating over my body and follow him out the door. Still, even after more than half the day on the road, those words nip at my heels, reminding me that wherever I go in this world, Wolfe will hunt me down.
I tighten my grip on Ryan, but I know the icy shiver overtaking me has nothing to do with the wind. Pushing the thoughts free from my mind, I notice for the first time how the sky is quickly being overtaken by fat, black clouds. In the distance I hear a rumble of thunder over the motorcycle engine.
Ryan tilts his head and yells over his shoulder at me, “We’ll have to pull over soon!”
I nod, not that he can see me, but I know there’s no use in yelling through a helmet at him. His bike revs high as we speed up, quaking between my thighs and igniting my desires with the vibrations. I grind in closer to Ryan, holding him tight as my heartbeat thuds faster. I’m not sure why he’s driving so fast with rain closing in on us. I can only guess it’s because he has the same sinking feeling that I do about Wolfe. That our head start on the open road will be short-lived and that we need to put as much distance between us and him as we possibly can.
Suddenly lightning streaks across the horizon in an orange blaze of electric heat. A snap of thunder gives us a second of warning before the clouds open up and pour torrential rain onto us. It falls so heavily I can’t see more than ten feet up the empty back road. Ryan slows down and carefully pulls over to the side before planting his feet down and scanning the land for some kind of reprieve.
“What are we gonna do?” I tug my helmet off and have to yell over the intense rainfall as the water drenches us mercilessly.
“Gimme a sec,” he yells back, his eyes traveling the distance from left to right like he can somehow laser in on a secret landscape that’s invisible to me.
“Sure.” I shrug. At least Ryan put my electronics in his waterproof saddlebag. I’m guessing this isn’t the first time he’s had to battle the elements since he’s taken this crazy road trip.
“There!” He waves a pointed finger in the distance. I squint but don’t see anything. “I see an old barn that way.” He jerks his head and I try to see what he’s talking about. Wiping the rain from my eyes, I do see a rickety looking aging barn a few hundred feet to the east of us. How he ever managed to spot the old structure with its graying cedar shingles, hiding behind drab, leafless trees in this dreary soupy rain, I’ll never know.
“I see it!”
“We’ll pull in there. It’ll give us a place to dry out while we figure out what to do next.” He holds the bike steady as he jumps off it and holds out his hand for me to keep my balance while I join him on the side of the road.
“Sounds good,” I agree, sloshing down through the wet ditch and up a steep embankment as Ryan drags his bike with us.
I don’t know about how good it sounds, but we aren’t exactly overwhelmed with choices right now. And I’d much rather be safe inside with Ryan than sitting on the side of the road like a sitting duck waiting for Wolfe to hunt us.
11 | Ryan
Long patches of wet grass curl up around my ankles and weave over my Harley’s tires, trying to cling onto me like the cold, creepy fingers of a witch trying to capture children in a dark fairy tale. I shove the bike through the tangled mess while relentless rain pounds our bodies and seeps into our pores.
“You okay?” The downpour is so loud, like a roaring jet constantly ripping free from gravity’s chains and tearing across the sky. It’s impossible to communicate without yelling over the noise.
Red nods, but the cold is painting her lips a frosty shade of purple and she’s struggling to stop her teeth from chattering together. I need to get her inside and get her warm. Of course, that means I’ll have to strip off those drenched clothes and find ways to send a blazing trail of heat over her cool skin.
The image sears across my brain, leaving bright embers of desire burning inside me. Blinking hard, I squeeze the heavy rain from my eyes and get my mind back on the mission. Right now I need to concentrate on only one thing. Getting Red to safety.
The large barn has seen better days. With its doors broken off and the hole in the roof, it’s easy to see it hasn’t been used for years. Across the yard there’s a simple farmhouse in a similar shape. “That must be the owner’s house.” I draw Red’s attention to it. “We should probably let them know we’re on their property.” I force myself to be heard over the heavy rain.
She doesn’t look so sure, and after seeing what she’s been dealing with back in her apartment, I don’t blame her. I don’t know the details of her life, let alone her relationship with that asshole who broke into her place, but I’ve had enough experience in the SEALs to know the difference between an angry man spouting off a bunch of bluster about killing and a man who has killed. Wolfe wasn’t spewing empty threats. I know if he can find us, he’ll make good on every word.
Now I need to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” I try to reassure her. I wheel my motorcycle into the barn and pull off my bags. I’ll go to the house and talk to the owner of this place. I imagine, from the shape it’s in, it must be the property of some stubborn old farmer who would rather die on his land he can’t take care of than in a home somewhere. I just want to make sure he knows we’re here so we don’t frighten the guy and end up on the wrong side of a rifle trying to explain ourselves.
“Why don’t we just wait it out here?” Red’s voice is hopeful, but she can see how awful that would be as she searches the barn.
“Maybe we will, or maybe whoever owns this place will give us some towels and a warm bowl of soup while we wait it out. Come on.” I hold out my hand and she twists up her mouth. The deepening purple stains her lips like Kool-Aid, doing little to hide just how badly she needs to warm up.
Red’s fingers slip over my palm and I smile. It’s nice to see that after what she’s been dealing with, guys like Wolfe haven’t destroyed her spirit or her trust. I make a silent promise to make sure I keep it that way. It’s clear she hasn’t had an easy path so far, but I’m gonna do everything in my power to show her how she deserves to be treated. How a real man treats a woman.
I lead her through grass so high it’s almost brush. We finally get a break from the rain as we stomp up onto the porch of the darkened house. I thump on the door as Red shivers against the elements. Pulling her in tight, my hands rub over her arms in a feeble attempt to warm her up.
“I don’t think anyone is home.” Her jaw is tense as she tries to fight her teeth from chattering.
Peering through the windows, I can see the house is all but empty. There’s next to no furniture that I can see except a small table with no chairs and some dusty books scattered across the floor. “I don’t think anyone lives here at all,” I answer.
I knock so loud someone inside would probably think I’m breaking down the door and wait again for some slow feet to shuffle over and open it up, but no one comes. Turning the handle, I’m surprised when it opens, swinging open with a long squeak that reminds me of one of those old ghost shows.
“Hello?”
Nothing. Not a cough or muffled answer. There’s no noise at all as I cautiously walk inside and scope the place out.
“Stay here.” I hold up my hand and stop Red in her tracks. If there is some old crazy person shacked up in here, I want to be the one to explain why I’m breaking into their house.
Red crosses her arms and juts out her jaw like she’s gonna give me shit, but her gaze flickers into the empty space behind me and she just nods.
I explore deeper inside, calling out t
o anyone who might be here, “Hello?”
As I make my way through the empty rooms, it’s easy to see this place is abandoned. Still, I’ve seen too many horror movies to take that for granted. I do a room by room search that brings me back to my military days when we had to clear buildings. After checking every room and every closet, I’m confident when I tell Red to come in.
She steps inside tenderly, like she thinks she might step into a booby trap.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve searched the place high and low. It’s just us. No one has been here for years.” I pull her into me and kiss her forehead as the tension melts from her body.
“It does seem better than the barn.” She looks around, clearly getting accustomed to our new shelter. “And the roof doesn’t look like it’s about to fall in, so I’m gonna put that in the plus column,” she jokes with a smile.
“I mean, I’m all for a skylight, but the ceiling not gushing water on us is definitely a bonus.” I smile back. Walking back into the living room, I jerk my head toward the far corner. “Here’s the real selling point.” I point at the wood stove. “Once I get this baby going, we’ll be able to get warmed up and dry out all our stuff.”
“How are you going to get a fire going? There’s no wood?”
Now that finding a safe place to get out of the storm isn’t my biggest priority, I notice how fucking sexy she is. The way the water smooths her wild red hair just makes her green eyes look huge. The way the raindrops are sliding down her face and collecting on her pale chin reminds me of the hot shower we shared this morning.
Damn. Was that only this morning? That feels like a lifetime ago.
“Not here, but there’s a bunch in the back hall. It’s nice and dry. I’ll grab some.” I drop my bags on the floor and breeze past her. If I let myself get lost in this haze of passion, if I get pulled into her irresistible orbit, we’ll both die of exposure. Mostly because I’ll never get around to making a fire when I rip all our clothes off and fuck her senseless.
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