My leg swung over and fit the black sports bike perfectly. I took off and sped down the road towards Mr. Londel’s house. The bike embodied the adrenaline running through me, itching my skin. The darkness shrouded me as I winded through the night and came to my target. I cut the bike off and walked up to the wooden house nestled in the woods. A man who looked fit but tired came out of the door with a shotgun in his hands.
I raised my hands letting him know that I was no harm to him.
“My name is Lachlan Sloan. I need your help, sir.” I kept walking as he stood on his porch, pointing his gun right at me.
“What kind of help would you need from a man like me?” His voice was rough and held a bit of a country accent. One I was familiar with since spending time in North Carolina.
“I need to borrow your helicopter, sir. To save my woman.” His gun lowered slightly. I kept going.
“She was taken from me and I need to get to her, fast.” I stopped at the stairs to his porch. He was five feet away from me. Could shoot me dead right now. But based on what I’d read on him, he would help. Lily’s life depended on me being right.
“You can handle her?” I showed no reaction but I was bursting with hope on the inside.
“Very, sir. I can pay you for her. Hourly.” I went to reach into my bag with my other hand out so he could see it.
“No need for that. You break her, then your ass owes me a new copter. You ain’t got time to tell me about your girl. I’m trusting you, son. If you are lying to me, I’ll hunt your ass down.” I could tell he truly did believe me. From one man who’s killed to another. There were no lies.
“You get her, bring her over. I want to hear this story. Old man ain’t got nothing but the copter and trees to occupy my time.” He gave me a brief smile before inviting me into the house. He grabbed the keys from a little bowl and tossed them to me. His home was tidy, and something I would expect. There was a bookshelf that had a few pictures of the family he had in the states but not many of him with them. He was a loner.
“Got her back in ‘82, treat her good, and raise hell.” I was a little stunned this was going as smoothly as it was. I expected to pay him for the copter and more, which I could afford. But he didn’t want it.
“Thank you, sir. I will bring Lily by.” We walked out the back door and over towards a barn and a small opening in a field. I helped him with the help of a tractor roll his 1979 Sikorsky Black Hark military helicopter out of hiding. This retired bastard had one hell of a collector’s item.
“Honored, sir.” It was the truth. I was honored by him, honored that he would be so open to letting me take his prized possession.
“Without love, there is no life. Get your girl.” He walked back out of reach and I climbed into the beast. She started effortlessly, and I prepped her right. After I placed the helmet and head phones, I looked and saw everything, my bag included was ready to go. Roger was standing there, ready to see the takeoff of his beauty. I would owe that man any favor he wanted, and I meant anything.
The bird rose to the sky like she was brand new, and not from the 70’s. Probably went through hell and back. But still rose from the ashes.
Once I made it to altitude, I turned her in the direction of Glasgow. Doctor Jarred better have some back up, because I was gunning it for his ass. No amount of guns, nor demons from hell could keep me away from accomplishing this mission. I sent out a silent plea to Lily.
Hold on, Starlight. I’m coming to get you.
Chapter Thirty
Lily
I was on a plane with a crazy man. Not really something I ever expected to happen to me in my life but yet it was happening. Jarred, my ex’s brother was a psychopath. While I was getting ready to leave work at the school, he stopped by to talk to me and then drugged me. He stuck a syringe right in my neck. Then I woke up in my car, that he was driving on the way to an airport three hours away from Portree. I felt like shit because of the drugs and didn’t really feel like I could fight him off and truly, I didn’t want to die in a car crash because I was too hasty.
By the time we got to the airport I was feeling better and could talk but he shut me up really quick.
“If you make a scene in this airport or try to escape I will one, drug you again, two, have my men, that are on standby, take down your boyfriend’s family with one call. Even his little nieces.” He looked at me and got out of the car. I was afraid that what he said was true, so I kept my mouth shut and went with him as he dragged me towards the terminal. After grabbing me a coffee and a little snack, we sat and waited for our plane to arrive.
I looked at him sitting next to me on the plane, no one was around us right now and we had some time to kill. I wanted to know why he was doing this. He had always given me the creeps but not in a I’m going to kidnap you kind of way.
“I need some answers.” I felt confident enough to talk to him now. He looked at me and smiled inn a loving type of way.
“Of course, I know this is very stressful for you. What would you like to know?” Could he really be this calm about all of this? I wanted to yell at him. Scratch his eyes out, something, anything.
“For starters, why are you doing this?” I’d think it was simple. He pondered over his answer for a minute. I should have known what he was going to say but I wasn’t expecting what came out of his mouth.
“I want you, Lily. Always have. I tried to be the nice brother and let Lance have you but I couldn’t wait any longer. I had those men take you in Milan. Already paid the fee, and I was going to come get you, nurse you back to health and we would live together. Far away from my family where I could spoil you, take care of you. I tried again with those Italians but they were useless. So I decided if I was going to get anything done, I would have to do it myself.” He was still smiling at me, like what he said was supposed to make me fall onto his dick.
“You had me kidnapped three times now, so that we could be together?” It was still incomprehensible to me. I was stunned.
“I’m a man who knows what he wants and has the means to do it. I promise you will have the life you’ve always dreamed of. We will live somewhere beautiful, like Tuscany, or Australia. You wouldn’t have to teach, you could go back to dancing and I can help people anywhere. It will be perfect.” He stopped talking to reach out and touch the side of my face. I flinched away from him. Sicko.
“I will never care for you.” I spat at him. I didn’t understand the way these men were trying to force me to be with them. Then it hit me.
“You were treating John weren’t you. You made him believe he was the one to take me so he would take the blame and no one would be the wiser.” This man was horrible. Poor John.
“If I didn’t do something, that Neanderthal you let spread your legs would have figured it out.” He mocked being disgusted when he said Neanderthal.
“Lachlan will come for me. He will find me.” He should know that. His hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed hard. Bringing me to an inch away from his lips.
“He won’t find us. And if he does. I’ll take care of it. I’ve been dying to hear you scream like you did for him on that stage. He’s not going to get in the way of that. No one will.” He lips crashed against mine and I wanted to vomit. I bit his tongue when he tried to pry open my mouth with it and heard him groan. My whole entire body convulsed hearing that. God he liked that I was fighting him. Instantly, I shut down and pulled my lips in between my teeth.
“Maybe I’ll let him watch this time while I part those pretty dancer thighs. I’ve been longing to since I saw you.” His ick factor just raised to five hundred. He was the stranger that had seen Lachlan and I have sex for the first time on that stage. I felt violated and wronged. If it was just some punk kid, I probably wouldn’t have cared but Jarred sounded like he got off on it. Probably touched himself over me screaming out Lachlan’s name. I felt disgusting, and angry.
“You could never make me scream for you like I do for Lachlan. You’re a crazy piece of shit.�
� I twisted his hand off of my neck and sat back in my seat. I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. All it did was make me feel gross and angry. I had to have faith. Lachlan would find me, and he would kill this asshole.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, I was kind of hoping he would have died or something but alas, that didn’t happen. When the plane landed and it was time to get off, he grabbed a bag from the overhead compartment and wrapped his other hand around mine. I tried to shake it off but he just gripped my fingers harder. I winced through the pain as he slowly dragged me down the aisle of seats. I hoped that someone could see through our joined hands and called the cops but everyone was so eager to get off the plane or on their phones that they didn’t notice.
“Stop pulling me you’re hurting me!” I cursed at him trying to rip my arm away from his.
“I’ll fix any injuries later. Right now we need to get to our hotel room for the night and then tomorrow we will head to our temporary home until we figure out where we’d like to live.” His creepy love smile was becoming a permanent look on his face. I wanted to take a page from Lachlan’s mercenary book and carve his smile like the joker’s. We half-jogged to the car rental department, and I kept my mouth shut while he drove us into Glasgow. A city I had been to before for a show, but never really got to look around. I wasn’t in awe of the scenery now. I was looking out the window hoping I would see Lachlan.
When we pulled up to a hotel and parked, I started to get nervous. Would Jarred try and touch me more intimately once we made it inside? I could use my self-defense moves on him, but he said he would kill Lachlan’s family. I still believed him, but maybe if I got his phone away from him he couldn’t make a call to his men and I could run. The plan started to form in my head as he paid for our room and walked us into the elevator. I could feel the dirty vibes coming off of him in waves. I noticed a small bulge in his slacks from the elevator mirror and wanted to laugh.
Lachlan had a big dick. Long, always hard for me, and pretty much perfect. He was an animal, a caveman. This creepster thought that he would make me scream like Lachlan? Yeah, right.
When he opened the door his arms nudged me inside as he turned and locked the door. I looked around and noticed it was a simple room. One king size bed, dresser, desk, flat screen TV. The norm.
“I think you need a shower. Long day at school and all the travel. Why don’t you go ahead and hop in.” He really was crazy if he thought I was getting naked around him. Even if in that shower I would be alone, I would never strip down for him. When I turned to look at him, I should have never said never. He was pointing a gun at me. I was tired of having guns pointed at me.
“Go take a shower, Lily.” Slowly my feet moved me towards the bathroom door. I thought about slamming it in his face and locking it but he closed the distance and walked into the bathroom before I had the chance. He closed us in the small space, an eerie feeling crept up my spine.
“I’m not taking a shower with you.” I stopped to look at him.
“That’s fine. We’ll work up to that. Turn the water on.” I did as he said and turned to look at him with my arms crossed over my chest. Stupid gun.
“Strip.” Those words. Hearing those words come from him while my life was threatened broke away a little of the defiance in me, instead I wanted to cry. I didn’t want to show this man any of my body. I didn’t want to give in, but I felt like I had no choice. I bit back the plea that was stuck in my throat. I would not beg this man, even though I wanted to. I turned my back to him and started taking off my clothing. I knew he could see the side of me from the mirror over the sinks, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me tremble before him.
“Get in.” His voice had turned gruff and breathy. He was turned on. Stepping into the shower, I reached to close the curtain when his hand stopped it from going further.
“Wash yourself. The curtain stays.” Everything I tried to hold back, to not give into him, fell. I did as he said and I cried. He watched me with a heated gaze as I used the hotel’s shitty bar of soap to wash my body. Tears fell down my cheeks, mixing with the water’s spray. With every shaky breath he took, I fell more inside myself. I closed my eyes and imagined I was on stage. Just another performance. In my head, I was in my happy place. Dancing, feeling the emotions driving me to give it my all. Lachlan was there. Any happy place would include him. I thought about what I would want to say to him, what dance I would do.
Adele’s Make You Feel My Love. That would be it. With every sway of my body and every twirl he would feel my love for him. How far I would go.
My body may have been in that bathroom being objectified by an evil man, but my mind was on a stage. Giving everything I had into showing Lachlan through my movements, I loved him. Dancing, even in my mind gave me strength. I could handle what Jarred would throw at me. I knew that once all was said and done, I still had love. That he could never take away from me. My body would heal, my mind would forget the pain, and our true love would never die.
I came back to the present and turned off the water. Jarred was rubbing his crotch with his left hand as I turned towards him. I took a step out and wrapped myself up with a towel. My chin held high.
I refused to unwrap myself and dry of the rest of my body. My hair was dripping my back and I couldn’t find it in me to care.
He opened the door and I walked through it with him behind me. Just as I heard the door behind us open, I was being yanked into Jarred’s arms with his gun to my head and his erection pressed against my ass.
“Leave beast, she’s mine.” Jarred hissed at the figure. I looked over the brown hair, perfect sharp jaw, and green eyes. He’d found me. Jerking me with him, Jarred walked us back and dug through a bag. I felt a sharp needle close to my neck, turning my blood cold. What did he have in his hands?
“You’re going to die.” Lachlan spoke calmly, but there was maliciousness in his tone. There was no bargaining with him. He was going to make Jarred pay, in many painful ways.
Jarred pressed the needle into my skin. I yelped but remained still as I felt a foreign liquid rush into my system.
“Now you leave or she dies. I’ve infected her with hemlock.” What the fuck was hemlock? I stared into those green eyes, my serenity. They twitched slightly. Oh god, was hemlock bad? It had to of been.
“I see you know what that is. Well, then you know the plant is the most toxic plant to humans. She’ll start to have seizures. Her heart rate will slow, and paralysis will take over. Her body will give up from respiratory failure.” He spat from behind me. His dying shield.
“You will save her.” Lachlan retorted. I hoped he was right; I really didn’t want to die like this.
“Of course I will save her, when you leave and never come back. The choice is yours, kill me now and she dies. Leave and never return and I will save her.” My heart started to race and I felt twitches in my fingers. Oh god I was dying. My eyes searched Lachlan’s. I was scared. I lost control of my limbs and fell to the floor. Shaking. I closed my eyes and went to my happy place. Dancing for the man I loved. Free.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lachlan
It was Roderick’s death all over again. As I stared down at the love of my life, writhing on the floor I was taken back to that warehouse where I had to make a choice. Take a life and save my brother, or refuse and he dies. Only now it was take a life, Lily died. Refuse and she lives. A life without me but she lived. I felt crippled. I heard a bang of a gun and felt a tear by my collar bone. I fell to the ground and stared at her beautifully marred face. She was dying. I looked at the doctor. He thought he had bested me. He’d won. I saw the face of the gang leader all those years ago and did what I couldn’t then. I raised my gun and shot him. He deserved more. So much more. As the shock in face fell and his body collapsed to the floor, I felt the biggest of my demons die with him. I felt blood coat my shoulder. Thank god he was a shit shot and didn’t hit me in the head. I pulled out my phone and called for help while
searching the doctor’s bag for a cure. There were many needles with many meds in there. I wouldn’t know how to help even if it was in there.
Crawling over to my Lily, I scooped her into my arms. Her body was still now but her eyes were wide. She was still in there, coherent, but her body was lifeless.
I whispered everything I wished I told her when we were kids. I told her about how she made me feel, and about the time I watched her dance before I left. How I was such an asshat for leaving. I apologized for my stubbornness. I apologized for holding back. But mostly I apologized for not marrying her and giving her a life together earlier.
When the medics arrived and hauled her off to the hospital, I felt myself start to lose consciousness. Whether it was the weight of my choice crashing down on me like a boulder, or I was bleeding out. Maybe both. I’d killed a man and probably lost the love of my life. I prayed to the heavens to save her. She was my angel. My love. She deserved to live her life in happiness. Being an angel to others. I was death, and darkness was consuming me. Take my life to spare hers. I repeated those words over and over until the darkness finally claimed me.
I stared at the grave before me with a heavy heart. Tears formed in my eyes and I had no choice but to let them loose. I had been gutted, my world had changed so much that day and I wasn’t sure it was something I would ever get over. I would live my life. I’d come to peace with my demons but I would never forget the pure agony and soul wrenching pain I’d been through.
“I know what you’re thinking. I didn’t do anything wrong. I made the right choice.” I started talking to the white tombstone.
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