Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
He wheezed and raged against me, eventually dropping the gun so he could try to break my hold. His fingernails tore into my skin, but I held fast with every ounce of strength I had until suddenly we were fishtailing across the road. The force of it threw me off him.
His coughing and spluttering filled the car as I tumbled onto the floor of the back seat. He braked us to a halt, but I’d barely had a second to process we’d stopped when tires squealed outside.
“Fuck!” my kidnapper barked hoarsely. “Where’s the fucking gun?”
The gun!
I launched up from the floor, ready to battle him when the driver’s side door flew open and the cold wind battered inside.
Walker’s voice was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard, even as he barked, “Don’t fucking move or I’ll put a bullet through your head.”
Everything went quiet. I froze, not wanting to distract Walker.
“Now get out of the car. Slowly.”
Leather creaked, and I heard footsteps on the asphalt.
“Sloane?” Walker called, and that’s when I heard the panic in his voice.
“I’m here! I’m fine.” The back passenger doors had no handles on the inside, so I clambered over into the front and spotted the gun on the passenger side floor. Pulling my sleeve down to cover my hand, I strained to pick it up and then inelegantly crawled out through the driver’s side door.
My eyes went to Walker first. His face was pale and clammy, but his arm was steady as he trained the gun on the masked man. “You good?” he asked without taking his eyes off my would-be kidnapper.
Sirens wailed in the distance as I shut the driver’s door and lifted the gun to train it on my attacker. “Shortest kidnap in history, thanks to you.”
“And you,” he said hoarsely. “You got him to stop.”
“I choked him.”
“Good girl.”
My lips curled into a smile that froze as I caught sight of the blood soaking Walker’s left side. Fear caused a plummeting sensation in my stomach. “Walker …”
He blinked, wiping sweat out of his eyes, and the movement made him sway.
“Walker?” I moved toward him.
“Baby … I need you to point that gun at the bastard until the police arrive.”
“Why?”
“Sloane, have you got him?” he asked instead.
Forcing myself to face my attacker, who glared at us through the eyeholes in his ski mask, I covered as much of the handle of the gun with my sleeves as possible, clasping it in both hands as I aimed it.
“I’ve got him.”
Out of my peripheral I saw Walker sway again and collapse to his knees. “Walker!” Terror shifted through me, but I didn’t dare take my gaze off the guy who was watching everything with narrowed, calculating eyes.
“Keep on him,” Walker replied hoarsely as he clutched his side.
“Is it bad?” I asked tearfully.
“Only a flesh wound, baby,” he promised.
Why didn’t I believe him?
Cars were slowing as they passed to get around us because we were blocking the road, but then they took off at high speed, likely upon seeing the gun. The sirens grew louder in the distance, and I willed them to hurry.
“Talk to me, Walker.”
“Talk to him. Who the fuck is he?” Walker’s breaths sounded shallow. Too shallow.
For his sake, I held my composure as I demanded of the man, “Take off the mask.”
“Fuck you.” He spat on the ground between us.
I lowered the gun and shot him in the thigh. He screamed and fell to the road, clutching at his leg and cursing me with every foul name under the sun.
“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Walker wheezed, and I looked at him. He was on his ass, trying to stay upright as he held the wound that was gushing too much blood. “Remind me … remind me never to piss you off.”
I couldn’t laugh as I strode toward the man I’d shot and aimed. “The man I love is bleeding out right now, so believe me when I tell you I will shoot you in the face if you don’t take off your mask.”
A glimmer of fear shone in his dark eyes, and he raised a bloody hand to whip off the mask.
I stumbled back a step. “Brix?”
Nathan’s best friend sneered at me. “I should have shot you in the fucking head on the street … but I promised Nate I’d make it last a while.”
“You’re doing this for Nathan?” I asked in disbelief. “You were going to murder me for Nathan?”
“I was going to torture you for Nate.” He winced as he grabbed at his bleeding thigh again. He was making a lot less fuss than Nathan had when I’d shot him in the leg. “I was going to kill you for the money.”
Confusion was a cold bucket of water. I shivered with foreboding. “What money?”
Brix smirked. “Nate didn’t just come here for revenge. He came because he was getting paid a lot of dough to take you out. When he failed, I stepped up. Been hard to get near you with that big fucker everywhere you go, so I had to take my shot.”