Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Then his phone rang, interrupting what he was about to say.
Pulling over quickly, he placed both feet on the ground and fished the phone out of his pocket.
I admired him as he did.
The way the muscles in his forearms played against his skin had me moaning in appreciation.
With a quick tug of his helmet, he had it off and held in one hand.
Holding one finger up, he held it there for a moment while he pressed the ‘accept’ button on his phone and placed it to his ear.
“Hello?” he answered, leaning back into me with annoyance clear on his face.
“What do you mean they’ve all been released?” he asked. “Even that shit, Kevin?” His lips thinned. “Who the hell can afford a five-million-dollar bond?” he paused as my belly started to turn over inside my body. “How long has he been out?”
“Two hours…you’re fucking joking right?” he bellowed, causing me to wince when he screamed not just into the phone, but in the headset as well. “No, I honestly don’t fucking care why they’re out. Or if they did what they were being accused of. They know I live here. They’ll be coming after me next, and Imogen’s with me.”
That’s when the first gunshot sounded.
Then a second. And a third. Followed by a forth.
“Son. Of. A. Bitch,” Aaron hissed. “Get away from the bike!”
I dropped down and started to scramble off of the bike, instinctively falling to the ground where I could put the bike in between me and the shooter.
Shots peppered the ground at my feet, and I gasped, scrambling backwards.
The minute I was as far as I could go, Aaron yanked me back up and onto the bike, starting it up with a throaty roar.
He shot off the side of the road, gravel spitting as he accelerated.
Before he could get up to a decent speed, however, a car that I’d seen multiple times over the last couple of months pulled into our path—effectively closing off our escape route and practically forcing us into the trap they’d set for us.
The next minute was a mess.
There were cars and vans everywhere.
Being in town, I was confused on where the shots were coming from, and where I should look.
Every time I looked left, something happened on my right.
Every time I looked right, a car would crowd us on the left.
I lifted my feet and brought them in as close as the bike and Aaron’s hips would allow.
Aaron braked and swerved, narrowly missing a van with its back doors wide ass open.
I’d just started to react by pulling up Aaron’s shirt and fisting his police-issued gun that was at the small of his back when I was plucked clean off the back of his bike.
Fury and confusion consumed me, and I started to flail.
Whomever had me, though, threw me down into a dark van and slammed the doors shut.
“Go before he fuckin’ hunts us down!” Someone bellowed. “I’ll shoot him if I can.”
Seconds later, the passenger who was yelling orders shouldered the shotgun and cocked a shell into the chamber.
Heart beating frantically, I got up to my knees and crawled toward him.
My eyes glanced briefly out the window to see Aaron’s fury-filled face only a few feet from the window, and I knew what was about to happen.
The man that kidnapped me aimed.
“No!” I screeched, pulling the man’s hand back forcefully. “No!”
The loud bang of the gun had me gasping and leaning forward to see where the bullet hit.
The moment I got into a position that I could see, though, the man that’d thrown me into the back of the van yanked me back down again. Hard.
So hard, in fact, that I landed on my side, rolled, and hit my face on the metal side of the van.
The shotgun blasted, and a terrible crashing sound filled my ears as something hard hit the ground and skidded.
I shot to my hands and knees, only to fall back down when something heavy and hard hit me over the back of the head.
A wave of nausea overtook me and I passed out. Scared out of my mind that that crash had been something—anything—other than what I knew it’d been.
Chapter 18
You never have to worry about me cheating on you. Though I might eat your food, which for some people is worse.
-Text from Imogen to Aaron
Aaron
I woke up on my back, staring at the night sky as a halo of lights took over my vision.
Groaning, I rolled over to my side and promptly vomited the contents of my stomach. The movement had cost me. Greatly.
My face throbbed, and I was fairly sure I couldn’t breathe, but other than those two things, I wasn’t all that hurt.
Well, not that I realized.
My hands stung as I planted both palms into the asphalt and heaved myself to a seated position.