Freefall
Page 20
I froze in place and pressed my arm against my stomach to slow my breathing. It was Lincoln, and I’d grown to hate him in the past days, but I wanted him to be alive.
Nix’s long legs hurtled down the unstable path. He grabbed branches along the way to keep himself from tumbling head over heels down to the car. The side window of the Porsche was broken, but I saw a flicker of movement inside.
Nix reached the car and knelt down to the window. He looked back up the hill to me. “He’s alive.”
Nix stood and pulled at the driver’s side door. With some effort, he managed to swing it open. I could see Lincoln now. He was in much the same position that my dad had been in when we’d crashed, but it seemed the expensive sports car and its plethora of air bags had kept Lincoln alive. Nix dropped to his knees and twisted up into the car to release the seat belt. Lincoln cried out in pain. Nix turned and called up to me. “Is there any sign of an ambulance? I don’t know if I can move him without hurting him more.”
I stood and climbed back up to the road, but it was deserted. There were sirens in the very far distance, but they had several miles of curves to go before they reached us. Once again, my silence frustrated me and left me feeling useless.
I ran back to my perch and shook my head. I pointed to my wrist as if it were a watch. I cupped my ear and waved the direction that I could hear the sirens.
“They’re far away?” Nix asked.
I nodded. He always understood me, even in times like this. Nix sat down next to the car and spoke quietly to Lincoln to comfort him while we waited. And then a crackling noise made me stand up. I glanced to the rear of the car and saw smoke. I jumped up and down waving my arms, and Nix finally saw me.
“Are they here? I didn’t hear a siren.”
I tried to run down closer, but the terrain was too difficult. I pointed to the plume of smoke rising from the rear of the car. Nix lifted up and jumped to his feet. “Sonavabitch,” I heard him say. “Grit your teeth, Hammond. You’re coming out of there now.”
Nix leaned in and took hold of Lincoln’s arms. Lincoln cried out in pain as Nix pulled him free of the car. It was obvious Lincoln could not climb the hill with his injuries. Nix dragged him up the steep, crumbling ground. Several sparks flew out the back of the car.
“Nix!” I screamed.
He stumbled forward with Lincoln in his arms and dropped to the ground. His body shielded Lincoln’s, and his arms covered his head. I curled up into a ball as the car exploded. The explosion reverberated off the surrounding cliffs and pieces of metal and forest litter flew through the air.
The ambulance and fire truck pulled up on the road behind me, but I ran down toward Nix and Lincoln. They were completely still, and my pulse throbbed in my ears as I stumbled down to them. I was just feet from them when Nix lifted his head. He pushed to his knees, and Lincoln groaned as he lifted his face. It was pale and bloody, and once again, I had a fleeting moment of sympathy for the man.
“This is your fault,” Lincoln snarled at me, and the short moment of pity was gone.
Nix pushed to his feet, and I threw my arms around him. He hugged me tightly until the emergency crews reached us.
The firemen came down with extinguishers and doused what was left of the Porsche with foam.
“What happened here?” the paramedic asked as he leaned down over Lincoln.
Nix held me tightly as he spoke. “He was behind us, and we saw him drive off the road. I had to pull him out before the car exploded.”
The paramedic looked down at the charred remnants of the car. “I guess you saved his life.”
Nix smiled down at Lincoln. “See Hammond, it’s just lucky you met me.”
Lincoln found the strength to lift his middle finger at Nix, and the paramedic looked somewhat confused. “Why don’t you two go up so they can check you out and make sure you’re all right. The police will want a statement from both of you.”
Once again Lincoln found enough strength to laugh at the paramedic’s words. His cruelty had no limits.
Nix took my hand, and we struggled up the hillside. When we reached the top, he stopped and turned to me. He didn’t say anything at first and then I smiled up at him. “You said my name. And I’m feeling embarrassingly smug about it too.”
I looked down, blushing at the thought of it.
“And this time you heard it too.”
I nodded. Pure terror at losing him, had made me lose whatever barrier I’d devised to keep my words from coming out. I knew if I tried to speak at this moment, even at the height of emotion I was feeling, it would be impossible. But somewhere deep inside my heart, my voice was ready to break free.
Nix had dirt smudged on his face and his lip was still swollen and gashed but just looking at him stole my breath. I’d finally found the person who would hear my silent screams. I’d finally found someone to fill my empty heart.
I reached up and wiped the smudge of dirt from his forehead. He caught my wrist before I could drop my hand and lightly pressed his swollen mouth against my palm.
“I need a statement from the witnesses,” a voice said from behind. It was a policeman.
“We’ll be right there. My girlfriend,” he paused and smiled down at me, “needs to get her paper and pen from the car. She is mute, but she can give you a written account.”
“I’ll be over by the squad car waiting.”
I turned to get the paper, but Nix grabbed my hand. I peered up at him. “Look, Scotlyn, I know you spent a long time with Lincoln, and he probably wasn’t always a controlling asshole—”
I scrunched up my face to let him know that he was most of the time.
“If they brought guns into the country, you need to tell the police. Even if he’s down there right now with some wicked injuries, he still has to be stopped. Those guys he’s working with have to be stopped.”
I glanced down to where they were fitting Lincoln with a neck brace and taking his vitals.
“He was going to trade you in to an arms dealer.”
That was the final prod. I went to the car and got my paper. I wrote down the name of the warehouse I’d heard Grady mention, and we took it to the officer.
Nix was finishing giving the report as they carried Lincoln up on the stretcher. He looked frightened and in pain, which was exactly how I must have looked to him when he’d found me on the street.
I lifted my hand, and the paramedics stopped. I walked over, and Lincoln peered up at me from the stretcher. He didn’t say a word, but I placed my palm on his cheek. His eyes closed and he pressed his face against my hand. Then I lowered it, and they carried him to the ambulance.
CHAPTER 29
Nix
It had been a few months, but I was still getting used to Cassie and Dray walking up holding hands. She’d been totally happy, and like I’d always expected, she’d been good for him too. He had a great job as a longshoreman, and he spent a lot less time in the fight ring.
Clutch sat down with a basket filled with six tacos, and I heard a gasp of amazement come from Scotlyn. I looked over at her. “That’s probably just an appetizer.”
“Hey, I’m a growing boy,” Clutch muttered after he’d filled his mouth.
Dray reached over to steal one of his tacos, but Clutch blocked it. “If you’re still growing then I’m calling the Guinness record people.”
Clutch took another bite so he could ask a question. “How’s Nana doing in that place?”
I snaked my arm around Scotlyn’s waist and pulled her closer. Her fragrance and the solid feel of her body reminded me that she wasn’t just a dream. “Good. I was being a stubborn ass. It turns out she really likes it. She has some friends there that she plays cards with, and she’s happy.” I squeezed Scotlyn. “And Scotlyn is writing out all her memoirs. Apparently Nana was quite the wild woman. Almost wish I’d grown up in the sixties.”
“Yeah, that’s what we were missing in our rebellious youth— LSD and the draft.” Dray took a sip of Cassie’s d
rink.
“I asked you if you wanted one,” Cassie said.
“At that moment in time, I didn’t want one, and now I’m thirsty.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Besides, it’s too late to worry about germs.”
Cassie shook her head and looked at Scotlyn. “He is such a romantic.”
Scotlyn laughed. It wasn’t loud, but the soft sound was there.
“How is everything going with Carl?” Cassie asked. Her cousin was a therapist, and after he’d heard Scotlyn’s compelling story, he offered to treat her for free, as long as he could write about her case for his doctorate degree.
Scotlyn lifted her thumb in the air.
My friends had grown used to her hand signals and waiting for her to write responses. She was still mute when there were a lot of people around, but sometimes, when we were all alone, her voice would come out.
Clutch looked over at Scotlyn. “What time can you come into the office tomorrow? We’ve got a whole new list of products to input.”
Scotlyn pulled out her paper. “I can come as early as Nix can drop me off.” Like everything else Clutch touched, the vintage parts business he’d started with Jason had taken off like an oil well, and he’d hired Scotlyn to take care of the online orders. She just needed more practice behind the wheel before she could take her driver’s test.
Clutch looked at me. “Well, I’m not getting up at the crack of dawn, but I’ll get her there early.”
“Minor alert,” Dray muttered.
Clutch sighed. “She’s coming this way, isn’t she?”
I held up his napkin. “Maybe we could hide you under this.”
Taylor squeezed in next to Clutch. Her parents had decided they couldn’t really afford boarding school, and so she’d stayed in town to finish her last year of high school.
Scotlyn waved across the table to her.
“Hey, Scottie,” Taylor said, “I haven’t forgotten that you promised to show me how to pose as a pin-up. A photographer friend is going to take my pictures.”
Scotlyn nodded.
“Don’t encourage her,” Clutch said. “She actually thinks that she’s going to become a model.”
Scotlyn frowned at Clutch and wrote something. “She could definitely be a model. She’s gorgeous.”
Taylor leaned over to read the note too, and a smile split her face. She lifted her chin up at Clutch. “So there. Just because you don’t have any faith in me.”
Clutch ignored her, and Taylor bounced back up off the bench. “See you all later.” She ran off.
Scotlyn’s leg reached across, and she kicked Clutch’s big shoe to let him know he was an ass.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Clutch said on a sigh.
“I’m thinking of expanding my little custom jewelry business to online,” Cassie said. She leaned over. “Maybe you could help me with that, Scotlyn?”
Scotlyn nodded enthusiastically. She’d jumped into her new found freedom ready to try anything. I learned some more horrid details of her life after the accident, and it was no wonder why she’d remained mute for so long. She’d had to be incredibly strong to go from having a normal happy family to instantly being thrown into some of the worst life had to offer. And while Hammond had very likely saved her life by pulling her off the streets, she’d quickly become a sort of silent prisoner in his house. We’d stopped his illegal dealings, but as Scotlyn predicted, Hammond had managed to ‘slip the hangman’s noose’, as they say. Fortunately, he found another woman, one far more willing to be controlled as long as it came with lots of expensive handbags and jewelry.
The crowd at the car show was already thinning, and Clutch still had had no offers on the Pontiac. But now, because of his budding side business, selling the thing had fallen off his priority list. Just as I thought about the Pontiac, it rolled by. Only Clutch was still sitting across from me. His back was facing the car.
“Uh, Clutch, I don’t want to freak you out, but your Pontiac is making its way out of the parking lot, and a certain irritating seventeen-year-old is behind the wheel.”
Clutch jumped up and the whole table moved, even with the rest of us still sitting there. He shoved his hand in his pocket. “She snaked my fucking keys!” He lumbered after the car. Taylor must have spotted him, and the car picked up speed.
Dray took advantage of the unguarded taco basket, “Does Taylor have a license?” he asked before devouring a taco in three bites.
“Beats me,” I said. “I’ve never seen her drive though.”
Tires shrieked and you could almost hear Clutch’s feet pounding the asphalt as he ran after his car. Then the distinctive sound of car metal being twisted sent us all off the bench. Clutch was running for the street, and the rest of us followed.
The car had hit a street lamp, and the front end was at an ugly angle. Fluids drained from the motor. We stood and watched as Clutch ran to the driver’s side and wrenched open the door.
Dray placed his hands over Cassie’s glasses. “Don’t look. This isn’t going to be pretty.”
“I just hope he doesn’t twist her around that pole,” I said. Scotlyn took hold of my arm with a pleading look. “I’m kidding. He won’t hurt her.”
Clutch pulled Taylor out of the car. His face was red, and Taylor cowered beneath his scowl. Then my giant friend who loved his cars more than anything and who’d refused to admit that he was nuts about the kid, pulled Taylor into his massive arms and held her.
“I don’t friggin’ believe it,” Dray said. He looked over at me. “I guess all three of us are a bunch of saps when it comes to the women we love.”
“Again with the romantic sentiments?” Cassie said.
Dray dropped his arm around her shoulder, and they started walking back to the table. “Can’t help it. It just comes naturally.”
I pulled Scotlyn into my arms, and she peered up at me. “I can live with being a sap if it means holding you in my arms every day.”
She smiled up at me and then looked around to see that no one was within earshot. “Kiss me, Nix.”
And I did.
Other Books by Tess Oliver
Camille (Camille Series, 1)
Heart of the Huntress (Camille Series, 2)
Safe Landing
Bitterroot Crossing
Blackpool Cove
Distraction (Years from Home, 1)
Unbreakable (Years from Home, 2)
Destined (Years from Home, 3)
A Little Less Girl
Cowboy Dark
Angel Beach
Home is Where the Heartbreak is
Strangely Normal
Bittersweet Obsession
Paradise
Tess Oliver loves hearing from her readers.
CONTACT HER VIA EMAIL: TOLIVERBOOKS@GMAIL.COM
WEBSITE: WWW.TESSOLIVER.COM
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BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A unique summer job lands eighteen-year-old Eden Saxon into a lifestyle completely different than her own. She becomes a companion for nineteen-year-old Finley King, the daughter of a rock legend. Finley suffers from severe anxiety, and her father fears her being alone. Eden leaves her loving, but wildly dysfunctional, parents and dreary apartment and enters a world where no luxury is overlooked. She instantly adores Finley and her charming, quirky personality. The whole situation has only one flaw– Finley’s older brother, Jude. Jude King is cocky, arrogant and irritating. Unfortunately, he’s also completely irresistible.
Eden realizes she’s underestimated the depth of Finley’s problems, and suddenly her dream job turns out to be a lot more than she’d expected. Eden soon finds herself in over her head . . . and her heart.
TEASER:
He placed down his pencil and walked across the floor toward me. The crackling energy I’d felt between us the night before when he’d stood over my bed returned now and grew with hot intensity as the space between us disappeared. I was not the only one noticing the sudden ch
arge in the atmosphere between us. He stopped directly in front of me, and even with loud music bouncing off the walls, I could hear the unnaturally fast rhythm of his breathing.
He hesitated a moment and then his hand came up slowly and brushed the hair off my face. His fingertips had only grazed my cheek, but I felt the sensation of his touch through my entire body. He looked back at me as if he’d smoothed his hands over every inch of my skin. The air between us heated and what had started out as a casual session between an artist and his subject had somehow erupted into something completely different.
Tess Oliver’s New Adult title, Strangely Normal, is now available on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title_Page
Copyright
Table_of_Contents
Chapter_1
Chapter_2
Chapter_3
Chapter_4
Chapter_5
Chapter_6
Chapter_7
Chapter_8
Chapter_9
Chapter_10
Chapter_11
Chapter_12
Chapter_13
Chapter_14
Chapter_15
Chapter_16
Chapter_17
Chapter_18
Chapter_19
Chapter_20
Chapter_21
Chapter_22
Chapter_23
Chapter_24
Chapter_25
Chapter_26
Chapter_27
Chapter_28
Chapter_29
Other_Books
Author_Contact
Strangely_Normal
Table of Contents
Cover
Title_Page
Copyright
Table_of_Contents
Chapter_1
Chapter_2
Chapter_3
Chapter_4
Chapter_5
Chapter_6
Chapter_7
Chapter_8
Chapter_9
Chapter_10
Chapter_11
Chapter_12