I pull over to a gas station just off the highway, a little hole in the wall station called Earls Last Stop. There's no other vehicles in the parking lot except an old Winnebago at the far corner.
Lila wakes up. "Rex?" She asks sleepily. "Where are we?"
I lean over and kiss her. "Stay here. If you see anything, yell for me, okay?"
She nods.
Inside, I find the attendant smoking a cigarette and playing the slot machines. She's an old lady, in her 70s at least, hunched over, wrinkled, but decked out in stylish, colorful jewelry like she's straight out of an 80s movie. "What do you want?" She asks.
I put a hundred-dollar bill on the counter. "I need to fill up on pump 2. And I need to go fast, please."
She shuffles towards the front desk. "Oh of course you need to go fast. That's all a man ever wants. Fast, fast, fast." She curses me under her breath as she slips the hundred into the sir to examine it.
I drum my fingers on the desk. I look out the window at the limo. Any minute now, someone from Marks team could be coming after us. I don't know what kind of lookouts he has this way. "Ma'am, please..."
"Oh stop crying." She rings me up for thirty dollars. She slams the change on the desk. "It doesn't look good when a man cries."
"Thank you," I say. I race back outside, throw the nozzle in the tank and wait with a growing sense of unease.
In the window, I see the old lady watching me, staring at me. She gets on the phone and calls someone.
"Shit," I mutter. I check the screen on the pump. We're only at 15 dollars. And the number is climbing slowly.
Through the window, the old lady's eyebrows raise in surprise. And she keeps watching me. She slowly hangs up the phone, stares at me, and then she disappears out of view.
"Screw this." I cut off the nozzle and throw it out of the car. It hits the pavement. I run around to the driver's side.
The door to the gas station opens, and the old lady emerges with a rifle. "This is for my son, you bastard!"
I jump into the limo. "Lila, get down!"
The old lady fires. The shot booms through the quiet night like thunder. It blasts through the back window of the limo and shatters the glass into a million bits inside.
Lila screams. "Rex!"
"Hold on!" I throw the limo in drive.
The old lady cocks the gun.
I floor the pedal.
She aims.
The limo flies to the end of the parking lot.
She fires. The shot hits the trunk. The limo rattles, but we end up back on the entrance road and fly towards the highway.
"Her son?" I ask. "Holy shit, that's James's mother."
"James's mother?"
"Lila, we gotta get outta this state."
Lila looks around. She begins to shake, in fear and in the icy cold air that drifts in through the shattered window. "Rex, what the hell is going on?"
"I chose the wrong place to stop," I growl, eyes forward on the highway, "that's what."
The minutes pass by like hours as I make the limo do 110mph on the highway. Who did that lady call? Who would they send after us? It doesn't take too long before we find out.
We hear their engines first. In the distance, they fast approach and they cut through the rest of traffic. It's two motorcycles, crotch-rockets, flying through traffic, headlights set on the limo, and the riders are all in black, each with one hand off the wheel. And these hands hold guns.
"Shit." I watch one cyclist approach in the rearview mirror.
"Rex?" Lila shifts nervously in her seat. She watches them catch us in her mirror. "Is that..."
"Lila, baby, get ready." I grab her and pull her to me. I kiss her, then I shove her back and get both hands on the wheel. "Its about to get really bumpy."
She glares at me. "Bastard. You can't just shove me like-"
I turn the wheel hard to the left and the limo swerves into the lane. Lila knocks against the passenger door. The cyclist zooms past us, and he dodges right to miss a minivan. But he circles it fast and slows to come back to us. When I come around the minivan, I see the cyclist with the gun aimed at me. He fires. The shot hits the windshield.
"Lila, hold on!" I slam on the brakes. Lila braces herself. The limo slows, and then I swerve into the right lane and hit the gas pedal again. The second cyclist swerves right out of the way of the limo, barely missing a truck and an Oldsmobile as he changes lanes. He takes his gun and fires at the tires if the limo.
"Rex!" Lila screams.
I see an exit coming up. It leads to Farm Road 341, a back road that leads north towards the border. It's our last hope. I put my hand on Lila and pin her against the seat to protect her. "Baby, hold on!" I swerve through the four lanes. Cut off a Volkswagen. Knick a trailer. Nearly crash into a Kia Sentra. Horns honk and motorists scream and flip me off. I make it to the exit. And as we drive off the highway I catch sight of the motorcyclists. They ride the shoulder on the other side, going back down the highway so they can take the same exit.
I floor the pedal. The exit ramp comes to a stop sign. There's two other cars there waiting to cross. I honk the horn. "Don't go," I say. "Don't go!"
One car rolls into the intersection.
"Rex, you're going to hit them!" Lila screams.
I yell and swerve right. We blaze through the intersection, barely missing the car. I take a right onto Farm Road 341 and we race into the woods and winding back roads that'll take us to the border. I look in my mirror and see the two headlights of the cyclists coming off the highway. They're moving fast like wolves with engines.
"Rex?" Lila asks. "Rex, we can't outrun them. Not in this."
"Lila, be quiet," I growl.
Her eyes widen. "Rex Copper, you tell me to be quiet one more time and I'll kick your ass!"
I slam the steering wheel. "Baby, do you really think this is the time to fight?"
She raises her voice. "Don't call me baby, you ass. And don't tell me to be quiet. We can't make it in this limo. Just accept it."
"You're right." I scowl as I look forward, hands on the wheel.
Lila smirks. "What was that? What did you say?"
I glare at her. "You heard me." I sigh. "You were right, baby."
She glares back. "Jerk."
"Alright, now we can both shut up because these sons of bitches are gaining on us. The road is about to get real bad, baby. Do you think you can shoot them?"
Lila gulps. "Yes."
I hesitate. "That didn't sound confident."
She extends her hand. "Just give me the damn gun, Rex."
"Well I gotta know that you can shoot these guys-"
She grabs the gun from me and cocks it. "Just try not to swerve into a tree. I've got this." She rolls down her window.
I take a hard left along the road just before we swerve off. Lila gets thrown against her door.
"You okay?" I ask.
She just glares at me. "I'm not some idiot that can't take a hit, Rex. Just drive."
"Alright, but just get ready. This road is gonna get narrow and the turns are gonna get sharper."
She looks me in the eye and nods. "I've got this." She leans out the window, knees on the seat, butt in the air that I can't help but check out. I shouldn't. It's a distraction I can't afford as we try to outrun these killer motorcyclists.
Behind us, the cyclists swerve the curves of the road and gain on us fast. It's easy for them because they're so small, and in no time they're right behind us.
"Shoot them, Lila!"
She fires. The shot misses and hits the tree. But it makes the cyclists swerve left and right.
Ahead, a sharp curve is approaching. "Lila, get back in the limo!"
"I can get hit them!" She protests. The cold wind blows her hair in her face.
"No," I grunt. Eyes on the road, I grab Lila by the end of her dress and yank her back inside the limo. "Hey!" She yells, and then we both lean left as I slam on the brakes and make the limo drift around a sharp right turn. "Watch out!"
Lila screams as the limo spirals off the road. The tires rattle and shake across the leaves and dirt, and I barely get them back on the pavement before we slam into a tree. "I told you," I yell, "these turns are only going to get sharper."
Lila sits up straight. She turns around to see the motorcyclists take the turn, and one of them doesn't make it. He lays down the bike and skids off the pavement, crashing into and wrapping around it as his stomach like a rag doll. She gasps. "He crashed. Rex, he crashed."
"Baby, that's a good thing." I rev the engine, and I know there's still one rider after us. I can see him in the mirror. He aims his gun, and he shoots. The shot blasts off my side mirror and makes me jolt. "Damn it!"
"Did he hit you?" Lila asks.
"No." I snatch the gun away from her. "Take the wheel."
"What?!"
"Baby, take the wheel and drive. I need to take this man out."
"I could've shot him," she mumbles as we maneuver positions.
There's enough of a straight away for me to get around Lila and switch positions. "Ah," she yells, "your butt is in my face!" I get into the passenger seat. "Deal with it, Lila," I say. I pull half my body out the window and sit on the sill.
The air is cold and hits me like a jet engine. The limo is doing near 50 miles an hour, and the road is only getting narrower. I can see the headlights of the motorcycle. I aim fast and shoot.
The shot blasts through the headlight. The cyclist sways, but he doesn't go down.
"Rex?" Lila sees a hairpin turn approaching.
But I don't listen to her. My focus is on ending this hunter that's after us. He shoots at me three times. I duck, and he misses. I aim and fire. The shot hits him. I don't know where, but it sends him down into a flipping and tumbling crash.
"Hell yes!" I roar.
"Rex!"
I turn forward, just in time to see the turn. "Lila! Brake!"
She hits the brakes. I hold onto the hood of the limo, but it's not enough. The limo swerves off the road, first the back tires and then front. It crashes against a tree, right in the middle of the limo, and the force sends me flying out the window and across the dirt. I fumble and flip like a bag of bones until I crash land in a bush of dead leaves and twigs. Everything seems hazy, but before it all goes black, I see the limo spiraling into the woods. It spins horizontal, and then it flips upside down as it crashes into the woods.
Lila, I think. Lila, no...
SEVEN
LILA
My head is searing in pain, from the front of my skull to the back of my neck. Where am I? What happened? Something is sizzling. Something smells like gasoline. Something is burning. Where am I?
I jolt awake. I'm tangled, and I'm laying on the ceiling of the limo, just below the driver seat. Holy hell, the limo is upside down. The windshield is shattered. Almost all the windows are shattered. And gasoline, there's gasoline leaking!
I maneuver myself onto my stomach, slow and painful like a bug that's been flipped over. My arms and legs ache as I claw and drag my way out through the shattered windshield. "Rex," I whimper. "Rex?"
I turn and look back inside. He's not in there. He must've been thrown when we crashed. Oh no, Rex is... no, he can't be. I drag myself out. I get onto my knees on the dirt. My heels are still on, so I tear them off and crawl. I turn back and see the engine of the limo smoking into the dark night, and there's a small fire burning near the front.
"No," I cry. "No!" I crawl backwards, further and further, and then-
The limo ignites into a fast explosion. I cover my face. Parts of it scatter into the cold woods. After, the limo lays dead in a burning fire.
I stay still and catch my breath. "Holy shit," I whisper. Adrenaline pumping through me, I stagger to my feet, staring at what was almost my grave. My dress is torn. There's three cuts on my arms and two on my legs. But nothing feels broken. I'm alive. I'm alive! But Rex? I start looking around frantically. Where the hell is that man?
"Lila!" It's Rex, calling out for me. His voice sounds hoarse and weak. "Lila!"
"Rex!" I limp and run across the ground. The dead leaves and twigs scrape my feet, but I'm too high on adrenaline and fear to notice. "Rex!"
Rex comes stumbling over a small hill. He sways dizzily. He leans against a tree. "Lila. Baby, I, I thought, I thought..." He stumbles forward and loses his balance. He collapses onto the dirt.
I run to his side and fall to my knees. I see the gun clutched in his hand. I grab it and throw it away. I hold his head in my lap. I slap his face, anything to get him to open his eyes. "Rex, look at me. Can you hear me?"
He opens his eyes. They're glazed and unfocused. "Lila, I thought you were, that explosion, I thought..."
I kiss him. '"I'm fine, baby. I'm fine." I kiss him again, and I can taste the blood from his cut lip. "We need to get you out of here, Rex. Somewhere safe."
"No, Lila, no..." His head sways left and right and breathes heavy. "I'm not, not going anywhere. Take the gun. Run two miles north. There's a cabin, a cabin there. Chris. Chris Daniels. Find Chris."
I pull him up by his shoulders. He's heavy, and he's not helping any. "Not without you. Come on!" I drag him up to his feet and sling his arm over my shoulder. I fight through the pain of my bruises and cuts and help him walk two feet. "Rex!" But he stumbles, and his eyes shut. He falls down, and he's too heavy to hold onto.
On his side, his eyes stay shut and he mumbles through heavy breaths. "Lila, Lila I love you..."
"No, you bastard!" I kneel next to him and shake him. "Rex, get up! I'm not leaving without you. Get up!"
His eyes won't open. "Lila... love you..."
I want to scream. I look around us. I don't know if the killers from the motorcycles are still out there in the woods, still hunting us. And I don't know how much longer Rex has... "Damn it, Rex!" I get to my feet. I'm not letting it and like this.
I take his hands and drag him five feet to the nearest bush. I use all my body weight, heaving and panting to get him there. I hide him behind the bush. I kneel before him. I hold his face, and in the moonlight, even with all the dirt and bruises and blood, he's beautiful. But his eyes are shut, and I know he's fading. I kiss him. "I'll be back. I promise." My voice starts to shake. "Don't let go, Rex. Don't you let go, you bastard!"
I leave him behind, and I hurry back to the gun. North, I have to go north. Gun in hand, I break into a sprint through the woods. And now it's a race against time.
One foot after the other, I run. My lungs breathe in the icy cold, and I run. Sweating, heaving, bruised and bleeding, I run like there's no such thing as pain. There's no such thing as tired. My bare feet are getting torn to shreds on the harsh ground of the woods, and I keep fucking running. Two miles, Rex said, and all I have is the moonlight to guide me.
Then, there's the blast of a gun through the night. I freeze. I hold my breath, and I look around. Rex, did someone shoot Rex?
No, it's the remaining hunter from the motorcycles. I can see him through the trees, still wearing a dark helmet. He raises his arm to me, gun in hand.
I dodge behind a tree and duck as he fires into the night. "Damn it." I pant. My head races. He's still alive, and his footsteps sound through the night as he approaches. My heart pounds and hands tremble. I could die here. He could shoot me and I could die.
I steady my hand, and I take a deep breath. I have to shoot him. Now or never. I turn around and stand up. I aim into the darkness, right as the rider freezes and raises his weapon to me. We both fire. His shot blasts through the tree next to me. Mine misses everything it seems. And he breaks into a run to get closer.
"No!" I cock my gun again. I watch as he raises his arm. His gunshots blast through the darkness as he runs closer to me.
I duck. His bullets fly all around me, but there's no running this time. I have to take him down. I steady my aim, and I pull the trigger.
My shot hits him in the stomach, and he goes down. The gun flies from his hand as he hits the dirt.
My heart n
early stops. I just shot a man, and I probably killed him. I freeze for nearly a minute, and then I bolt forward to his body.
The rider is already dead. I take off his helmet, and I see the face underneath. Javier. I gasp and cover my mouth. My stomach wretches. There's no time for tears, though. No time for remorse. Rex is still out there dying.
I grab the riders gun. Now with two of them, I bolt into the woods. It's another mile until I reach the cabin.
Over the hills, through a creek, I run and stumble and limp and climb and curse and scream and keep going. I keep going. And I keep going. This mile seems like a lifetime. When there's no air left in my legs or tread left in my feet, I go slower. I'm near collapsing. I'm near crawling. "Rex," I pant. I can hardly breathe. I his name again, and it keeps me going, "Rex."
And finally, I see the faint light of a little cabin near a creek. The joy nearly knocks me to my knees. I give it the last energy I have and make it.
It's a little log cabin, the type for hunting or a romantic getaway. It smells like pine and the cooking of meat. Smoke rises from the chimney, and just as I drag myself onto the porch, the front door swings open.
A woman in a plaid shirt and jeans catches me before I fall. "Whoa, who are you?" She's in her forties, with grayish brown hair and kind blue eyes. "Are you okay? Where the hell did you come from?"
"Chris,” I shout out. "Chris Daniels."
She helps me stand up straight. "That's me. What the hell is going on? Who are you?" She helps me walk to a rocking chair on her porch and sits me down.
I don't bother explaining myself. I just say one name. "Rex Copper."
Her eyes widen. She kneels before me, brows stern. "Rex Copper? You're with him?"
I nod. "He's hurt," I say through pants. "In the woods. Two, two miles south."
It's amazing how fast a stranger can act in a situation when they know the least bit of information. But this Chris Daniels is exactly that type of woman. She leaves me. She races off the porch, her boots clomping, and she bounds around the side of her cabin and out of sight.
"No," I gasp. I practically fall out of the rocking chair and get to my feet. "Wait, come back!" I stumble to the edge of the porch. "Chris, come back. Rex is-"
Riding Hard - A Scorching Hot Romance Novel (Falling Fast Book 1) Page 6
