by A. M. Myers
“You know what? I really wanted to keep you for myself… I dreamt of the life we could have had together but this is quickly turning into a no win situation.”
“Then go,” I try to say against the gag but I know it just sounds like gibberish. Evan glances back at the way we came, chewing on his bottom lip, deep in thought, before turning to me with a grin that makes my heart jump into my throat and my stomach churn. I stumble back when he steps toward me but he grabs me, pulling me back into his body.
“Guess I’ll just have to settle for second best, won’t I?”
I have no idea what that means, no idea what to say to him so I just watch him as he bends down and pulls a knife out of his boot. As the blade glints in the moonlight, I scream into the gag and struggle against his hold, desperate to get away from him but it’s no use.
“Shh, Princess,” he coos, gripping the back of my neck with one hand as I struggle against him. “I wish I could say that this will be over quickly but if I can’t have you, if I can’t keep this sweet little pussy for myself, then I want Streak to watch you die. I want him to see the life leave your eyes and know it’s all his fucking fault.”
He sinks the blade into my abdomen, just below my belly button and my eyes widen but I don’t feel a thing except for the punch of the handle hitting my skin and he pulls back before doing it again as I crumple in on myself.
What is happening?
Why can’t I feel it?
“There, there,” he whispers, taking the knife out of my body and tossing it to the ground as he holds me up and pets my hair with his blood-stained hand. He leans in and presses a kiss to my cheek before laying me on my back underneath the tree. “If I can’t have you, then the next best thing is to make sure Travis can’t either.”
Tears pour down my face and I struggle to breathe as pain begins radiating from the wound, white hot, and each second it seems to grow in intensity until I’m certain I’m going to pass out as I stare up at the stars peeking out of the tree branches above me. There is a tug on my wrist and I turn my head to watch Evan as he ties my good hand to the tree, pulling the rope tight so I can’t even move it an inch before he turns back to me and flashes me a sad smile.
“Oh, Rowan, it didn’t have to be like this.”
My brows furrow and more tears fall as I stare up at him, wondering what I ever did to deserve this. He kneels beside me and brushes the hair out of my face, combing his fingers through the long dark strands before he drags the back of his fingers down my cheek.
“Rowan!” Travis’s voice cuts through the fog and I cry out, begging the universe that he hears me. Evan glances over his shoulder and sighs.
“It’s time for me to go, sweetheart.” His smile turns wicked. “Make sure you bleed out nice and slow for me, okay? I want this to hurt him.”
And then he’s gone.
Turning my head, I stare up at the branches above me. The pain is overwhelming and I can’t make my mind work as I wonder if anyone is ever going to find me or if I’m going to die right here as darkness creeps in around the edges of my vision and my body jerks to attention.
No.
Stay awake.
Relaxing back into the ground, I call for Travis in my mind even though I know it’s useless. My strength is waning and despite what I want to tell myself, I know I don’t have long. The darkness ebbs and flows around the corners of my vision and the sky above me begins to tilt as I suck in a breath and close my eyes.
“Rowan!” Travis screams, closer than before and my eyes snap open. I must have passed out at some point but there is no telling how long I’ve been unconscious. Gritting my teeth, I use my injured arm to reach down to my stomach and feel the wound there, wincing. “Fuck. Rowan!”
His voice is even closer and I suck in a breath, calling out for him against the gag but it’s too quiet for him to hear and I can’t muster the strength to scream any louder.
“Rowan, baby, please! Where the hell are you?” The pain in each word he speaks rips a sob from my throat and I look down at my injured hand, the one Evan left unrestrained before peeking down at the ground next to my body. There is a large stick not too far from me and if I get it, I can smash it against the tree trunk to get his attention. But, fuck… it’s going to hurt like hell. Sucking in a breath, I lift my arm from my belly and scream, squeezing my eyes shut as pain swamps my body and tears fall down my face into the grass below me.
It’s too much.
I can’t do this.
“Rowan!” Travis bellows, tears in his voice, and he sounds even closer this time. God, he’s right there…It spurs me on and I scream through the pain as I lower my arm and grab the stick before struggling to raise it back up again.
Come on.
Fucking do it.
“If you’re out here, baby, I need you to make a noise.”
The world spins around me as I use the last of my strength to lift the stick into the air and smack it into the tree again and again, sobbing as I pray to everything I can think of that he’ll hear me. Travis bursts through the brush and I cry out in relief as I drop the stick to the ground and close my eyes.
“Jesus,” he hisses, kneeling next to me and quickly removing the ball gag from my mouth. I flex my aching jaw as he pulls it away before turning to look at him as he works on untying my arm. When he’s finished, he scoots closer to me and runs his hands over my body. “Are you hurt anywhere else besides your arm?”
“Stomach,” I whisper, my voice rough from all of the screaming and he glances down, lifting up my sweatshirt as his eyes widen and he turns to look at me. His heart is breaking in his eyes, I can see it clear as day, as he pulls out his cell phone and tries to reassure me with a smile.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve always fucking got you.”
“Travis,” I breathe, reaching up and cupping his cheek as he presses the phone to his ear, calling for help but darkness creeps in around my vision again and I know this could be it. This could be the last time I see his handsome face, his green mesmerizing eyes, and his cocky grin and I don’t want to die without telling him the truth. His gaze locks on mine as the darkness grows, pulling me under.
“Stay with me, Princess.”
“I love you, Travis,” I whisper, unable to hold back anymore as I’m swallowed up by shadows once again and if this is death, at least I died with a smile on my face and the love of my life by my side.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Travis
“Sir, you can’t come with us,” the paramedic says, placing her hand on my chest to stop me from climbing in there with Rowan. It’s not going to fucking work though. There is not a damn thing on this earth that could keep me from her right now and I turn to stare at the paramedic, making that damn clear as I shake my head.
“I’m going with her.”
She sighs. “No, you’re not, sir. You can follow behind us in your own car.”
“Absolutely fucking not. That is my woman in there and she fucking needs me so I’m going.”
“Just let him come,” the other paramedic calls from inside the ambulance where she’s treating Rowan and Justine, the one holding me back, sighs as her hands falls away.
“You best not give me any damn problems.”
I hold up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
She hums in agreement and moves out of my way, mumbling something about me never being a scout as she walks to the driver’s door and slips behind the wheel. I jump in the back and grab the doors to close them as Tate and Kodiak come running up.
“You got her, brother?” he asks and I nod, meeting his gaze. After a second, he nods and Tate grabs his hand as she turns back to their cars.
“We’ll follow behind you.”
Nodding, I slam the doors shut before turning to look down at my girl as she lies in the middle of the stretcher, her skin too fucking pale. She’s passed out fucking cold and I watch her chest to make sure she’s still breathing for a second before sighing in relief. Laur
a, the other paramedic, points to the bench behind me and arches a brow.
“Sit there and stay out of my way. She’s the patient and I don’t have the time or patience to put up with any shit from you, ya hear?”
I nod and sit down, grabbing Rowan’s hand in both of mine and bringing it to my lips. “You just keep her breathing.”
She gets to work, moving around the back and grabbing things out of cubbies before focusing back on Rowan. The ambulance starts moving and I press my lips to her hand, begging her to come back to me.
“I love you, Travis.” Her voice whispers in my head again and again. They keep playing on a loop, repeating endlessly as I try to wrap my mind around everything that just happened. When I heard that first shot go off, I ran around the house so fucking fast, not a goddamn care in the world that I was running straight toward the danger but she was already gone. It took me a minute to find Tate, who told me the last place she saw my girl and I just went from there. Most of the fucking time, I was certain I was going in the wrong direction but something, deep down in my gut, told me to keep going so I did. I searched those woods for what felt like an eternity, screaming her name and begging every deity I could think of that she would call back to me. The relief I felt when I heard that stupid fucking stick banging against the tree almost made me pass out but it was nothing compared to the sight of her, gagged, shot, stabbed, and tied to a tree.
Staring down at her, I shake my head.
She loves me?
Thinking back over the past month, a riot of emotions rocks through me and as I run through the past ten days, everything snaps into place and smacks me in the chest. If I wasn’t already sitting, I would have fallen on my ass.
Fuck.
She loves me.
I don’t know how to feel about her admission because it’s all so much more complicated than she realizes but as I try to think of my life without her, I know I can’t fucking walk away. Let’s just hope she feels the same way once she knows the truth about me.
The ambulance stops and the front door opens as Laura stands up and begins tucking things into the stretcher and making sure it’s safe to move again. When the back door opens, Justine points to me and orders me to stay until they get the gurney out and I nod, releasing Rowan’s hand and setting it on her body. They wheel her out and I jump down after her, my hands shaking as I follow them into the emergency room. A team of doctors and nurses rush up to her, taking over for the paramedics and one of the nurses directs me to wait in the family area off to the side but I can’t move. With my feet planted to the floor, I watch them wheel her into a trauma bay and begin checking her over as my heart races.
“Sir.”
I glance down at the tiny old woman in blue scrubs as she flashes me a no-nonsense look.
“You need to go sit down in the waiting area and someone will come talk to you when we know more.”
I nod, raking my hand through my hair before meeting her gaze again. “Just take good care of her, ‘kay?”
“Of course,” she answers, her eyes softening, and I take one last look at Rowan before turning to go to the waiting area. It’s empty when I walk in and I hope that means no one else is here tonight so that Rowan has the best of the best working on her. Sinking into one of the chairs, my knee shakes like fucking crazy and I look down at my hands, my stomach rolling when I see Rowan’s blood all over them.
“Fuck.”
“Streak!”
I glance up as Tate and Kodiak run in, looking as fucking frazzled as I feel and I stand up, nodding to them.
“They rushed her back and said they’ll come find us when they know something.”
Kodiak nods, turning to stare out at the bays lined up across from us as he scrubs his jaw, his eyes fucking haunted as he turns back to me. “What the fuck happened out there?”
“Honestly,” I whisper, shaking my head. “I don’t even know. It was… insane and felt fucking rushed, unlike all of Evan’s other attacks.”
He nods, his brow furrowed, as his gaze falls to my hands and his face pales.
“Streak, maybe you should go find a bathroom and wash up,” Tate suggests and I shake my head. There is no way in hell I’m leaving my girl. Not happening. She places her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll come find you if there is news but you’re going to scare people looking like that.”
“Fine… but I want to know the fucking second something happens.”
She nods. “Of course.”
Reluctantly, I leave the waiting room and slip into the hallway, spotting a bathroom right across from us and I breathe a sigh of relief. If I have to be away from her, I don’t want to be too far. I stop at the first sink and grip the sides of it as I look up in the mirror and almost fall backward. It’s been a long fucking time since I’ve seen this look on my damn face and I can’t say that I missed it. Squeezing my eyes shut, I force those memories back and try to focus on Rowan as I turn on the water and shove my hands under it.
The water runs red and my stomach churns. My chest aches when I think about what could have happened if I hadn’t heard the stick banging against the tree, or if she hadn’t found the strength to lift it up. I picture her cold and alone as she died out there and it takes everything I have to not put my fist through the mirror.
What fucking game was Evan playing at this time?
What was his end game?
Once my hands are clean, I turn off the water and walk back out of the bathroom, eager to see how my girl is doing. Fuck. I don’t even care that there is still blood all over my shirt at this point. I’ve been gone too long and I need to get back to her. A doctor walks into the room from the other side at the same time I do and walks over to us as I stand next to Tate and Kodiak.
“You the family of Rowan Archer?”
We all nod and he sighs.
“Okay, good news and bad news - the wound to her stomach didn’t hit anything major and we have that stitched up already but the gunshot wound to her arm is bad. It broke the bone in three places and she’s lost a ton of blood so we are taking her up to surgery now to repair the break but as long as everything goes well during the operation, I expect her to make a full recovery.”
My knees give out and I grab the chair next to me to keep myself upright as I release a breath. Tate wraps an arm around my shoulders] and gives them a squeeze as the doctor instructs us to another waiting room where we can sit until Rowan is out of surgery. We watch him leave before Kodiak turns to me.
“I don’t know about you, brother, but now that we know she’s going to be okay,” he says, cracking his knuckles. “I can’t wait to get my hands on Evan.”
I arch a brow. “We caught him?”
“Yeah,” Tate answers, nodding her head as she smiles. “Someone managed to call Rodriguez and he showed up just as Evan was running out of the woods to his car. He grabbed him and Storm instructed him to take Evan to our cabin out by the lake. We’ve got an old barn on the property where they’re keeping him and it’s so secluded out there that no one will hear y’all.”
“What do you say? Want to go handle some business?” Kodiak asks and I glance over as they wheel Rowan into an elevator, fucking torn. I so badly would love a chance to get a hold of Evan and make him pay for the state of my girl right now but leaving her is like stabbing a hot poker in my chest. Tate nudges me and when I glance over at her, she nods.
“I’ll keep an eye on her and call you when there’s an update. Go make that son of a bitch regret ever coming after this club.”
I study her for a second before glancing back at the closed elevator with a sigh. As much as I want to be glued to Rowan’s fucking side, they won’t let me in the operating room and I’m not doing any good just sitting here so I turn back to Tate and nod.
“You call me if anything happens.”
She nods. “I’ve got her, Streak.”
Feeling a tiny fucking bit better about the situation, I turn and walk out of the waiting room with Kodiak, ready to tear in
to Evan for coming after what’s mine. This fucker is going to wish he’d never even thought of taking revenge on us and then I’ll get back here, ready to greet my girl when she wakes up from surgery ‘cause she and I have shit to work out and for the first time in my life, I’m ready to lay it all on the table for her.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Travis
“Hey,” Fuzz says, nodding to Kodiak and me as we join them outside of the barn on Kodiak’s property where Tate said they were hiding Evan and I stare at the door for a second, tempted to march in there and exact my revenge but instead, I look around the group.
“Where is Smith and Henn?”
Moose tips his head toward the barn. “Taking their frustrations out on Evan’s face. How’s Rowan?”
“In surgery but she should be okay,” Kodiak answers. “Evan didn’t hit anything vital when he stabbed her but her arm is broken and needs to be repaired.”
They all sigh in relief as Chance claps my shoulder, nodding. “Good to hear.”
“So, what are we going to do with this fucker?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest as I nod toward the barn. Storm sighs and scrubs his hand down his face before shaking his head.
“Not going to lie, but there is a very big part of me that wants to go in there and fucking break his face before I put a bullet in his skull.” He shakes his head again and clenches his fist. “He fucking shot at my wife and baby so it’s the least he fucking deserves.”
Kodiak nods. “I’m fucking with you, brother. I don’t even want to think about how close I was to losing my baby sister.”
Glancing around at all of them as they nod in agreement, I blow out a breath. I get it. I really fucking do and each time I think about finding Rowan under that tree, bleeding and on the verge of death, a red haze flashes across my vision. In those moments, all I want to do is grab a knife and make sure he knows how it feels to have it buried in his psychotic body. I want to rip him limb from limb but it isn’t us… isn’t who I am. The revelation slams into me full force and I shake my head, sucking in a breath.
