Chapter 153
Loyan
Streetlights turned into orange streaks. Stop signs were suggestion. The city was nothing but a bunch of threats to be calculated and dismissed – a turning car, a pothole, a late–night pedestrian and his little doy,
I narrowly avoided them all. Mostly by chance.
I took a corner so fast the pegs threw sparks as they kissed asphalt. I righted it and gunned it down the four–lane road. I flew past the only car in sight.
River was a shadow in my peripheral, a half–length back, matching me move for move. We didn’t need signals. The path wa
straight line in our heads.
A traffic light turned red up ahead, but I didn’t even check for cross traffic. I twisted the throttle harder, felt the engine
cream up through my spine.
I blew through the intersection and a late–model sedan coming from the left laid on its horn. In the edge of my vision I saw River in the rearview mirror, barely skirting around it.
The dread was a cold ball in my gut, but my hands were steady on the bars.
We finally hit the industrial access road. The ride turned brutal, weaving around massive potholes and trying not to skid on gravel. I was about to say fuck it, abandon the bike and take off on foot.
Then the security lights started popping on and I knew we were getting close.
I rode for the one far off in the distance, eating up the yards of broken asphalt. The details got grimmer as we came up on it.
Two figures were on the ground in the center of the circle of light.
I hit the brakes hard. My back tire skidded across the gravel and sent up a shower of stones. River slid to a stop next to me. I killed the engine, and the silence ate me alive. I could hear my own blood in my ears.
I was off the bike. I started running toward the light. River was right on my heels.
As we got closer, I saw it was Sam Andrews, out of uniform, kneeling over someone with her back to us. She had her hands pressed hard against their upper body.
The person on the ground was lying on their side, curled up.
A man.
Not Hailey,
The relief hit me like a brick wall and I let out some kind of strangled groan.
It lasted all of a microsecond.
Because if that wasn’t Hailey bleeding out, then where the hell was she?
We closed the last twenty feet. Andrews heard us. She glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t just stand there! Help me!”
I dropped to my knees next to her. The man on the ground looked familiar, but I couldn’t pin down where I knew him
from
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His face was gray, covered in sweat. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Andrews had both hands clamped
over his left shoulder,
The stain spreading across his white shirt was black in the white light, but I knew the color. I’d seen it enough.
“Who the hell is this guy?” I muttered to Andrews,
His eyelids fluttered. He moaned, a low sound of pure agony.
“Pressure,” Sam gritted out. “I’m losing it. He’s bleeding through.” She was laying everything she had on it, but the blood welled up between her fingers.
I moved without thinking. I shoved my hands over hers, adding my weight. The blood seeped through instantly.
“What happened?” I demanded. “Where the fuck is Hailey?”
She shook her head, her gaze darting past me, scanning the darkness. “Later. He needs an ambulance. Where the hell are they?”
‘I couldn’t care less about this guy, Andrews. Where the hell is she?”
‘SHE asked me to make sure Shawn makes it out of here alive. So that’s what I’m gonna do, Nash.”
Shawn. This was Shawn?
They’re on the way” River said from behind me. He had his phone pressed to his ear.
Shawn’s eyes opened. They were glassy, but they found my face.
“Logan…” he breathed.
“Yeah.. You know me? Hang on, man. Help’s coming.” The sympathy in my voice surprised me. This guy was a complication 4 potential rival. God knows what else. But right now, he was a piece of Hailey.
He tried to shake his head. “She… she saved me.”
It was like a kick to the chest. I leaned closer. “Who? Hailey?”
A faint, pained nod. His eyes were desperately trying to hang onto consciousness, to deliver a message. “They they had a gun to my head. He was gonna she stopped him. She offered herself”
The world went quiet. The cold air, the glare of the light, the smell of blood – it all fades away All could heat was the ragged whisper coming from Shawn.
“Traded herself for me, shawn gasped. “Told him to take her instead
The narrative I’d put together in my head collapsed in a cloud of smoke. These puzzle pieces weren’t Rating ingether a
matter how hard I forced them
The note seared into my eyelids started burning again. You can punish me all you want when I get home.
It dawned on me that she never thought she’d get that punishers. She probably thought she was gunna die out here
Shawn’s eyes closed again. “Took her Alive In a black car Mercedes“His breath hached. A bubble of blood came out the comer of his mouth. “She–aved my life.”
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The guilt crushed the air from my lungs. I’d been so busy being pissed at her, being suspicious, playing king of the castle,
that I’d missed it.
She’d been carrying this alone.
The camera. The fear. These asinine plans for this stupid fucking suicide mission. And she thought she had to face it alone.
I drove her to this.
My hands were still pressed on Shawn’s wound. They started to shake. The rage came back, but it was different now. It wasn’t not chaos.
t was cold. Sharp. It had a target.
The distant wail of sirens cut through the night, getting louder. Help was here.
For Shawn.
Not for her.
Andrews looked up, relieved. “Finally.”
didn’t move. Kept the pressure on Shawn’s shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay,” I told him, and I meant it. He had to be. He vas the proof. The witness. The reason my girl was gone.
The ambulance bounced down the access road, followed by two squad cars with lights blazing.
The paramedics waved me and Andrews aside and took over. Andrews had blood smeared up to her elbows. She looked lown at her hands, then up at me.
My hands were itching to choke the life out of her, but I fought it.
Tell me everything.”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
