Page 53 of Full Throttle

Chase and Cain shook hands, then began talking. The more Chase talked, the scarier Cain’s icy eyes became. I watched as his jaw tightened underneath that scruff, and my heart sighed.

She was such an idiot.

My breath caught as Cain began looking around, searching—for me.

“Oh, shit,” I breathed, ducking behind the truck. Scrambling, I moved to the back of the truck, pulling my cell from my back pocket. I looked over my shoulder once more and then headed out onto the sidewalk, making a right. Once I was beside a building and out of view, I dialed Macy.

“There you are,” she yelled into the phone. “It’s been almost an hour.”

“Macy, I need you to come get me.”

“What? Nikki—”

“I found him. He’s good, but he knows I’m here,” I cut her off as my feet gained momentum. I was jogging down the sidewalk, surrounded by old buildings and scary looking houses, looking for a street sign.

“Where are you?” she asked, her voice serious. I heard movement in the background, then the hum of my engine as she began driving.

“I—I don’t know. I’m looking for a street sign. I’m out of The Pit, by some old buildings,” I rushed out, rounding the corner of a building. In the distance, I heard an engine rev, its power echoing down the empty street.

When I came to the other side, I spotted a gas station. “I’m by an Exxon,” I told her.

“Okay, okay. Let me put that into my GPS. Hold on. I’ll call you back.”

Biting my lip, I stopped jogging and leaned against the building. He was alive. He was happy. That’s all I needed to know.

“I can finally let go,” I told myself, tipping my head back to the night sky. I closed my eyes, feeling thankful for the first time in a long time.

I saw a flash, and I opened my eyes again, looking down the street from where I came. My heart stopped for the second time tonight as the headlights drew closer and closer to me, a powerful engine rumbling behind them. The black car swerved before coming to a stop against the curve.

Every fiber in my body was telling me to run, but for some reason, I couldn’t. I was paralyzed. The car shut off, the headlights dying, and then the driver’s side door opened. The second I saw his hair, I braced. The second his eyes landed on me, I wished I’d run.

Fury. So much fury. It consumed him. It radiated from him.

Yet, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

With calculated steps, he rounded the front of the car, stepping onto the sidewalk.

My mouth decided that this was the appropriate time to open. “Cain—”

Suddenly, instead of the creepy man crowding me against the wall, it was Cain. His hands slammed against the brick on either side of my head as I let out a yelp. His throat was in my line of vision, his scent all around me. For the first time in over a year, I felt at peace. The noise in my head hushed, leaving me in a warm, comfortable silence. Nothing else mattered—school, my parents’ broken marriage, the ghost in the window across from mine, or the constant worry I had over Cain. He was here.

Finally.

“Look at me,” he demanded harshly.

My eye flicked up to meet his, and I was lost in his icy gaze.

His nostrils flared as he glared down at me, a muscle in his cheek jumping. “Are you fucking stupid?” he bit off.

“Most likely,” I breathed, not blinking. I didn’t want to miss a single second of this.

Cain leaned down, baring his white teeth to me. “This is no time to be fucking cute, Dominique. What the fuck are you doing here?”

I opened my mouth, but the sound of a whistle had both of our heads snapping to the side. The warmth I’d been feeling vanished all together as I watched a group of three men make their way towards us. Cain remained silent, shifting his arm to conceal my face.

When I looked back to him, the look in his eyes forced my hands to latch onto his hoodie. “Do you know those men?”

He returned his attention to me once more, his eyes hard. Shaking his head slightly, he growled, “Follow my lead.”

---