Page 9 of Outbreak

“This is how this is going to go. You’re going to walk, nice and easy, back to the truck. If you make a scene at all, I’ll be forced to deal with witnesses. I don’t want to have to do that, but I don’t mind either. That’s up to you. So what’s it going to be?”His fingers slightly flex on my throat, and I get the feeling he’s holding back from doing what he really wants to do.

“You killed that man back there, didn’t you?”

“That wasn’t a man. Now… walk.” He brushes off my question, confusing me more. I just can’t get a solid read on this man. What the fuck does he want with me? For some reason, my survival instincts are telling me to shut my mouth and pay attention, so that’s what I do.

I walk beside him out of the woods and through the parking lot. When we reach the truck, my eyes dart to a car that’s now parked at the pump across from us. A young man, maybe 20 years old, is pumping his gas. He bobs his head to music I can’t hear coming from his headphones as he scrolls on his phone. He is oblivious to us and the world around him as the stranger walks me to the passenger side. When my view of him finally disappears behind the cab of the truck, I look at my masked ‘friend’. His head is cocked to the side, and if I could see his expression, I imagine it isn’t very amused.

“What!?” I ask innocently. I’m so full of shit it might as well be coming out of my ears, but… again, fuck him.

“Get in the truck, Rue,” he growls at me, low and menacing, and it does something it shouldn’t to my lady bits.

Wait… He knows my name.

He must see the realization on my face because he doesn’t wait for me to comply with his command before he opens the door and picks me up like a toddler, sitting me on the seat and buckling me in. Then he leans over me, opening the center console and pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

“W-wait! What are you doing?” I stutter, jerking my hands away from him. He just steps up on the side rail and grabs them anyway, snapping one of the links around my right wrist.

“You lie about as good as you listen. I’m just taking some extra precautions to keep you where I need you,” he says, asthough he’s done with this conversation and my antics. Good. Because I’ve had enough, too.

“Oh, I’m sorry—did you not do your research on me before you decided tokidnap me!?If you wanted a docile little bitch, you should have taken someone else. Or better yet,get a fucking dog.Then you can train them to be obedient and follow you around like you seem so interested in. You picked the wrong fucking one, asshole. Clearly, you don’t know me at all.”

By the time I’m done, I’m seething, and he’s just staring at me. I still can’t see his eyes, but by the way he tilts his head to the side, I can feel the smirk beneath his stupid, sexy mask! Then my rage dials to a hundred when the motherfucker chuckles at me.

Fucking. Chuckles.

“I know everything about you, Rue Monroe.”

With that, he locks the other link to the dash handle I was tied to before, steps back down to the pavement, and slams the door shut.

CHAPTER 9

Ghost

It takes more effort than I’d like to admit not to rip my mask off right there and show her just how much I really know about her in this parking lot. But I’ve come this far; I’m going to see this through… my way.

That doesn’t negate the fact that my dick is so hard it could cut glass right now. I just need a minute before I close myself up with her inside the truck again. Her mouth might be the death of me. I didn’t realize until now just how much her smartass mouth turns me on. She’s got grit; I’ll give her that. I’ve made grown men piss themselves at the sight of me in this mask, but not my little Death. She’s got a fire inside her that can’t be snuffed out easily. And trust me, I know her history—plenty have tried.

She feels things differently than others. Deeper and more intense. I didn’t fully understand it back then—and maybe I still don't—but it’s just how she is. It’s something I love about her. There’s no one else like her in the whole world.

I spent years trying to burn her out of my mind—burying myself in jobs and nameless women. Nothing worked. She’s ingrained in my soul so deeply that I can’t shake her. And now that I have her back, I’ll chain her to my side if that’s what ittakes to keep her. She isn’t going anywhere. Whether she likes it or not, that’s not my problem.

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I push off the side of the truck and reach into the bed, grabbing one of my duffles, the bag from the store, and the gas can I tossed in earlier when my little captive decided to take a field trip without me. I sit it all on the ground and grab a bottle of water and an old t-shirt out, dousing my hands and scrubbing off the dead guy’s blood and dirt. I need to change my clothes, but that can wait until we get a little further away. I toss the bottle in the garbage with the ruined shirt, grab the rest of my stuff, and walk around the back of the truck. I top off my gas tank and pump the extra five gallons I paid for into the can before securing it in the bed with a small strap. I take a deep breath, pulling the driver door open and climbing inside.

“You don’t seriously expect me to ride like this, do you? I can’t even put my arm down.”

Choosing to ignore her grumbling, I dig the keys out of my pocket and crank the truck. She just huffs and sits back against the seat the best she can, twisting her hips to allow her to rest partly on the door. Good. She better get comfortable. This will be a long drive, and she’s not doing herself any favors to earn her any comfort.

I can feel her eyes burning into the side of my face, but I don’t engage. I want her to feel like I’ve felt all these years, with nothing but silence from her. She betrayed me, and it would do me well to remember that.

The truck bounces over the potholes in the parking lot that I don’t even try to miss on the way out, earning me a line of very nasty curses from her.

“I think you missed one if you wanna turn around and try again, asshole,” she sasses back as she grips the ‘oh shit’ handle she’s cuffed to with both hands.

Still, I ignore her, turning onto the paved road as I pull out my phone and restart the GPS. I know how to get to the cabin on the interstates, but since we’re sticking to backroads, I need to know my way around the heavily populated areas.

“Where are you taking me?” She questions, when the GPS starts speaking aloud, telling me to keep on this road for the next 10 miles.

No response.I can feel her agitation with me grow by the second, filling the cab of this truck with her adorable anger.

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