Page 13 of Ride Hard
“They’ll be back if they aren’t already on their way,” he said. “Get your shit, and be quick aboutit.”
“I’m not going with you.” I fished around in my bag, looking for the present I would embed in hisface.
“Sloane, for fuck’s sake…” He strode across the room, grabbed my arm, and shookme.
“Stopit!”
“Get it through your pretty little head,” he said, his iridescent eyes blazing. “If you don’t come with menow—”
Pressing the barrel of my gun against the side of his skull, I curled mylip.
“If I don’t go with you, what?” I askedtriumphantly.
“Put the gun down.” Chaser didn’t even blink. There wasn’t even a twitch on his handsome face. If anything, he seemedexasperated.
“No.”
“We don’t have time forthis.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time. “So you better let me go. I’ll do just fine on my own. I’m not yourproblem.”
“You know how much of a mess firing at close range will make?” he asked, baiting me. “You’d better close your eyes and mouth unless you want to eat brain matter, sweetheart. Are you ready to see that? Blowing a man’s head off three inches from your ownface?”
The smirk faded from my lips, the gun sliding an inch down the side of hisskull.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think about me, and I especially don’t give a rat’s ass how much you love your daddy. You’re coming with me because right now, it’s the only way you’re walking out of this shithole alive. Didn’t that little display back behind that cesspool do anything to you? He would’ve raped your corpse, Sloane.” Reaching up, he curled his hand around the gun, his fingers tightening on mine. “Either you pull the trigger or you get yourshit.”
I didn’t know when I’d begun to tremble, but I felt it the moment his hand covered mine. He was right, I didn’t have the guts to blow his head off, just like I didn’t have the guts to fight back against Pube Face. It hadn’t taken long for me to give up, and it made me feel sick. I was just going to try to beat these fuckers on myown?
One thing was right.I was too stupid to live and too cowardly todie.
Lowering my hand, Chaser pried the gun from my fingers, though this time, he had nothing smart tosay.
“Two minutes,” he finally said. “Two minutes, and we’re gone.Okay?”
Swallowing my brewing tears, I turned and found my bag. Pulling clothes from their hangers, I shoved them into the duffel. Upending old shoeboxes full of underwear and socks, I filled in the gaps. Toiletries and makeup went next, then my textbooks and laptop. I would have to give up the security deposit on this place, but college was one thing I wasn’t willing to give up on. Notyet.
Chaser raised an eyebrow but remained silent, his body half in and half out of theapartment.
Finally, I wedged the refrigerator away from the wall, sending a big-ass cockroach scurrying across the floor. Reaching around the back, I pulled out the resealable plastic bag filled with all the cash I had and shoved it into myhandbag.
“Ready,” Isaid.
Chaser stepped out into the hall, his free hand bunching around the collar of my denim jacket. Shaking him off, Iglared.
“You don’t need to drag me.” I hissed. “I’ve got the message. Loud and fuckingclear.”
His eyes narrowed, then he nodded. “Quickly. Followme.”
Stepping over Mrs. Adelstein’s blood, we hurried down the hall and into the stairwell. Five flights down, we weren’t stopped. He led me toward the back of the building, my gun still in his hand…safetyoff.
Chaser lingered, watching the back parking lot for a few minutes. I pressed behind him, my shoulder resting against his back. His muscles rippled as if he was reacting to me being there, but I couldn’t be sure. It didn’t matter, anyway. I was a job, not a conquest. Besides, I was so not going to suck him off as a reward for saving my bacon. Not after the night I washaving.
When Chaser was satisfied no one was around, he led me toward a car at the rear of the lot. A dark colored sedan with tinted windows. Nothingspecial.
Unlocking the doors, he gestured for my duffel. Letting him take it, he threw it in the back as I got into the passenger seat. Talk about eating my words. Looked like I had to choose the lesser evil, but people had done worse things to survive,right?
Chaser got in the front and gunned the engine. The headlights switched on, illuminating the car in front as he backed out of the space before roaring out of the lot and onto thestreet.
