Page 64 of Ride Hard
“Shit.” I turned and recoiled as I saw the black car closing the gap fast. “Chaser, I don’t likethis…”
“Stay calm, and do what I say,” he commanded. “They’re coming upfast.”
Right now, I didn’t mind his alpha asshole mode. If it got us out of this alive, then he could turn the dial right up to a million if hewanted.
“Hold on,” Chaserexclaimed.
The car lurched forward as we were rammed from behind. My head snapped forward, and I jammed my palms on the dash to steadymyself.
“Tighten your seat belt, and cross your arms over your chest,” Chaser commanded. “If we roll, it’ll protectyou.”
I swallowed hard and did as he said, my handsshaking.
“Chaser…” I saidwarily.
“It’ll be okay,” he murmured, glancing in the mirror. “It’ll beokay.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and held on for dear life, putting all my trust in Chaser. The man I wanted. I’d used the word love a few times in the confines of my own thoughts but never out loud. Did I want to say it? Did I want him to know it? Was love what I really felt forhim?
It was so not the time for an existentialcrisis.
Movement caught my gaze, and I looked past Chaser, right into the eyes of a man in the other car. They’d flanked us, and now they were right there, and the man in the passenger seat was aiming a gun at us out the openwindow.
“Down!” Chaserroared.
I slid down in the seat, screaming as the driver’s side window shattered. We swerved to the side as the black car sideswiped us, scraping metal jarring my ears. Chaser wrenched the wheel, trying to break away, then he jammed his foot on the brake before acceleratinghard.
I flew forward, the glowing red taillights of the black car filling my vision as I was flung backward. Squealing tires signaled the other car had braked, and before Chaser could correct our forward motion, they clippedus.
The nose of the car went up in the air, and we were spinning. I screamed, unable to hold onto myterror.
We landed on the roof, and the windscreen cracked and shattered as we continued to roll. I tightened my grip around my body and tried to ride it out, but I felt stinging pain erupt all over mybody.
Then...
Groaning, I lifted my head off the ground, my vision blurring as the world came back into focus. Overhead, the sky was streaked with fire and blood. The sun wassetting.
How did I gethere?
In the distance, I could see the car lying beside the highway. It was a hunk of twisted and broken metal, and a way behind it was the black car that’d rammedus.
I must’ve lost consciousness when the car flipped because I didn’t remember being flung out the window atall.
Smoke was rising from the twisted wreck, and the engine was hissing and clicking in the silence. Where was Chaser? He couldn’t be dead. I wouldn’t let himdie.
My head throbbed, and I rolled over with a groan. Red dirt stuck to my arms and coated my T-shirt. Spitting, I cleared the grit from my mouth. Nothing felt broken, but that didn’t mean much. I could be bleeding internally and I wouldn’t know because the adrenaline and shock would mask the symptoms. At least I’d learned something from binge watching all those doctor dramas ontelevision.
“It’s time to give her up,Gunnar.”
I paused as a gravelly voice echoed across the distance. Raising my head as my faculties returned, I realized I’d been flung a fair distance from the car. About seventy feet, but I couldn’t be sure. It was far enough they hadn’t found me yet, and I was good with that. I still had achance.
I couldn’t see anyone on the road or in the brush either, which meant they must have been standing on the other side of thewreck.
The gun. I knew Chaser had put it in the glove compartment after we’d first slept together. He’d trusted me then, knowing I was tied to him. Did he, though? Did he realize how deep my feelingsran?
Shaking my head, I pushed to my knees and crawled toward the car. He either gave a crap or he was using me for sex. Either way, knowing his true intentions wouldn’t help me now. I was screwed if I didn’t dosomething.
Chaser was either dead or eyeballs deep in shit. No Chaser meant they would come looking for me, and I didn’t fancy a nighttime hunt across the wilds ofTexas.
