Page 100 of Surrender
“Back off,” Rafe growled, his voice low and dangerous, hisgrip on the wheel tightening.
Parker’s high-pitched, mocking voice was nauseating. Not because of the sound, but because it was obvious that’s just how he saw females as nagging and bitching, and that they didn’t match his level of sophistication. They weren’t in his league.
“You think I wanted to do this?” Parker said, turning the gun on me and sending my heart rate rocketing, though I was determined not to let him know that. “It could have all been avoided if you’d just let that bastard biker take the fall this morning.”
My head throbbed, my heartbeat in my ears, my throat, everywhere but my damn chest.
“You killed her,” I whispered, my thoughts returning to what started this mess.
Roxie.
Parker’s laugh was cold, and chill settled across my skin.
“She was in the right place at the wrong time,” he said, finally sitting back against the seat with a sigh. “I couldn’t exactly kill you to make my point. And there was something in the way they interacted. The way he watched out for her.”
“That’s his job,” Rafe ground out through clenched teeth, white knuckling the steering wheel.
“And if he’d been doing it well, she wouldn’t be dead, would she?”
“This isnoton him,” I spat, and Parker instantly began to laugh.
“Actually, you’re right! He was just a handy scapegoat!” His words were like a knife to the stomach, which I could have handled, had he not then twisted it. “Her death is actually onyou!”
Maybe it was.
Maybe he was right.
My breathing was ragged, and the panic attack that I’d beensmothering since I got in this car was winning out over my willpower. Sure, Parker had his eyes on the club, determined to rid the city of what he calledfilth, but when Nate and I found that spark again, that was when things became personal. It wasn’t just about making him look bad at his job but about how he looked as a man.
“It’snoton you, Darcy,” Rafe growled, his voice vibrating with fury.
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Parker said sharply, leaning forward and shoving Rafe in the head. “You’re lucky you’re still in this car and not roadkill right now.”
Rafe snorted. “Go ahead.”
I turned to him, shaking my head. “Rafe…”
“No, it’s fine,” he said, glancing back with a dark smirk when Parker didn’t bite back. “I made it clear earlier that if he tried to force me out of this car, I had no problem swerving us straight into the path of a big rig.”
Rafe had bargained his life so that he could stay with me.
We both knew that this cabin was likely his go-to destination for killing girlfriends who didn’t play by his rules, and one or both of us might just be about to join them, but we had a much better chance of surviving if we were together.
And driving into the path of a big rig wasn’t the answer that was going to save us, but maybe it wasn’t far from it. I licked my dry lips, tapping my fingers in my lap, trying to catch Rafe’s eye. It took a moment, but eventually he glanced over, and I quickly pointed to my seat belt.
Then at him.
Then toward the back seat.
Parker wasn’t wearing his.
Rafe and I both were.
“How about we all just chill out for a second,” I said, allowing my voice to shake and my emotions to seep in. “People arealready dead. We don’t need to be crashing any cars to make a point.”
I met Rafe’s gaze as I said the words, and when he moved his eyes back to the road, he gave me a sharp nod.
He understood.
