Page 30 of Better Run
“On my way back. Maybe 20 minutes out.”
I head downstairs for shoes, keeping Jayden on the line. I picture running her down. Grabbing her little body and pinning her beneath me. Her cry of fear. Her useless scrambles to get away.
I grin. My dick is hard as stone.
There’s plastic rustling on the other end of the line. “Fucking goddamnchocolate.”
I huff out a laugh. “We disconnected that fuse on my car, she’s not going anywhere.”
A thrill runs through me. Oh she’s going to be fun to hunt.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jayden
Cole is waiting for me on the front porch when I burn up in my truck. He rests his forearms on his knees, appearing relaxed. I know he isn’t. He’s itching for the chase.
I get out and slam the door, locking it in case she’s lurking somewhere close. My breath puffs in the night air.
Cole stretches.
“You didn’t move any of the guns, did you?”
“No, they’re still in my closet. She doesn’t have access.”
“She has my knife.”
“That must be what she cut the tracker off with.” I got a notification shortly after the door alarm that she had cut it off. It stopped tracking her near the garage.
“I hope she uses it.” His eyes glint. He looks dark. Like he did all those years ago.
I’m angry. Angry at her for slipping through our fingers. Angry at her for lying to us.
Angry at myself for falling for it. Clearly, I hadn’t been heavy enough with her.
I throw on some winter gear and grab a flashlight. Despite myself, I wonder how her feet are doing in this cold. The thought angers me. How dare she be sostupid? I grab a vial of the concoction I gave her when I first took her and a syringe.
The closest neighbors are five miles off. She’s had around a 40-minute head start. With no shoes, no flashlight, and injured, there’s no way she’s made it that far. She’s just going to get herself hurt.
Cole is waiting for me downstairs. He has a nasty bump on the back of his head.
“What did she get you with?”
“Onion powder.” He throws a spice jar into the air and catches it again.
I look at him. “The champion wrestler, 15 years of experience, taken down by a small woman and seasoning?”
He flashes his teeth in a feral grin. “I think I’m in love.”
“Well then, lover boy. Let’s go get our girl.”
I lock the house up before we leave. One less place for her to hide. We start at the garage, scouring it thoroughly. She’s not there.
Cole spent much of his high school years hunting in these woods, so once we were done with the garage, I let him take the lead. We go to the East, in the opposite direction of the abandoned house on the property. Cole immediately starts into the dark woods, like he’s seeing a blazing trail. I don’t see anything, but I trust his experience. I won’t ruin our night vision by keeping the flashlight on. The moon is out, and its light filters through the barren tree branches well enough to cast shadows. We move quickly, generally following a pattern down the hills. Down is also the way to town. In hilly areas, towns are often situated in valleys because that put them next to the waterways back in the day. Clever girl.
Cole starts to speed up. We jog, our longer legs undoubtedly eating up more space than hers could, until we reach a stream. The moonlight bounces off it, making it look silver.
I say, “There’s no way her feet have held up this long.”
