Page 40 of Graced
“Come on!We gotta get out of here now before the cops show up!”
Trusting her instincts, Grace ran back to him, and they headed back to the parking lot when she remembered.
“I don’t have my key fob!”
“Don’t worry.I have mine.Now move it!”
They’d barely made it to his car when they heard the piercing shriek of sirens approaching the hospital.
CHAPTER20
Fleeing
Luckily, he’d parked in the adjacent lot across from the main parking area.With the police cruisers pulling up to the main entrance and emergency room exit, they were able to leave without being noticed, as long as they didn’t tear out of there and attract the cops’ attention.
Grace couldn’t take her eyes away from Rhyne as he casually pulled onto the main street.Blood still smeared his face where he’d been slashed, either by Welsh’s fingernails or maybe a blade or a rock.It was difficult to tell.But the bleeding appeared to have stopped.
“Are you okay?”she hesitantly asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Your face is covered in blood.”
“I’ve looked worse.”
“Pull into that pharmacy at the end of the block,” she instructed.
“I gotta get you somewhere safe,” he countered.
“Will this place have antibiotics and all for me to dress those wounds?”
He glanced at her.“Even if I stop, what are you going to use to buy those items with?”
She remembered she didn’t have her purse.“Shit,” she softly answered.Oddly enough, he chuckled.Grace stared at the road ahead.“Where are we going?”
“First, to your place.Where do you live?”
“My place?But I don’t have my key!”
“That won’t be a problem.”
She tried to figure out what he meant by that remark, when he added, “You’ll need to pack a few items to last you until this blows over.”
“What?”
“Then we’re going over to my place so I can grab some clothes.”
That pronouncement put her into full-blown panic mode.Grabbing the door handle, she tried to open the passenger side door but found it locked.Before she could find the button to unlock it, Rhyne pulled into a Get-n-Go and hit the brakes.Reaching across the console, he snagged her arms to prevent her from jumping out.He glared at her.“Don’t try that again.I’m trying to save your life, for fuck’s sake!”
Grace stopped struggling.“No, you just want me tothinkthat’s your intent, when you really want to take me hostage and drain my blood so you can see the world in color!”
Rhyne released her, almost shoving her away from him.“If that’s what you want to believe, I won’t try to stop you.”To prove his point, he hit the unlock button on the driver’s side door.“Go.Go back to the hospital and explain to the cops what happened.”His eyes narrowed.“Did Welsh kill Norris?”
She remembered the telltale snap when Welsh broke Norris’s neck, and the vision of the man jamming the syringe into the lab tech’s eye came back to her.Feeling suddenly weak, Grace slowly nodded.She tried to keep her voice from quivering, but the tears rising in her eyes couldn’t be quelled.“Yes.Yes, he did.Is Welsh dead?Did you kill him?”
“He’s unconscious, but he’s not dead,” Rhyne told her.“He’s wounded, but he’s not broken.When he awakens, when he recovers, he’s going to come after you.Then he’s coming after me.If you don’t let me protect you, there’s no one else who can stop him, and nothing that can stand in his way.Now, decide what you want to do, and you better make it quick.”
Norris had told her Rhyne was different.Norris had warned her because Rhyne had asked him to.Norris tried to protect her, and ended up losing his life.Rhyne had tried to protect her, and suffered for it.
