Page 269 of Cross the Line
If that’s not cruel, I don’t know what it is. And I am sick with it. To my stomach. My heart, my head, my soul—they’re all wretched with it.
“Actually, I used your father, and I got a kick out of every second he had to represent me… The gay kid he had cast out like garbage. I gave him the recording, and he got me out of jail. That’s it.”
What a load of horseshit.
My throat tightens when a barren clearing comes into sight. As we approach it, there’s nothing but an old, crumbling house in the middle of the land with a truck parked out front of it.
“That’s not it, is it?” Desperation and fear are sinking in fast with every bruising pang of my heart. Tears cloud my eyes, and the sting of their glare burns all the way down the back of my nose and throat when Presley gets out of the truck by the house. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“You brought this on yourself.” His words are so blasé that my skin crawls with the indifference on his face. When he leans closer, a treacherous tear escapes me. Even worse, when he whispers in my ear, a sob tears out of my chest. “This is all on you. All your fault.”
“No.” It doesn’t matter how hard I shake my head, the voice inside tells me it’s true.
“What he did to Eli was because of you.” Ryker’s dark stare flits ahead of us to Presley’s fast-approaching form. “He brought me here because of you. To remind Eli of what he did to him. The messages, the calls… they were meant to drive you away.”
“Except, I’m not a coward.” The words are a choked gurgle when Ryker reaches for the glovebox and pulls out a pocket knife.
My pulse roars, spreading a bone-deep chill down my spine when he brings it to my stomach and holds it there.
“Bravery is a synonym for stupidity,” is all he says before he slices through the rope at my waist as my door is yanked open and a loud bang ricochets through the cabin.
Jarring, the ringing in my ears deafens me. Everything is spinning. And my chest… so tight. It hurts so bad.
So bad.
And I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
I. Can’t. Breathe.
CHAPTER 79
ELI
“Stop! Stop!” The shrill screams spur my feet through the gap in the trees.
With one hard push, I jump over the ratty rail fence. Jayden’s bounding next to me, a slew of curses spitting from his lips when we break into the clearing.
A familiar truck is parked right in front of us. Doors open. A trail of blood stains the cream leather of the driver’s seat.
The movement ahead catches my eye at the same time as Jayden pushes forward. My already cold blood freezes over completely when my sight lands on our girl. Crumpled on the ground.
Ryker’s kneeling in front of her, shirt drenched in crimson. Gun to his head as he turns and swivels with Presley’s steps.
“Get out of the fucking way,” the bellow echoes through the stark silence around us. Ricocheting through the trees.
Running to Jayden, I grip his arm, tugging him behind a cluster of thick trees.
“Shhh…” I hold my hand over his mouth when he starts to argue with me. “We can’t just run in. He’ll hurt Fin before we get to her.”
Back in Havenview, when we used to hunt elk and deer, my grandfather taught me a trick. A cheat of sorts. While he used to take his mark in the bushes, he’d send me in the opposite direction. I’d crack a stick, and the noise was enough of a distraction for my grandfather to take the animal down in one shot.
One shot.
The ground quakes beneath me at the endless crack. Like thunder cutting the sky open.
And my hand grips Jayden’s hip tighter, pinning him to the tree as I tell him the plan.
