Page 57 of Like Fathers, Like Son
The fucking car!I heard the engine suddenly roar to life, and I charged down the road to get ahead of her. She’d have to run me down if she wanted to get away, and somehow, even though I’d deserve it, I didn’t think she would.
As it was, she only just slammed on the brakes in time to avoid smashing the car into my numb, aching bones. I still ended up sprawled across the bonnet, cursing as the air was pushed out of my lungs, and the biting cold made it almost impossible to catch any breath at all.
“Get away from the car!” She screamed at me from her safe position behind the wheel. The fact that the bitch had managed to pick the key from my pocket, before she pushed me in the lake was oddly impressive, but something she’d also pay for, because she was never fucking getting away from me.
I stayed across the bonnet and not just because I couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t drive with me like this, or at least I hoped she wouldn’t try. How the hell could I get the upper hand though, because this standoff wouldn’t last indefinitely?
Anneka
IT HAD ALL GONE so well, right up until the moment that he’d practically made me run him over. He was draped over the bonnet of the car, dripping wet, his blonde hair dark and muddy and sticking to his face. His eyes though were bright and furious, and fixed right on me. If I got out of the car, he’d probably kill me. I couldn’t let him win this one.
“Let me go, Blaze, that’s all I want!”
He glared through the window like he could melt the glass with his anger.
“Get out of the fucking car, Anneka. Rightfuckingnow!“ The usual power and fury wasn’t behind those words, but I think it was because he was struggling to breathe. That happens when you’re so icy cold that the air steals each breath. I shouldn’t be feeling guilty, or worrying that he’d get pneumonia, but I was.
“Blaze, just let me leave, and I’ll tell your dads you’re here.” I wouldn’t go anywhere near those monsters, but I’d send the police instead.
“Fuck that! You’re not leaving! You only get to leave when you’re dead.”
I revved the engine, and his eyes widened before that smug grin returned.
“You don’t have it in you to hurt me, Anneka, or you’d have done it already.”
I leaned on the horn, and he covered his ears as it probably deafened him, while I looked around inside the car for some kind of idea of what to do. I couldn’t get out or let him in the car, but leaving him freezing to death in the middle of nowhere really wasn’t my thing.
In the glove box, I found a mobile phone, not mine, so most likely his. If I gave him the phone, he could call for help, but would he use that against me?
“I want to make a deal,” I yelled as soon as the last echo of the horn quieted, and then had to yell it again when he uncovered his ears.
“No deals. You’re mine, Anneka.”
“The deal is,” I yelled, because I refused to let him win. “The deal is that you let me go, and I’ll give you your phone so you can call for help.”
Blaze narrowed his eyes at me as I waved his phone at him, and I saw his hands go to his pockets. I guess he’d meant to carry it, either that or he’d had one, and lost it in the lake. Only psychos had multiple phones though, right, so it was possible.
“All you need to do is get out of the car, Anneka.” He was leaning up from the bonnet now, both hands placed against the metal like he was priming himself for action.
“I’m not getting out, and you’ll die if you stay out there. Let me go, and I’ll toss the phone out the window.”
“GET OUT OF THE FUCKING CAR!” He screamed, slamming his hands against the bonnet and making me jump, but then he suddenly slumped, rubbing one hand over his face and shoving his wet hair away from his eyes.
There was a long moment of silence, and then he spoke again.
“Don’t hurt my family again, please.”
What? I cracked the window a touch so I could be sure of what I was hearing, and that nip of icy air made me feel a twinge of guilt for leaving him out there wet and cold like this.
“What did you say?”
He pushed up from the bonnet of the car and ran both hands up and over his hair, flicking wet mud away from him.
“If I let you go, please don’t hurt my family. You can call the cops on me, but don’t drag them into it. They’re good people really, and they don’t deserve that.”
Was he on crack?!“They’re rapists and murderers, just like you!”
“My sister has suffered enough, hasn’t she? Do you really want to take her parents away right now? Have the little ones taken into care again? Is this really fair on them?”
