Page 78 of The Scenic Route
He huffed. “You started it! Never mind. Let’s go.” He started walking, but the position was too awkward to move quickly, and he soon released the hold around her throat. “Walk. You even think about acting up, and there’ll be a bullet in the back of your head.”
She led the way, scuffling her feet along the rough ground to both feel her way and also delay them. He’d already told her she was dead once they reached wherever he was taking her, so she wasn’t in any hurry to reach it. With a huge effort of will, she kept herself from looking around for Bennett.
You don’t need a knight in shining armor to rescue you, her brain scolded.You’re pretty good at rescuing yourself.
Felicity raised a mental eyebrow at the voice.Any ideas on how to accomplish that last part?
The voice was silent.
“Faster,” Clint ordered, giving her back a hard enough push to make her stumble forward.
“Watch it!” she snapped. If she fell, she’d land on her face without her hands to catch her and not enough forward momentum for a dive roll.
“Don’t speak to me like that,” Clint growled, grabbing her hair where it was coiled in a bun at the base of her neck and yanking back as he pressed the gun muzzle hard against her temple. “I have the power here. I can end you in a second—and will. So watch your mouth.”
Felicity bit back the response she wanted to give him and gave a very short nod, all she could manage with his grip on her hair.
“Now walk.” He shoved her forward as he released her.
It was very hard not to respond. When she was scared or stressed, snarky comebacks were what steadied her. She hated feeling helpless.Hatedit. In her frustration—and also her fear of getting a bullet in the back—she strode forward, disregarding the footing. A firefly flashed in the darkness ahead of her, and then another, their presence oddly comforting.
A strange, quietwhirfilled the air around them. It took Felicity a moment to recognize the sound, and when she did, she couldn’t hold back her grin.Here comes the cavalry.
“What is that?” Clint asked, nerves showing in his voice.
“Fireflies,” she improvised. The wind picked up just in time, the howling loud enough to cover any other sounds.
“There aren’t any fireflies in Colorado,” he scoffed, having to raise his voice to almost a shout for her to hear it over the wind. “Besides, they don’t make any noise.”
“Sure there are.” She smiled wider as she snuck a peek to their right, getting just a glimpse of a faint white shape before she hurried to face forward, not wanting Clint to look that way. To keep his attention focused on her, she shouted over the noisy wind, “There’s even a speciesspecificto Colorado. Their wings make that sound.”
“That’s bull—”
A white golf cart sped out of the darkness to their right and slammed into Clint, sending him flying in the middle of his rebuttal.
Nineteen
With a triumphant laugh, Felicity ran to where Clint was sprawled on his side. She kicked the gun next to his right hand, sending it flying into the darkness. Bennett hopped out of the golf cart he’d just used as a battering ram to check Clint’s pulse and breathing before hog-tying him with an ease that made Felicity breathless with adoration.
“It’s kind of fun to be rescued by a knight in shining armor,” she said giddily. “Have a knife on you?”
“Why?” Bennett asked as he stood, immediately pulling a knife from his pocket. “Want to stab him a little before the cops get here?”
“Tempting,” she said, turning her back to Bennett. “But I’ll need the use of my hands first.”
He stepped behind her, and with apop, her hands were free. She groaned with both relief and pain.
“You okay?” Bennett’s voice was deep with concern as he gently gripped her shoulders to turn her around.
“Fine.” She shook out her hands, trying to speed the blood flow. “Just pins and needles.”
“Hurt anywhere else?” His eyes were scanning over her, even though she knew he couldn’t see much in the dark.
“I’m fine.” Strangely enough, now that she was safe, her voice started to shake. “I realized something though.”
He gave an inquiring grunt as he pulled her gently against his chest, wrapping his big arms around her inthebest hug she’d ever gotten before in her life.
“I love you.”
