Page 1 of DOG Part 2
DOG Part Two
1
Kim
Author’s Note
Dog Part One is included as a free bonus in this copy of Dog Part Two. Just scroll back to the table of contents and enjoy.
One of theguys holding on to me was Hispanic and had a scar down one cheek. The other one was a lumbering, sauntering mass of beef and muscles. The gruff bearded guy with the sawed-off shotgun kept his distance. Smart guy. He probably knew Kane would make a play for his gun if he got any closer. As he stood back, he causally checked out the area around us.
“Hi,” I said, as if pleasantries would be enough to diffuse the situation. As much as I wanted to believe we could get out of this mess through negotiation and dialogue, I knew that wasn’t the case. They knew who I was, and they had come for me.
There was no way out, really. We were in the middle of a freaking labyrinth of rubber, and with all these weapons around, screaming and fighting were not the best of options. I had to do something. I wasn’t supposed to stand there and wait to be abducted. That Safety 101 class from freshman year suddenly seemed to have occurred a hundred years ago. All I could do was stand there and let the men clutch me. Had I been out front, I could have seen them coming, maybe I’d have had time to grab the Jeep and try to run the men down. I was completely useless, but to be fair, there weren’t a lot of options now.
“Leave her alone,” came a snarl from Kane the second the men holding me began to move off toward the back door.
The three men laughed out loud. Being the butt of the joke didn’t faze Kane at all. He gazed steadily at the man on my right, now only a few feet from Grizzly, the one with the shotgun.
“Let her go and we can all walk out of here in one piece.”
It almost seemed cliché, as if it was from some horrible eighties’ movie. What the hell was Kane doing just talking to these men like it was a garden party? Shouldn’t he have been keeping his mouth shut and devising a plan, or distracting them somehow?
Scarface beside me chuckled. “You’re delirious. Looks like Banner made a mistake leaving his sweet little princess all alone with you. How’s he doing, by the way? Send our regards, will you?”
A low growl came from Kane as the man turned his attention back to me.
“We’re out of here, Blondie.”
I don’t know why I did it, but maybe some deep-seated survival instincts kicked in. I stopped in my tracks and whistled, lifting my top to reveal my bare breasts. Men are so predictable. Grizzly, turned to get a look, and Kane took his chances. So much happened in the next few seconds that the world began to blur. Kane leaped forward and there was a heavy crack followed by a shriek. The men beside me rushed forward, arriving at Kane in time for him to take them on fluidly. Arms were grabbed and twisted, faces were punched and struck, groins were kneed, and pretty soon three would-be kidnappers were down. Scarface tried to get to his feet, but with a few more heavy thuds, he was also out like a light. The other two were on the ground, groaning in pain with Kane standing above them confidently and unhurt.
Well, there was a rough red patch on his jaw, nothing more than an abrasion, but other than that he appeared to be perfectly fine. He had just singlehandedly taken on five men, several of who had been just as big as Kane himself. I’d never even imagined such a feat was possible. I shuffled backwards, bumping up against some tires. Frantically, I searched the ground for a stick of wood or something else to defend myself, just in case any of them got up. Numerically speaking, the odds weren’t in Kane’s favor, but he had managed to get us out of this.
Wow.
“Let’s go.” Kane grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doorway.
Now that the men were down, did we need to call the cops? The other three men Kane had took on inside were still on the floor, and I still didn’t have an answer. We rushed past the colorful bags of potato chips and pretzels, the confused clerk with his mouth in a frozen ‘o’, the ancient gas pumps, grabbed up my groceries and supplies, and got into the Jeep.
There were two black SUVs that weren’t there before I went in to buy these goodies, presumably belonging to the unconscious men we left behind. In front of our pickup truck was a minivan parked at the other pump, and a man who looked like he was way too much of a nice, average Joe to get caught in the middle of a motorcycle gang war, was standing there pumping gas. He stared as Kane put the Jeep in reverse and then spun it around to peel out of the lot.
The tires screeched and kicked up dirt going over the bump where the asphalt started. My door flapped open and I just about screamed. Grabbing the door’s handle, I yanked it as hard as I could and pulled it shut tight before locking it. The car was going so fast that I thought I was going to throw up. Or maybe the nausea was due to what had just happened at the gas station.
“How did you do that?” I asked, buckling my seat belt and pulling it tight for good measure.
Kane laughed and shook his head. “It’s my business to expect the unexpected.”
“But you were outnumbered six to one.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Sure, there were six of them, but I took them down one at a time. The key is to never start feeling like it’s hopeless.” He glanced over at me, smirking smugly. “You were worried back there, weren’t you?”
“Of course I wasn’t. I knew you’d come through.” That was lie. I was sure we were goners.
“Sure you did. Just remember this…I won’t let anything happen to you. That’s what I promised your old man, and I meant every word. You’re safe with me.”
He was breathing heavily, an effect of the adrenaline still coursing through him. I leaned back into my seat and didn’t say anything more. There was no sign of the men, or any cars in the rear view mirror, but I still wasn’t able to relax. Kane had risked his life for me. He could have ignored what was happening behind the gas station. He could have gone back to the Rugged Angels clubhouse and said, “Sorry, they got her. There was nothing I could do.” Instead he’d turned into a badass hero fighting machine at the drop of a hat and whisked me out of there.
Even after the way I’d been treating him.
