First Love: A Superbundle Boxed Set of Seven New Adult Romances (173 page)

Forty Four

Arion

I think it’s a safe bet that the jackass who pulled the gun on me is not an FBI agent. Just sayin’.

I asked him for identification, and instead he pulled out a gun then shoved it in my face. I’ve been in my share of bar fights and brawls over the years, and I thought I was a pretty badass kind of guy. Seeing that barrel in my face sort of gave me a new perspective. My only hope now is that they don’t find the cottage.

O’Brien—if that’s really his name—guided me into the house with his gun jammed between my shoulder blades, tied me to one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table, then he and the thin guy left. Every now and then a shadow passes behind the window of the back door, so I know someone is still out there. Just like I know I’m going to make that someone pay if I get a chance. Fucking bastards.

They took my phone, my keys, and my wallet, so I’m not even sure what I’d do other than throw a few punches if I got free, but the ropes binding me to the chair are an incessant discomfort. My shoulders burn from being angled so far back, and I’ve got an itch on the back of one of my hands. From what I can tell, they bound my wrists together then bound my wrists to the chair.
 

I try to clear my head and think about this reasonably. Fear for Angel threatens to cloud my thoughts, and the pain doesn’t help. Obviously, they kept me alive for a reason, and if I can figure out that reason, maybe I can use it against them. A wall clock ticks away the vanishing seconds of my life, and I think forever—or maybe just twenty extra-long minutes—has passed when the door bursts open.

The third fake Agent—not O’Brien or the thin guy—has a gun to Lexi’s side and his other hand buried so forcefully in her hair that she can’t walk straight. She’s twisted over on herself with her head near his arm, but her waist as far from the gun as she can possibly get it.

He releases her, taking his hands away with a look that says babysitting prisoners is the last thing he wants to be doing. The smartass in me is tempted to tell him we won’t mind if he takes the afternoon off, but I keep my mouth shut, worried he might take his annoyance with me out on Lexi.

Lexi’s eyes are wide with fury. and her tiny mouth is pressed into an even tinier thin line.
 
I’ve never been prouder of her than when she turns around and lobs a kick at the asshole’s knee.

“Sit,” he commands, wincing.

I’ll give the girl credit, she’s got spunk. She whirls toward the door and nearly makes it outside, but she isn’t quite fast enough. I think I cringe more than she does as he forces her to take the chair beside me and ties her up with one of Molly’s spare leashes from the hook by the door.
 

He tosses a last glare at us before shutting the door behind him, leaving Lexi and I alone.
 

“You know, Axel, I can’t really say I’m so fond of the new help you’ve hired around here.” Her shoulders show the terror hidden just below her humor.

“Did they hurt you? Did you see Angel? Does anyone know you’re here?” The questions tumble out of my mouth in rapid-fire whispers.

“They didn’t hurt me and I didn’t see Angel, but I did hear them talking about her, I think.
 
The one who brought me in here argued with someone on the phone after he found me. Something about they need to make it look self-contained, so it isn’t tied back to them. He said: ‘Nick is going to have to be real careful in how we stage this if we want to make it look real.’”

Her words confirm what I already suspected. I don’t know if one of the men who we’ve encountered actually is Nick or if they just work for him, but these people aren’t agents. Somehow, they must have caught wind of Kevin’s communications with the FBI. And I led them right to her.

“And no one knows you’re here?” I haven’t seen the shadow outside the door since the fake agent left, and I’m wondering if he’s wandered farther away. If we’re going to make a move, now might be the only chance we have to do it. But what? Between the two of us, Lexi and I have two sharp wits, a gaggle of comebacks and enough angst to fuel a mosh pit, but none of that is going to get us out of this house and to Angel.

“I told Dad I had to come let the horses out and that then I might ride. He won’t be expecting me any time soon.” Her shoulders slump briefly, then she seems to pull herself together. “Who are these people?”

“Angel’s ex-boyfriend. He’s a medium-level crook in a drug cartel that operates between Arizona and Mexico. Angel knew too much, so he tracked her down to shut her up.”

Lexi’s eyes fill with tears, and she starts straining against her confines. “We’ve got to help her!”

Anguish ricochets through my heart. “I know, but it may be too late. I have no idea where they have her or if they’ve found her.” And there’s the small problem of being immobilized here, away from wherever she is.

“My hay knife is in my pocket, but I’m not sure how to get to it.” Lexi’s putting on a brave face, and there is only the slightest waver to her words.

“I think I can scoot my chair over to you; I might be able to get a hold of it.”

“If you can scoot your chair, why don’t you scoot over to the alarm panel?” She jerks her head to the alarm keypad that sits by the phone.
 

“They may have police scanners. They have at least one dirty cop on their payroll, possibly more. Besides, if we trip the alarm, we’ll alert them, too, and then they might hurry up with whatever they are planning to do to her.”

Lexi rolls her eyes, and it isn’t nearly as cute as it was when she did that as a little kid. “Don’t you remember when you accidentally tripped the alarm when you were trying to remember one of the codes? If you put in the wrong code and don’t follow it up with the right code within a minute, it sends a silent alarm.”

Lexi’s right. I can’t believe I forgot that. Dad was fucking pissed and made me apologize to the officers for wasting their time. Of course, that might have had something to do with me insisting to them that my mommy had been taken and begging them to find her, rather than the fact I accidentally set it off. If they do have scanners, tripping the alarm may sign Angel’s death certificate, but doing nothing is not an option.

I shimmy my hips, and the chair bounces toward the wall a few inches at a time, scraping against the tile floor. I cringe at each and every noise, completely sure it’s going to alert the asshole who isn’t doing a very good job of watching me and Lexi.
 

My shoulders feel like they are about to fall off by the time I finally reach the panel, and there’s still the problem of how to push the buttons. Fortunately, I don’t need to be very precise; I just need to input a wrong code. If I strain hard, I can just manage to stretch my arms enough to bring my face to the panel, and I punch buttons with my nose.

“Nothing happened,” I say, anxiously watching the screen. I don’t know what I’m waiting for—it isn’t like I expect it to say “We’re on the way!” and play Batman music. But some sort of verification would have been nice.

Lexi’s looking at me like I’ve grown a third eye. “That’s sort of the theory behind a silent alarm. Were you always such a moron?”

I think of all the mistakes I’ve made where it comes to Angel. Not telling her how I feel, scaring her away by being overbearing and insensitive. Not saying the words I need her to hear. If there is one thing I realize now, it’s that I need to tell her in no uncertain terms that I’m in this all the way, and that I’m hers and want her to fully be mine. If her and I make it out of this alive, that’s a mistake I’m going to quickly rectify. “Lately, yes.”

“They’ll come. They have to.” Lexi gulps.
 

I’m not sure she’s right, but I don’t say anything. To say it out loud would be admitting some seriously scary shit that I’m just not ready to accept. But just because I won’t speak it doesn’t mean I’m not thinking it. There’s a very good chance I’m experiencing my last moments on earth, and they seriously suck.

Forty Five

Angel

I don’t want to die today, trapped beneath Nick as he straddles me in a pile of sawdust. But that’s exactly where I’m at, and exactly what I think is about to happen. I want desperately to survive. No, scratch that, I want to live.

For so long, life with Nick was about simply surviving, getting from one moment to the next. I knew his buttons, I knew mine, and I knew how to keep my head down.

That knowledge is the only weapon I have now. I know what makes him tick, and right now, what makes him tick is me. If I let myself fall into the detached, otherworldly state of mind that I used as my shield every time he made me let him fuck me, he’ll grow bored, and he’ll kill me in a matter of minutes. Nick didn’t come here to fuck me, he came here to fuck with me, and fucking me is only a side benefit.

He wants answers, and he wants to feel in control. If there’s one thing both Nick and I have in common, it’s that we both like to win. I’m betting my life on the theory that until he feels like he’s broken me, he won’t stop. And if I can keep him going long enough, maybe help will come. It isn’t much of a chance, but it’s all I’ve got.

Nick’s hand closes around my throat, and he shakes me hard, like he’s trying to use my brain to play Yahtzee. “Why did you leave, Tess? I gave you fucking everything, and you throw it in my face like this?”

“Sorry,” I manage to choke out through his death-grip. “Your face is the only part of you big enough to aim at.”

“You fucking bitch, take that back.” Nick’s face fills with a crimson flush, as deep as if he were the one being strangled instead of me.

Hoping to get a gulp of precious air, I open my mouth and close it without saying anything, hoping he’ll realize he has to let me breathe if he wants an apology. Not that I’m planning to give him one. Not that it’s the first time I’ve had to fake something with him for my own safety, either, for that matter. Nick’s ego is so far beyond fragile, it might as well be a snowflake. Except that would be an insult to snow.

His hands pull back, and I can’t help a tiny laugh as I picture a little snowflake with Nick’s face on it. I never realized how perfect of a metaphor snow is for Nick. It’s a pain in the ass—or so I hear, I don’t really have much experience with it—and can be sort of overwhelming and causes lots of panic if you aren’t equipped to deal with it. But once you know what you’re doing, it becomes no big deal, and it’s actually fairly easy to get rid of. You just need a little heat.

My hand digs in the sawdust beneath me, finally closing around the phone. It has a little slide down keyboard, and if I can just get it to pop out without alerting Nick, I think I might be able to dial for help.

Nick has apparently given up on me taking it back. “We could have been good, and you went and ruined it. Who have you told about what I do?”

I just have to keep him talking. My blade of sarcasm is sharp and ready to cut deep. “Oh, you know, the usual. The president, the pope, the pizza guy. Or was that who fucked me better than you? I really can’t remember.”

It’s a testament to my rapidly waning sanity—and pain threshold—that I hear his palm hit my face more than I feel it. Stars swarm behind my eyes and darkness offers me a tempting reprieve, but I push it away. I have to fight, for Arion. A few bruises are better than a cold grave.

Nick’s face is turning a fascinating shade of crimson. “Was fucking your little barkeep really worth dying over?”
 

“Yes!” I snap before I can hold the words back. I should be stunned that he knows that much about Arion, but I’m not. He found me, and in the process, he probably learned more than I can even imagine. And it’s true, Arion is worth dying over. I just hope he hasn’t died for me. I suddenly can’t bear having Nick on top of me for another moment. I buck my hips like a wild horse, trying to shake him free.

He grins, riding my frantic motions, and I can feel him getting hard from it, so I force myself to hold still.

“Then I guess you won’t mind letting me fuck you one last time. I want to make sure it’s my dick you’re thinking about in the end. And make no mistake, Tess. This is the fucking end.”
 

“That’s what they always say in end-of-the-world movies, too. But somehow the apocalypse sort of fizzles. Will you fizzle, too?” I cock an eyebrow at him while inside I’m violently trembling. I’ve never fought back against Nick before, but in this I know without a doubt I will. I will not let him take this from me, not again. And while I might have been fighting back for Arion up until now, I’m not anymore. Now I’m fighting for me, because I’m worth it. I get to say who touches my body, and I say Nick doesn’t.
 

Nick leans back, redistributing his weight while he unzips his pants. I bring my two hands together, interlacing the fingers into one big fist, and crash them down right on his dick as soon as he springs it free of his pants.

Howling like a hyena, Nick clutches his junk and doubles over, falling to the side. As soon as his weight is partially off me, I twist, roll away, and bolt for the door, zeroed in on it like it is my last chance for freedom. Probably because it
is
my last chance for freedom. I have no clue how long it will take Nick to recover, and I can’t risk slowing down to glance behind me.
 

Come on, come on! The door is heavy and doesn’t want to move. I shift my weight and tug with everything I’ve got, but still it doesn’t budge. Freedom is so close, just on the other side of this fucking door, and yet I can’t grab a hold of it. Tears of frustration stream down my face as I glance back toward Nick. He’s on his feet and stalking toward me with murder in his eye.

Forty Six

Arion

When shit goes down, it goes down fast and damn near silent. One minute, Lexi and I are sitting there struggling to get her knife out of her pocket, and the next, the FBI is sneaking into the kitchen from the front of the house. And let that be a public service announcement to girls everywhere: don’t wear jeans so tight your pockets are damn near inaccessible in case of kidnapping or farm invasion.