She wasn't trained for this situation any more than I was, and she would likely get me and her both killed trying to save me. Which would only work in my stalker's favor. He had timed his attack perfectly with the ever-vigilant Bruiser not being vigilant for once, completely out of character while dancing rhythmless yet enjoying himself. I'd have enjoyed seeing more of that if it wasn't for the shitstorm I was in.
Accepting no help was forthcoming without dire consequences, I gave my best friend Jayne and my lover Bruiser, who was determined and accomplishing becoming so much more than that to me, one last look. My stalker tugged on my shoulder with one hand, motioning for me to back up. I made the selfless decision to do as he wanted to keep my people safe. He quickly guided me away from the celebration.
With each step we took toward a black, tinted Bentley, I started to feel more and more like I was being led to my death, and there was nothing to be done about it. All I could control was going out with my dignity intact. Just as soon as I succumbed to that idea, I could hear my mother’s voice in my ear saying, “You always gotta fight, baby. Fight for whatever it is you want in this world.”
Well, I wanted to live. I wanted to sing, travel the world, and one day have babies. More than anything, I wanted to be free to live and die on my own terms, not this obsessed freak’s terms. However, it wasn’t time to fight yet.
After he escorted me to where I measured was far enough from the crowd, I felt I could make a move to save my own life without endangering anyone else. Spinning around to face him, I pushed him with everything in me and yelled, "I'm not going with you!"
He stumbled back. Not sticking around to see if he regained his balance, I whirled on my heels to run back to the party. The gun went off behind me. The noise from the celebration drowned out the shot he must've discharged in the air as a warning because I wasn't hit.
“Stop!" he bellowed before tackling me, knocking us both to the ground.
“You’ve done it now, my evermore,” he said as he jumped up and snatched me to my feet. “Now, you’re going to get what I should have done to you a long time ago, my Raven.”
“Who the hell is Raven?”
As he pulled me, I went limp so that I would be dead weight and harder to move, but he dragged me on the ground, my beautiful mermaid bridesmaid dress turning into crumpled up dirty rags with each tug. Nervous sounds of people chattering along with shocked gasps could be heard as he yanked me up again, wrestling me into the backseat of his car and slamming the door shut.
As he ran around the trunk to the driver's side, I tried opening the door. It didn't budge. Scrambling across the backseat, I tested the other door, which didn't move either. The fucking child locks were engaged. Realizing there was no getting out of here, I panicked while trying to think of another way out of the truck. It hadn't presented itself by the time my kidnapper climbed into the driver's seat.
He couldn't be allowed to drive away. That would bring the end of me for sure. Somehow, I had to let Bruiser know that I was in trouble. Twisting in the seat to look out the back glass brought a glorious sight. Bruiser, Jeb, Channing, and a few other men were sprinting toward the car, but they would never make it across the grassy field before we pulled away.
Buying them time to get to me, I dove over the bridge between the front and back seats, wrapping my arms around his neck to cut off his air. Hell, I'd be happy if we wrecked. He would have to stop then.
His body rotated in my grip enough for him to reach out, shoving me away with one hand. As I crashed against the backseat, a partition rose up out of the bridge in the center of the car, blocking the front from the back. I lunged for the rising, thick glass with both hands, desperate to keep it from raising all the way up and cutting my only escape. My strength wasn't enough. The most I could do was retract my fingers before they were smashed between the partition and roof.
"Fuck!" I screamed, slamming a palm into the glass out of pure frustration.
I was in a cage. This would not do. Come on, Alise, think. What can I do to get out of here? Examining the exterior on my side of the glass, there was nothing but cold tan leather seats. What kind of car is this? Besides the kind designed for the sole purpose of taking people against their will, that was.
Gunshots fired behind us as my captor peeled away from the reception area. I looked back at the stunned crowd as my heart raced a million beats at once. Bruiser was crouched down, firing off shots. Attempting to flatten the tires, he was trying to protect like he had done since I met him at Club Elite a few years ago.
I had a feeling that he wouldn't succeed this time. No, I wouldn't make it out this time around, and everything that mattered the most became crystal clear. I loved Bruiser wholeheartedly, would never get to tell him so, but my kidnapper couldn't stop me from sending Bruiser my love.
"I love you, Bruiser!" I shouted out the back windshield.
"Don't fucking say that, Raven!" Van howled through the partition, pounding the steering wheel with a fist like the lunatic he was.
Ignoring him, I quietly said my goodbyes to each and every person that watched on in agony. All of us were fading in the distance to the other. This was it.
?
Bruiser
I did something I rarely do. I got lost in the moment. I let my guard down and decided to have a little fun for Jeb’s wedding dance, and some asshole walked right up on Alise and took her from me like I wasn’t that guy that would rip his heart out of his chest and taste the blood from it.
I ran after the car full speed, aiming at the tires and unloading bullets as the vehicle skidded away in haste. The driver was skilled as if he’d expected someone to shoot at his tires, so he zigzagged down the street. Before he was entirely out of sight, I made it to my car, jumped in, and sped off behind the Black Bentley.
“Alise, baby. I’m coming for you. Dammit!” I yelled as I laid into the gas. I couldn’t believe I got caught slipping like this. I had Limel out there with me, but Dimir was away in Montgomery handling the security for a major statewide festival. As I flew down the street, the police came our way and passed right by the car that held Alise captive. “Goofy motherfuckers.” I sighed as I watched Barney Fife and his lackey head to the wedding location as if they were doing a regular well-check, and not in pursuit of a kidnapper.
Now, it was just me and the scumbag, who I would soon annihilate. We were traveling over one hundred and fifty miles an hour away from the Oak Bowery house, and not one cop thought to come after us. I caught up and was within a quarter-mile behind them. There was nothing but open road ahead of us, so I put the hundred eighty on my Charger’s dashboard to the test. The Bentley Continental that held Alise sped up. That car had more speed on the dash than mine, but the turbo kit on my Charger allowed me to be right on his ass. He was going to have problems when I caught him. Big ones. A whole lot of big problems.
“Yeah, motherfucker. I got you now,” I said as I ran bumper to bumper with him.
That’s when the Bentley’s trunk flew open, and hundreds of black pieces of metal poured out into the road.
What the…