Coast lifted her a little higher and suckled her breast as she rode him. She felt her body tighten and knew she was going to come. But Coast had a different p
lan as he rolled her to her back, spread her thighs over his shoulders, and thrust into her hard and fast. She screamed out his name as she came, and he followed.
“I love you, Cass. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said panting and then held him against her chest as they both calmed their breathing.
* * * *
It was seven a.m. when Gunner got off the phone with his friend in Houston P.D. He couldn’t believe what had happened. The guy after Cassidy was wanted for crashing into Cassidy’s old roommate’s car, striking her, and demanding to know where Cassidy was. The detectives determined that Lynn didn’t give an exact location but that she’d said two hours north of Houston. He’d skipped bail and had never shown up for his court date in assault charges at a bar fight he’d cause the week before. The man was a mental case. As the detectives interviewed Blaze’s friends, they found out that he’d left town two days ago to hunt Cassidy down. He was packed with supplies and weapons, which meant he must already be in Tranquility if the fucker had figured shit out.
Gunner quickly dialed Cash’s number.
The second he answered the phone, Gunner rambled off what he knew.
“Is she there with you?”
“No. She went for a run twenty minutes ago.”
“Get the others, get your guns, and look for her. I have men on the way, and I’m headed to your ranch now. Does her route cross the main roadway back to your place from town?”
“Yes. She zigzags between the ranches and the roadway. She’ll come out by the Emmersons’ place.”
“I’ll meet you. Find her, Gunner. This guy has finally lost his mind. He’s going to kill her.”
* * * *
“Everybody up. We’ve got a situation,” Cash told his brothers and began filling them in as they all woke up and got dressed.
“I’m going too,” Stryker told them.
“No, Stryker, stay here in case that asshole hasn’t found her yet and she comes back around this way. Gunner is assuming that Blaze knows Cassidy is here. He may have been watching her the last two days. He hurt her roommate. His own friends aren’t covering for him anymore because they know he’s lost it.”
“Okay, I’ll get a gun and call Red. He can look out from his place too,” Stryker told them.
It was a mad rush to find Cassidy before Blaze did. By the time they headed out to their trucks and Memphis went out on horseback with Coast, their phones were ringing, and the CB radios in the truck were going off.
Orlando reached for the CB radio, hearing police dispatch indicating a sighting on Cassidy. A black pickup truck appeared to be chasing her, and she’d headed toward the woods.
“Get that information to Coast and Memphis,” Cash said as he gunned the gas pedal and headed south a little distance before the last sighting. They would have to take a guess as to where to park the truck and go in on foot.
“Tell Coast and Memphis to head that way through the woods. Hopefully they meet up with her before that guy does.” Cash told Orlando.
* * * *
Cassidy was running along the path and heading toward the Emmersons’ place when she had this funny feeling in her gut. It grew stronger the farther she went away from the men. She tried to laugh it off as being clingy. She did love them. They had been spending every waking hour together for the most part, and maybe she was feeling a little freaked out?
But then she looked around her as she ran. This place, Tranquility, was heaven. It was so beautiful and open. There weren’t a lot of houses or construction on the outskirts of town, and it almost seemed untouched, unscathed by evil and violence. It was sort of ironic that it ended up becoming home to soldiers. Men and women who experienced violence and evil of the greatest kind.
She looked farther ahead as she was running along the road by the Emmersons’ place when she heard the rev of a diesel engine in the distance. She turned to look and recognized the truck immediately. She had to do a double take. It was Blaze’s. She stopped short, in shock for a moment, and as he got closer and seemed as if he was going to run her over, she ran toward the grass and behind the house. She could hear the engine rev up as if it was hitting bumps and getting some air.
Oh my God, he found me. He’s going to kill me. What do I do?”
As she ran toward the woods, thinking the trees would stop the truck, she wondered where to head. If she headed toward the ranch, and the guys were still sleeping, then Blaze could kill them before Cassidy warned them. But if she headed deeper into the woods and farther from help, Blaze could catch her and kill her anyway.
She decided that she needed to trust in her men. They’d said they would protect her, and she believed them. She decided to head back that way.
Cassidy was trekking up the steep incline of the woods, moving as fast as her legs would allow. They were burning, and she felt her muscles protest as she pushed onward.