“I would be if they had aimed for my head.”
After gripping a good piece of the tight flesh of his arm, I pinched him hard.
“What was that for?” He hadn’t even flinched at my small act of punishment.
“Do you even care that you almost died? People care about you, Khane. I think I had a damn heart attack.”
“Will you accept my apology? I didn’t mean to worry you, but they had to believe I was dead so that they would let their guards down.”
I went crashing into him, throwing my body into his and my arms around his neck. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whispered against his neck. He returned the hug with one big arm around my back before he released me.
He reached out and closed my robe while keeping his eyes on mine. I had been so concerned about checking on Khane that my open robe hadn’t even registered. Only after I had finished tying the belt on the robe, did I sense Patrena watching us. I knew I was going to have questions to answer once she and I started the therapy we were going to need from the events of the past twenty minutes alone.
I had seen dead bodies, gunshot victims, and I had even seen my father torture someone. However, I had witnessed more horror in my days with Khane than I had seen in a lifetime as an Evans.
“Let’s get out of here. There are more outside, but my team is taking care of them.
Blood was trapped under Khane’s boot, so with each step, he left bloody footprints. Weren’t killers more careful about not leaving evidence at crime scenes?
We were leaving our clothes and purses, but given that people were dead and more bad guys were waiting for us, I didn’t mention it. The quick steps we took to keep up with Khane’s long stride caused our bare feet to slap and squeak against the floor that had lost its luster due to smeared blood and globs of body parts being left behind.
With a huff, we hopped across the man Khane had beaten and stabbed to death. I’m certain I was in a state of shock because I kept attempting to convince myself that I was in the midst of a dream that I would soon wake from.
The spa, a place designed for peace and tranquility, had been turned into Khane’s house of horror. How were they going to keep something like this from the news? This was the type of crime scene that the media would kill for.
Khane sprang the back door open, bathing us in bright sunlight, but ensuring he remained between us and sudden death. His big dark blue F-250 truck was already there, running and waiting.
Even with danger at our heels, Khane managed to open the truck’s back door and assist us with climbing into the back seat.
“No matter what happens, stay down,” he warned before slamming the door in our stunned faces.
Patrena and I huddled low on the back seat. The uncertainty of danger intensified my fear and caused my heart to spasm in my chest.
We jumped when Khane snatched the driver’s side door open and climbed in. The truck took off, the tires leaving a low screech on the pavement as the shift in gravity forced Patrena and me deeper into the leather cushion of the seat.
The engine’s growl drowned our harsh breathing as a severe sense of danger pressed down on me. The urge to lift my head and peek at what may or may not have been chasing us was overwhelming, but I stayed in place. A sharp turn had us clenching and clinging to the seat, then…
Bam! Smack! Thump!
The loud smacks hit the truck in rapid succession, sounding like boulders hitting with the sole purpose of breaking through and inflicting damage to our bodies. It took me a fear-drenched moment to realize it wasn’t boulders but bullets attempting to rip their way into the truck. Patrena had a death grip on me as her wide gaze roamed as hysterically as mine.
“You’re safe in here,” Khane reassured us. His update did nothing to dull our fear, as I attempted to remain strong for my friend whose hands trembled inside my shaky ones. Her body remained scrunched into a tight ball against mine.
Our view was the back of Khane’s seat and the top of the windshield and back windows. At our angle, the dark tint gave an outside appearance of late evening and provided only a roving glimpse of the sky.
Due to her association with me, Patrena had been dragged from a spa and was now being hunted and shot at. The fear that any friend of mine could end up caught in the crosshairs of my family put serious restrictions on how outgoing I could be, and how many close friends I allowed myself to have.
Now, Patrena was a witness to a mass homicide and almost assaulted, making my fears come to fruition. Why would someone be shooting at us? Why would they want me? Who was it? Was it an enemy of a family I hadn’t even married into yet coming to kill me? Was this how the Vallins lived all the time? Was my father’s gambling addiction somehow linked to this attack?
When the loud thumps continued to pelt the truck, I came to the realization that the shooters weren’t giving up until we were dead or I was caught. Patrena’s frantic breathing filled my ear, and we gasped together with every bullet thump to the truck’s exterior. The trembling grip we had on each other’s hand had my own hands tingling from the circulation being cut off, but neither of us were willing to let go of the other.
“I don’t know who the fuck they are,” Khane growled. “Run them off the highway,” he continued talking, on his phone I presumed.
When a strong gust of air forced its way into the truck from Khane opening his window, we gasped. The loud pops that followed had us planting our heads under our arms while we attempted to push our bodies deeper into the seat.
Khane managed to keep us on the road with sharp jerks and screeching tires while the loud blast from his gun continued to release and use the interior of the truck as a base amplifier. I literally knew how it felt to be inside of a speaker with the base set on high.
I was frozen in fear and unwilling to move, let alone lift my head to be nosey. I had been in similar situations, but Patrena didn’t deserve this.