I turned my attention back to the Rosie-Luke situation.
“But seriously. I’ve watched you do goo goo eyes at Luke for a freaking year now. What’s the deal?” I eyed a car in my rearview mirror that was following way too close. Impatient asshole.
“I do not do goo goo eyes,” she argued.
“You’re right,” I agreed, “You eye fuck the shit out of him.”
“He’s hot. I’m a red-blooded woman.”
I took my eyes off the black Mercedes. “So am I, sweetheart, and while I can appreciate that the man can wear the shit out of a police uniform, I do not undress him with my eyes.” I paused. “Well, at least not every time I see him.”
She sank back in the seat. “What does it matter? He doesn’t see me like that. Plus he hates the club. The club is my family.”
“That didn’t stop Romeo and Juliet,” I told her, putting my blinker on so the Mercedes could pass. Didn’t they know I was trying to have serious girl talk?
Rosie glared at me. “Romeo and Juliet died in the end!”
I furrowed my brows. “You’re right. Bad example. That doesn’t matter. He’s a guy. You’re hot. He definitely sees you like that.”
Before Rosie could answer, my attention turned to the black Mercedes which was in the process of passing me.
“Finally,” I muttered. “Flip this guy the bird—he’s been riding my tailgate since we left town,” I instructed Rosie.
“Gladly,” Rosie complied, holding up her hand.
I smirked…that was, until the Mercedes didn’t overtake us but instead rammed into us.
“Holy shit!” I screamed, trying to get control of my car. Just as I did another jolt sent us spinning out of control and toward a ditch on the side of the road. We rammed into something with a crash.
I struggled against the airbag, which was threatening to suffocate me, along with a whopping headache.
“Rosie? You okay?” I called, my voice muffled.
I heard a groan. “Yeah, I’m fine. I bit my tongue something wicked though,” she said, her voice sounding weird.
“Is there a deflate button on these things somewhere?” I asked, struggling.
Thankfully my door opened and my airbag deflated with a start. I gasped in a breath, turning to the good citizen who had saved me from suffocation via airbag.
“Thanks a million…” I started but froze when I came face to face with Rafe.
“You may not be thanking me later, Red,” he said with a sick smile.
Before I could do anything, namely kick him in the balls, he held a taser to my neck and everything went black.
I woke up slowly, not liking the fact I was familiar with the aftereffects of tasering. I was surprised to see my arms were not bound; I wasn’t restrained at all, in fact. I creaked opened my eyes to see I was lying on a bed. A glance at my surroundings had me deduce I was in a sleazy motel.
Rafe sat on a chair on the other side of the room, watching me. The empty look in his eyes had me seriously freaked. No, actually the fact he had ran me off the road, tasered me, then kidnapped me already had me freaked. The vacant look in his eyes tipped me over to terrified
“You’re awake,” he declared.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered.
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Red,” he said calmly. It was then I noticed the knife in his hand, which rested on his thigh.
He narrowed bloodshot eyes at me. “You tricked me. I thought we had something special but you lied.” He stood and I scrambled to the wall, standing. He didn’t take much notice of that; he just started pacing.
“When you left, I couldn’t fill the void, I tried. No matter how many girls I had. None of them were you.” He screwed his nose up. “All pitiful creatures. Weak.”
I swallowed, sickened at the thought of what he did to those poor women. He stopped pacing and his eyes darted to me. “Then I found out my father was willing to give up my life in order to get your biker scum boyfriend out of his backyard.” Fury glittered in his eyes.
I darted my eyes around the room, looking for a weapon, or at least an escape. I focused on the bathroom door which was behind me. I prayed it had a strong lock and a window.
“So I had to leave. And you have to come with me. You’ll forget about the biker trash and I’ll forgive you for running off with them.” His face twisted into an expression of sick arousal. “Of course I’ll have to punish you. But we’ll have a life together.”
He looked like he was about to step forward so I darted into the bathroom. I caught the surprise and fury on his face as I slammed it shut and locked the flimsy lock. I whirled to see a small window, praying it was big enough for me to climb through. I scrambled up urgently, hearing Rafe’s body smash against the door. I fumbled it open, pulling my body up. I was about to hoist my body through when I heard a crash and hands tightened around my legs. I screamed and struggled, hoping the walls of this place were paper-thin and that some citizen would call the cops.
I felt triumphant when my bare foot connected with Rafe’s face and I heard a crunch.
“Bitch!” he screamed, yanking me roughly down from my perch. I continued struggling against him until a blinding pain exploded in my cheekbone, the force of his backhand sending me hurtling to the floor.
His rabid face glared down at me. “Why did you have to do that?” he whined. “Now I had to mark your face. I hate to do that.” He shook his head.
He knelt down, holding his lone blade against my throat. “You try that again and I’ll be forced to slit your throat, no matter how much we’re meant to be together,” he whispered softly.
“How long do you think you’re going to be able to run for, Rafe? They’ll find you. It would be better to let me go now—maybe you’d have more of a chance,” I told him, knowing reasoning with a crazy person wasn’t likely to be effective.