Chapter 14
14
Leah
I can’t decide. Go to the other car and get the phone, or search for Brody’s?
The other phone. At least I have a clue where it could be. And if the guy in the car isn’t answering it, that means he isn’t awake, right?
It seems a pretty fair assumption. I hope I’m making the right choice. I move as quietly as possible. I can’t go too slowly, though. If the phone stops ringing, I’ll have to hunt for it. I don’t want to do that. Too risky.
The car is right side up, a single headlight pointed directly at the cliff face, one light flickering. The other headlight is out, broken. The top of the car is smashed down.
I reach the rear bumper and take a deep breath, inhaling damp air with the scent of sagebrush.
Be strong . I have to do this. Brody’s counting on me. I don’t know what’s wrong with him or how else to help him. The sooner I can call for rescue, the better.
The phone stops ringing. I hold my breath. Please, whoever it is—please call again.
I try to see through the rear window, but all I can make out are dark, amorphous shadows. Is the driver still in the car?
The phone rings again. Now’s my chance. I move to the passenger side and look in the back seat. Nothing there. Shit. I don’t want to go near the driver.
I don’t have a choice, though. I move to the front seat. A man in a baseball cap is slumped over the wheel, unmoving. He faces me, his dead eyes open but unseeing. Blood trickles from his nose. My stomach heaves. I look away, then force myself to look again. I don’t recognize him. His hat is askew, his bearded chin illuminated by a soft light shining from the floorboards—the ringing phone.
The door opens easily—it wasn’t even latched. I dart my hand in, grab the phone, and scurry away from the car.
The caller ID reads Dad . The driver—that’s someone’s son. Even if he’s a bad person, he has a parent who is looking for them.
I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t help myself. This guy’s dad needs to know where he is, what happened. I answer the call. “Hello?”
“Vanessa?”
“No.” That guy in the car—I’m pretty sure he isn’t Vanessa. “I found this phone. I’m in trouble, and Vanessa probably is, too.”
A familiar voice comes through the speaker. “ Leah! ”
“Gage?”
“Dmitri’s here, too. We’re on a conference call with Harvey Billings.”
“So this phone…is his daughter’s?” I peer into the car again. The shape slumped over the wheel is in shadow, but it definitely appears to be a man.
“Yes,” the other man—Harvey Billings—says. “Where is Vanessa? Is she all right?”
“I don’t—I don’t see her anywhere.”
Something slams into me from behind.
* * *
Gage
Leah cries out in surprise, maybe pain. I exchange an alarmed look with Dmitri. He’s sitting in the back of the car, but leaning forward like he can make my bodyguard, Heath, drive faster.
“Leah,” I say. “Leah, are you there?”
Heath’s already pushing way past the speed limit. I don’t understand his urgency, but I’m not complaining.
“Vanessa!” Billings shouts over me. “Listen to me. I’ll come get you. Just tell me where you are.”
“Don’t say a word ,” Dmitri cautions me in a low voice.
We don’t want Billings to know where she is, but we just heard from Ironwood. Leah and her bodyguard were near the Rossi Nature Preserve. That’s where we’re headed, and Ironwood has already been in touch with emergency services.
Through the phone, Vanessa’s voice is full of rage and anguish. “…took everything from my dad. Ruined my life. All I ever wanted was to be a part of it all?—”
Someone shouts in pain. Leah? Vanessa?
“It wasn’t me.” Leah’s voice is faint, like she’s getting farther away from the phone. “I wasn’t a part of any of it.”
“If I can’t get to him, I may as well hurt him through you.”
Another cry of pain. I glance at Heath. “Drive. Faster.”
He doesn’t dignify the request with a response; he doesn’t need to. I know he’s already going as fast as possible, but nothing is worse than being a passenger when the person you love most in the world needs you immediately.
“They took everything public.” Vanessa is ranting again. “They tried to ruin him.”
“I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about.” Leah sounds as if she’s trying to reason with Vanessa. “But if you come a step closer, I will have to protect myself and my bodyguard. Stay the fuck back.”
That’s our girl.
* * *
Leah
Standing between Vanessa and Gage’s car, I hold up a tree branch. It’s flimsy, but Vanessa can’t know that. She eyes it warily while circling around, looking for another opening. She’s holding a knife.
My arm throbs in stinging agony. Blood seeps from a wound where she cut me. I tuck it into my side, trying to protect it and hoping I don’t bleed too much.
Gage and Dmitri are on their way. I know they are.
“We can stop this, right now.” I keep the branch up, trying not to let it wobble.
Vanessa glowers at me, eyes narrowed beneath her thick, blond bangs. “Why should I stop? I’m taking out every one of the Shinies. Gage Hawthorne is next. May as well take care of his girlfriend, too.”
“What will it accomplish?” I gesture at the wrecked cars. “It’s hurting everyone. Your friend is dead.”
“Cory?” She scoffs. “He’s not my friend. He’s an obsessed fan who wanted to help.”
Damn it. I wanted to shock her into some kind of emotion other than anger.
“It’s hurting you, too.” I point to her face. “You’re bleeding.”
She keeps her knife pointed toward me. With her free hand, she touches the blood at her temple and examines the red on her fingers. “I don’t care. They ruined everything. Just when I’d convinced my dad to give me a part, they filmed that stupid orgy scene and everything got shut down.”
Orgy scene? That wasn’t in any of the AoG episodes I watched. But I stopped at Season Three.
Vanessa clenches her jaw. “They had to kill off the characters. Fans were pissed. The show ended and my dad got raked through the coals.”
Behind her words comes the sound of car engines. People are here. My people? I can’t know yet.
Bright lights shine down from the road above. “Leah?”
I don’t take my eyes off Vanessa. “I’m down here.”
Vanessa glances up, startled. “Who’s up there?”
She doesn’t see the hulking shadow approaching from the other side of us. She doesn’t hear Brody’s running footsteps. She doesn’t expect his tackle, coming out of nowhere, or the way he snaps her wrist and forces her to drop the knife.
She screams.
Brody collapses on top of Vanessa, his face twisted in pain. “Fucking hell. I got her, but this fucking hurts.”
* * *
Dmitri
I’m the first one down the hill. I find Leah, looking like she’s about to go into shock. I immediately tuck her against my side.
Vanessa Billings is squished under an Ironwood bodyguard. Other than the first scream, she’s silent. She’s not even fighting the guard’s hold. She looks distraught. She should be distraught—she killed two people and attacked a bunch of others.
Red, blue, and white lights reflect off the clouds above as Gage and Heath hurry down the mountain.
“Where are you hurt?” I ask Leah.
“Head. Arm. Everything.” She gives a little laugh. “She cut my arm. I don’t think it’s deep.”
“We’ll have someone take a look.” Gage appears at Leah’s other side. He looks like he wants to squish her in a massive hug. Instead, he carefully pries a large stick from her hand and tosses it aside. “You’re safe now, sweetheart.”
She nods, her eyes wide and staring.
“We can talk to the EMTs here,” Gage says, “or I can have a doctor waiting at home.”
“Home.” Showing the most emotion she’s shown since I arrived, she blinks as tears roll down her cheeks. “I want to go home. With both of you.”
“We didn’t have a chance to tell you yet, baby.” I kiss her cheek, tasting her tears. “Home is with all three of us now. Wherever we live, we’ll be together for as long as you want that.”
“I want it.” She takes both of our hands and kisses them. “I want forever, I really do.”
“You have it. Forever is yours.” Gage turns her hand around to kiss it.
We start forward, but Leah trudges to a stop at the steep hillside.
“Can I pick you up?” I ask.
Wordlessly, she holds up her arms. I lift her and she wraps her legs around me. There’s a nasty, red bruise on her neck—an abrasion from her seatbelt.
I gently kiss it before starting up the hill. “I’m sorry, baby. This is probably going to hurt.”
EMTs carrying a stretcher pass me on the way down. “We can take her?—”
“No, I got her.” I couldn’t let go of Leah if I tried—she has her arms and legs wrapped around me so tight, I don’t know how I’ll get her in the car. Her blood seeps into my shirt.
“Can I take one of those gauze wraps?” Gage asks an EMT in a quiet voice.
When we reach the level road, I pause. Gage wraps Leah’s arm to staunch the bleeding.
“Sorry, Leah. I have to do this.” He wipes a tear from her cheek with his thumb.
“How are we getting home?” I ask. “We don’t have a car.”
Gage points to the car we rode in. “Heath and I already talked. He’ll ride in the ambulance with Brody, and we’ll take the Ironwood car.”
Two police officers approach us. Gage intercepts them before they can reach Leah. He speaks quietly, likely making promises for statements later. He hands one a business card and returns to Leah and me.
“Will Brody be okay?” Leah asks. “I don’t want to leave until we see.”
I exchange a look with Gage. Like me, I think he’d rather take her home to see the doctor immediately. But she’s just been through extreme trauma. She’ll probably get everything she asks for, at least for a while. I plan on spoiling her. Pretty fucking sure Gage will, too.
Luckily, we don’t need to argue with her about leaving right away. The EMTs and Heath are bringing Brody up now.
Leah untangles herself from my arms. I’m not a fan. It takes everything in me not to gather her back up again. When I hold her, I know she’s safe.
“Thank you, Brody.” Leah shakes her bodyguard’s hand as tears fill her eyes again. “You kept me safe.”
Brody, his face bruised and cut, with a black eye forming, says, “You kept me safe, too. Thanks.”
As we start to walk away, Heath shakes his head at his friend. “You insufferable asshole. Violet’s going to pamper you for weeks, isn’t she?”
Brody’s bruises stretch as he grins. “That’ll make this worth it.”