Chapter 11
ELEVEN
MARNIE
“I’m so sorry, Holly,” I whisper as I hold my friend’s head in my lap.
She hit it when we were rammed into from the side and the slam knocked her out.
I was so stunned myself that I didn’t realize who had done it until I saw Porter’s face leering at me as he dragged me from the passenger seat of the truck then practically threw me into the back of a van.
Knowing who has us already has me in fear for our lives.
Holly is innocent in all of this, yet because of Porter and Paxton’s vendetta against me, she’s hurt.
Reaching down, I place my hand on her burgeoning stomach.
Thankfully, the baby is moving around, and I breathe out a silent prayer of thanks that her body shielded her baby boy from harm.
Hopefully, Prophet and the two prospects that were escorting us will be okay.
When I heard Holly hiss in surprise, I looked in the side mirror and watched in horror as all three bikers went tumbling into the ditch.
“This is all my fault,” I mumble. “I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to any of y’all.”
Tears steadily streak down my face until anger suddenly roars to the forefront of my emotions. “What the hell are you two doing? You know you won’t get away with this. They’re going to make you regret ever being born.”
“They gotta find us first, bitch, and since those three bikers aren’t gonna be talking, it sucks to be you two,” Porter sneers as he glances over his shoulder. “Bonus points that we got a pregnant bitch, right Paxton?”
“Fuck yeah, means she’s already broken in,” Paxton chortles, rubbing his hands together.
Whether it’s the whiplash I sustained or their words, I have to swallow back the bile that rushes into my throat.
There’s no way I’ll give them the satisfaction of seeing my fear.
I know Ash will find us because the necklace I’m wearing has a tracker on it.
Plus, these two knuckleheads didn’t toss our phones and I’m confident that Data can use those as well to find us.
My only concern is Holly. I feel something squeeze my leg and look down to see Holly peering at me from underneath her lashes.
When I go to say something, she shakes her head so minutely that if I hadn’t been watching her, I would’ve missed it.
Apparently, she doesn’t want them knowing she’s awake.
I watch with great interest as she slowly moves her hand to her charm bracelet that Rebel recently gave her.
She fumbles slightly and I bite back a gasp, until she settles herself and pushes the heart charm.
There’s a slight flash, but nothing else happens.
However, she must be confident in it because she settles once again, her hand now joining my other one on her stomach, where she lightly squeezes my fingers again as if to say, ‘it’s going to be okay’.
“You’re sicker than your brother was,” I tell Paxton. “Your parents must be so proud to have raised three sociopaths, huh?”
Keep them focused on you, Marnie, my mind whispers. Protect Holly no matter what.
I’m not keen on getting hurt again; hell, I’m still recovering my strength from their last assault.
But there’s no way in hell I’ll let them hurt my pregnant friend.
Nope. Even if it means sacrificing my own life.
While a part of me mourns at the thought I may not get my happily-ever-after with Ash, it’s a small price to pay to ensure that Mina and Ruby have their momma in their lives, and that this baby boy, who is already well-loved, survives.
“This is a fine kettle of fish,” Holly whispers.
I don’t know how long we drove for, but we’re now in an abandoned barn somewhere off the beaten path.
We’ve been tied together, our backs to one another.
Right now, we’re alone for some reason, but it’s not like we can go anywhere fast. Holly’s likely got a concussion from where she hit her head, and I probably do as well if the constant nausea is any indicator.
“They didn’t take our phones, Holly, can’t Data find us that way?” I ask, keeping my voice down as well.
“He should, yes, if they’re even aware we’re missing yet,” she replies. “You said you saw Prophet and the two prospects going into the ditch. If they were hurt badly enough, they might not have been able to call for help and sound the alarm.”
“But if we don’t come back in a timely manner, I would think they’d look for us,” I persist.
“They will once they know we’re not where we said we’d be,” she replies. “I just wish I knew whether or not those two assholes were coming back any time soon.”
“Why?”
“Because I almost have these knots undone. If we get loose, there’s bound to be something in this place we can use for a weapon,” she says. “I’m not going down without a fight, Marnie!”
“Neither am I,” I retort as the ropes fall free. “You stay put and let me look. You don’t know these bastards like I do. Plus, I’m not gonna let you hurt Junior, anyhow.”
She snickers and says, “I’m not sure the world is ready for a Rebel Junior.”
I shake my head because I know they’ve been tossing a lot of names around.
Rebel wants her grandfather to be honored somehow, she wants him to have his daddy’s name.
I suspect that whatever they come up with will be perfect for the baby.
I don’t understand the trend these days where people name their babies before they have them.
I would personally have several of each sex picked out so when I looked at my baby, I could name them then.
But… that’s just me. To each his own and all that jazz.
Spying some tools in a corner, I swipe at the dusty cobwebs, shivering at the thought there could be an actual spider in them, until I see a pitchfork and a hoe.
Both are rusty but still appear to be sharp enough to do some damage.
Picking them both up, I walk back over and help Holly stand up.
She wobbles a bit and I ask, “Are you alright? Do you need to sit back down?”
Not that I’m any steadier, since I’ve been moving around without my walker, but again, I’m not pregnant, so my concern is for her, not myself.
“Nope. Let’s do this,” she replies.
“Okay, I’ll stand over here,” I tell her, pointing to just inside the door, “and you stand behind the door. They’ll come in one at a time so while I stab whoever comes through first, you can whack them wherever you can reach.”
I hear the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel and motion her to get into position.
The two of them are making so much noise that I’ve already jabbed the pitchfork into Paxton’s gut by the time either of them realizes that we’re no longer tied up.
As he wrestles with me to get it out of him, I hear Porter scream and glance over to see that the hoe is buried in the side of his neck and blood is spurting everywhere so she must’ve nicked an artery when she buried it into his flesh.
Whoopsie, that’s gonna leave a mark for sure! Not that I give a fuck, seeing as my stomach looks like a damn roadmap thanks to the two of them.
“Did you think we were just going to take whatever you were going to do to us lying down?” I yell as I pull the pitchfork free and jab Paxton again.
He’s not paying attention to what I’m doing as he’s trying to stop the blood that’s freely spurting from his brother’s neck.
“Uh oh, looks like it’s just you now, asshole. Holly, step back, please.”
“You fucking bitch!” Paxton screeches as he rips his shirt off and tries to stem the blood. Porter’s trying to talk but all that comes out of his mouth are frothy blood bubbles. “You killed another one of my brothers!”
“Nuh-uh, I didn’t hurt Pace, he hurt me,” I retort. “Then the two of you hurt me again. As far as I’m concerned, y’all are getting your just desserts.”
With both of them now on the floor of the barn, I grab the rope and make quick work of tying them up.
I know Porter’s dying, and if Paxton doesn’t get medical care shortly, he’s likely got a short lifespan as well.
Doesn’t bother me one bit even though I would normally state that I’m a pacifist. Taking another person’s life isn’t something I ever thought I would do, but knowing that they wouldn’t have blinked once before they did the same to us? I have zero issues with what we did.
“Holly? Are you okay?” I ask as she doubles over.
“I think my water just broke,” she grunts out, her hands clutching her stomach.
I glance at her and realize that she’s soaked from the waist down, as if she had peed herself. Only… it’s too soon, I think. Hell if I know; she’s just steadily gotten bigger and bigger. With my heart racing, I pull out my phone from my back pocket, only to see that I have no signal.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go see what they have in their van that we can use to help you,” I say.
I walk over to her and put my arm around her so I can lead her out of the barn and away from the death rattle that Porter’s now making.
Paxton’s now bleeding freely as well, and there’s a small part of me that feels for their parents.
A very small part of me, that is, because all three of the brothers were dangerous to womankind.
It takes us quite some time to get to the van since Holly has to keep stopping as contractions wrack her body. I’m now sweating because I have no clue what to do in this situation. Plus, my body’s trying to remind me that it wasn’t all that long ago that I was still laid up healing.
Opening the side door of the van, I get her set down on the side and slightly stumble.
I’m pretty sure right now that the only thing holding me up is pure adrenaline, but it doesn’t need to stop pumping now.
“We need to time your contractions,” I tell her as I start searching the van for a first aid kit.
Hell, at this point, I’d take a bag of clean shop towels, since I suspect if help doesn’t arrive soon, I’ll be delivering this baby.
“They’re close, I almost feel like I need to push,” Holly grits out.
“No, no, no. No pushing yet! Okay, new plan, I’m getting you out of here and to the hospital,” I decree.
Hobbling around to the side of the van, I bend down, wincing at the movement, and swing her legs into the van.
Once I’m sure she’s in, I close the side door then make my way around to the driver’s side and gingerly get in.
My body is thrumming with pain, but my best friend needs me, so I push it down and thank God that the keys are hanging from the ignition.
“Hurry, Marnie,” Holly says in between some weird breathing.
As I go up the long road, I come to the end of the driveway to a T in the road and wonder which way is best, finally deciding to turn right since it looks like there’s asphalt ahead, not gravel road. A loud roaring reaches my ears and I see several motorcycles bearing down on us.
“Thank God, the cavalry’s here!” I exclaim as one of the bikes stops by my window. I quickly roll it down and say, “They’re in the barn but Holly’s in labor and I need to get her to the hospital!”
“Not without me,” Rebel decrees as he parks his bike and gets in the back of the van with Holly. “Psycho, go see what’s going on in the barn. Cops are already on their way out here. Ash, you drive, Marnie you scoot over, darlin’.”
Relief courses through me as Ash gets in and takes over the driving. I won’t lie; I would’ve done it, but I’m grateful as hell that I don’t have to because I’m not sure how much more I can put my body through.