Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
MACK
“ F uck,” Reed drawls.
“What?” I snap.
“Need gas.” He swings the truck into the gas station on the outskirts of Lewistown.
I run my hands through my hair before dragging them down my face. “Make it quick, gunny.”
He nods sharply and flies out the door to the pump.
Across the parking lot, a figure is striding toward us. Morley. I flick my gaze to anywhere but him. Reed pumps gas into the tank, telling the thing to pump faster. As if that will do anything.
“Rawlins!” Morley waves a hand. He’s dressed up in jeans, a denim jacket, and a white hat that makes him look like cowboy Ken.
Fuck off, Morley.
“Not now, buddy.” Reed tries to wave him off. He walks over to the passenger door.
“Sure, but I thought you might want to know I saw your girl before. Was getting gas but forgot the paper and had to come back. She was with two guys. Wasn’t happy about it either. Sending fists into the skinny one. He shoved her into the back seat before locking her in.”
Reed stares at him. The pump gurgles and clicks in his hand. “Fuck.”
I’m out of the truck faster than humanly possible. “Speak, Morley.”
A stupid smirk crosses his face, as if he’s happy he has something we want.
“Swear to god, Morley, I will rearrange your fuckin’ teeth.” My words are barely more than a growl.
He holds his hands up in surrender. “Simply reporting what I saw. She was upset. They put her in the back seat. She was covered in something blue. They had it on them, too. They bought smokes and screeched their way out of here, heading south.” He nods to the highway running south.
“Is that all?”
“You could say ‘thank you.’ It’s not like she’s anything to me.”
Goddamn asshat.
The outside temperature is cold and dropping as the clouds overhead shift. I pray to god we find them before they make it too far.
“Not today, Morley.”
Reed jogs for the truck, clearing the station’s automatic door. He fires the truck up and we head south. Morley watches us from his truck. About time the waste of space did something worthwhile.
I snap my gaze to the asphalt. Reed guns it, the roar of the V8 rattling my bones.
“We’ll find her, Mack.”
His words are soft, though. He’s worried.
I’m devastated.
The minutes drip by like molasses in winter. Fuckin’ torturously slow. Reed pushes the truck as fast as he can. The old, busted Volvo isn’t going to push more than seventy miles per hour. Hell, by my math, we should catch up with them sooner rather than later. Still, it’s as if time stands still.
Fuck you, time.
The F250 shifts gears automatically as we ascend a hill.
“Come on, baby,” Reed mutters. His hand taps the wheel. He’s as strung out over this as I am. There has never been a day when Reed hasn’t made my life better. Peas in a pod and all that. I stare at the man behind the wheel. Such a big fuckin’ heart. Behind the charisma and tongue-in-cheek, he’s all soul.
I train my focus on the highway, grabbing the handle above my head as we nosedive over the first rise. A long descent stretches out before us, and I brace my other hand on the seat. My muscles are painfully tight. I grind my molars, letting only the slightest of relaxation pull at me. We dip out at the base and roar along the flat stretch of road heading toward the township of Moore.
Something catches my attention on the horizon. A flash of blue.
“Reed!” I point to the oscillating lights.
He cranes his neck, squinting as if it will help him see better across the vast distance between us and the tiny, flashing speck of blue. Without a word, he sends the truck faster.
Please let it be Grace.
Please let her be okay.
Maybe someone called it in after seeing them at the gas station? Why Morley didn’t, I’ll never know. Then again, I never thought to ask if he did. The state trooper vehicle comes into focus, and I shift on the seat, leaning forward to get a better look. I flick Harry a text, hoping like hell this is the white Volvo. Praying even harder she is in one piece. If that motherfucker so much as laid a hand on her...
Morley never mentioned them doing so. But I imagine if she was putting up a fight, Joel would have manhandled her. Two troopers get out of the car, hands stretched out in front of them. They have their weapons out.
Jesus Christ.
The Volvo is pulled over on an angle. Like they stopped in a hurry.
Dammit.
If he has so much as?—
“I don’t see her.” Reed flies along the highway closing in on the scene. I fling Harry a drop-pin to our location and toss my phone to the dash. Both men step out of the car, hands over their heads.
Still no Grace.
They turn and lean on the car as one officer holds his weapon to them and the other cuffs them both.
The officer closest moves to the trunk.
We are merely yards away.
The trunk pops, and the trooper bends down.
I hold my breath, heart thundering lightning through my veins. A visceral rage sends my body shaking when Grace climbs out of the trunk.
Hands bound.
Mouth covered in duct tape.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” Reed breathes, pulling the truck to a screeching halt. I’m out the door before the vehicle rolls to a stop. Grace is nodding at the trooper. He cuts her binds, and she tugs the tape from her mouth.
She sees me seconds before I am in her space. We falter backward on impact.
“I’m okay,” she rasps, her voice cracking on the last syllable.
I’m shaking, the explosive combination of rage and desperation sending my head spinning. Grace clings to me and I wrap my body around her, still needing to protect her, even though I wasn’t there to do so when it counted most.
I groan into her hair, and she pushes from my arms, catching my gaze. “Breathe, Mack. I’m alright. I was alright.”
I grip her arms. “No, Grace, you were so far from alright.” My jaw feathers.
A high-pitched chuckle comes from by the Volvo. I straighten, pushing Grace behind me. Joel smirks at me. An arrogant, cocky piece of shit, even in cuffs. The trooper who helped Grace from the trunk dips his hat and heads for his SUV.
I take that as my cue, and with three long strides, I’m in the asshole’s face. One fist gripping his ratty shirt, I slam him into the side of his busted car.
“If you ever come within three counties of her again, I will fuckin’ end you.”
My hand curls to a fist by my side. My height and muscular frame dwarves his gangly, thin junkie build. He nods slowly. His eyes are half glazed over.
Is he goddamn high?
Staring at me, his eyes narrow further before I decide he’s not worth another second of either of our lives. I turn back to Grace. She is hugging her arms around her body, now tucked under Reed’s arm and into his side. The protective brother pose. Same as the time with Addy when Morley tried his luck.
Harry’s silver Chevy pulls in behind the F250 as I walk for Grace.
“Fine by me if you take my sloppy seconds. Trashy piece of ass is all yours. Enjoy my seconds, retard.” The words are acid. I stop mid-stride. Before my brain overrides my head, I’m on him, fist smashing into his face with one hand gripping his shirt. He sways on his tiptoes where I have him shoved up against the side of the car, again.
Something gives way as I slam another punch into his stupid face. He smiles as blood trickles down his chin, pouring from his nose and split lip. I sink another and another into him. He goes limp in my hold. I slam my stinging fist into his face. The sickening crunch tells me I should stop.
I don’t.
Another punch.
Another messy crunch, and something slides under my knuckles.
“Mackinlay.” The word is almost ethereal. Grace’s voice floats past my anger, sinking into my chest and touching my heart.
I hesitate.
I see her close in beside me in my peripheral.
A light touch comes to rest on my forearm holding this lousy waste of oxygen upright. “Enough, Mack.”
I haul air into my lungs as if someone could steal it away at any second. I finally turn to find her gorgeous face.
Grace gives me a sad smile and tilts her head. “Take me home?”
My grip loosens and Joel slumps, sliding to the hard asphalt. The officer from before appears at my other side, checking for a pulse.
Fuck.
He nods before waving us away.
I stagger toward my waiting family by Reed’s truck. Harry pulls Grace into a long hug. He checks her over at arm’s length before he and Ma return to the Chevy. How is it my father can communicate so much without a damn word?
Reed adjusts the cap on his head. “I’ll give you some space.” He rounds the vehicle and climbs into the driver’s seat.
I lean my side against the truck and pull Grace into me. “Sweet Jesus, Gracie, I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life.”
I cup her hands with my face, tilting her face up to mine. It’s there that I find calm. Strength.
My knees give out and I slump to the ground, arms wrapped around her waist. I groan into her stomach, ugly sobs slamming into her as they leave my tightened throat. Her hands push through my hair, and she kneels before me.
I meet her gaze, and she whispers, “I knew no matter what happened, or where they took me, I would get back to you. I would never stop trying.”
My face breaks.
This woman.
I can’t breathe.
“How—” I start, and the air in my lungs disappears.
“Because we are the tough ones, remember? We will do this together. This is where I am meant to be.”
She’s not talking about herself now. Always so damn selfless. I steady myself against the F250. When my nerves have settled and my breathing returns to some semblance of normal, I clamber to my feet. Grace follows, opening the door for me. “Home sounds really great right now.”
“Yes ma’am” is all I can say. I am in awe of the woman in front of me. Tossed into a trunk, bound and gagged, yet she comes out the other side fighting. I’ve never been so proud and so awestruck.
“Miss Weston?” the officer says from behind her.
She spins back. “Yes?”
“Once you’re settled, you will need to come down to the station to make a statement and press charges.”
“Okay, can it wait until tomorrow?”
He nods and gives her a brief smile. His gaze finds mine, lingering for a moment. He tips his hat and walks back to his vehicle. Apparently, a little cowboy justice is tolerated in these parts. Neither he nor his partner made any attempt to stop me flogging the living daylights outta the sack of shit. Guess they saw nothin’.
Grace climbs on in and slips between Reed and me. She’s shivering. I peel off my coat and wrap her in it. As we drive back down the highway, she crawls into my lap, head nuzzled into my neck, her trembling hands tangled through the opening of my shirt. The adrenaline of the last thirty minutes has worn off.
“I love you, Mack.” The words are no more than a whisper as they float past my ear, almost drowned out by the engine’s roar.
“I love you too, gorgeous girl. Always will.”
A few miles later, she is asleep in my lap, her body still and relaxed. My arms are set around her in an iron grasp. No way in hell am I ever lettin’ her go.